BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts

   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #1  

wstr75

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Mar 16, 2008
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Its springtime and a man's thoughts (speaking as a nearly 60 year old man) go to mowing grass and cleaning up property. I have the following mowers:
38" BCS lawnmower with bagger
34" Palladino flail mower used
30" BCS sickle mower
A 28" Zano brush type mower is on its way to me

The 38" lawnmower, 34" flail mower and the 28" brush mower are used with a diesel 853. A Honda powered 737 runs the 30" sickle mower.

The 38" mower does a good job cutting a lawn. The bagger attachment makes it easy to drive the rig into the garden and dump out the clippings for weed choking mulch during the spring and summer.

The Palladino flail mower with "Y" blades is good for cutting and mulching tall field grass and small saplings. I hired a fellow a week ago to clear out some land that has Kudsu vines, briars and brush. Flail mowers and vines don't go together at all. This is why the brush type mower was ordered. Nonetheless, the areas without Kudsu are now looking great like a country version of a city park.

The sickle bar mower is mounted on the 737 and it is a good tractor/mower combination because of the way the reversing level can be easily engaged. I run the mower in 3rd gear with the engine just a bit above idle and can shear off saplings up to about 1.5" in diameter. It is good for safely trimming heavy brush and small saplings alongside a creek running through the property.

I look forward to running the 28" Zanon brush mower. Will let you know how it does with Kudsu vines and how where stuff like sapling chunks gets thrown out of the mower.
Bill in NC
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts
  • Thread Starter
#2  
The guy clearing the brush out of the property for me is mechanically challenged. Good outdoorsman, but tough on equipment. The Palladino mower apparently had a zerk grease fitting that plugged, thus not taking grease and this led to the left side mower roller bearing's backing plate transmitted enough heat to discolor the outside paint. The flail's out of commission for losing three Y blades. Really shakes hard when missing some flail blades. The guy was still using the mower in that condition. Of course, I instructed him to cease fire! Could have used a brush mower and saved some major wear and tear on the flail mower. At any rate, the flail mower is great for thick grass, briars and other stuff but not suited for vines. The BCS is great for tight locations and hilly sites not well suited to a four wheeled tractor with a rear brush type mower.
Bill in NC
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #3  
Hello Bill

Thank you for relating your BCS mowing experiences, very enlightening. Being older than you and having some of the same mowing tasks I too use the BCS and have similar and some different experiences. Having many rocks protruding from the ground I have had to give up in brush hog mowers (too many thrown blades and near life threatening incidents) and use sickle bars and flail mowers with front wheel regulating cutting depth. I use the BCS duplex for as much mowing as possible on an old BCS 850 and mow very slowly in rocky places. It loves grape vines up to about 1 1/2". If I can get them out of the rocks I will mulch them up with my trusty old 30" HD Mower.

I use the 24" BCS Blade Runner set to maximum height for very tall weeds where I can get them down without hitting rocks or scalping in valleys. When I can see the rocks after the first cut I will mow them lower with the Blade Runner or the old 30" HD. I mow across dried by creek beds where I can't get my zero turn lawn mower. My roller regulated Palladino cut weeds well but always scalped in dips and sounded like bad things were happening when it hit rocks. I sold it.

I have a 38" twin blade lawn mower attachment. I love the cut but a 48" zero turn will cut the 2 1/2 acres in less than 1/3 the time.

Great to hear mowing experiences. We can all learn.
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts
  • Thread Starter
#4  
BCSSHOP, what flail mower do you recommend that has the front wheel height control? I, too, have the same experience with the Palladino "digging in" when fording across a gully or other dip in the land.

What speed do your run brush mowers? We have lots of rocks in my area and the likelihood of catastrophic stuff being thrown out of the mower is my number 1 concern.
Thanks for your insights!
Bill in NC
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts
  • Thread Starter
#5  
I answered part of my question by looking at the BCS site. I see now the "Blade Runner" you mentioned is a flail mower. The front wheels height control of the Blade Runner would stop most of the porpoising experienced by the Palladino when mowing over dips. How many bearing grease points does the Blade Runner mower have? Does it utilize two V belts side by side like the Palladino?
Bill in NC
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Video of Blade Runner doing a brush on a steep hillside.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxwxwTarYck]TRINCIA SARMENTI BCS 630WS BLADERUNNER 75CM - YouTube[/ame]
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #7  
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #8  
Bill in NC

You found a video of the BCS Blade Runner. I set the wheels to cut much higher (It so easy to just turn the crank to any setting up to 5"). The hillside being mowed in the video is likely much steeper than it appears in the video. Like shown I mow rough areas in first gear and more uniform weeds and brush in second gear on a 732.

The blade runner has two parallel belts but the only grease fitting are on the pivots of the caster wheels. The bearings are sealed type and enclosed. You can download part diagrams for the mower (and anything else BCS) at BCS America Parts, Service and Operator Manuals.

I have great concerns about things being thrown by mowers but I have even more concerns about the mowers throwing blades. In cutting green vegetation the BCS 26" brush mower works fine and likely poses any real hazard to anyone. In rocky and stump ridden fields a whole set of hazards emerge. I have documented five blade throwing incidents. These are my customers experiences and I only sell 6 to 10 of these mowers a year.
1 One went right thru the side of the deck in a clean cut
2. One blade was found 150ft from where the operator was mowing. "What if my 8 year old step son was playing there?"
3. A blade cut threw the tire tube and into the rim.
4. A blade just recently cut the deck where the skids attach leaving the skid hanging and getting hit by the remaining blade
5. A blade cut the top off the operators Red Wing steel toed boot like it was opened with a can opener. Luckily his foot was not hit. I repurchased the entire unit even though it was two years old and badly damaged.
I keep a badly distorted blade bolt on my desk to remind me to be extremely careful who I sell these mowers to. I have a whole set of liability concerns about selling power equipment that has a significant possibility of causing injury but that is for another thread.
 
   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #9  
That video reminded me of my own not-so-pleasant mowing experiences. I've mowed over rocks and shrub-stumps on steep banks. Most of my mowed areas looks like a normal lawn, but rocks and old shrub-stumps are lurking in the tall grass, in odd corners. Lawns transition into wild areas and under those tall weeds lurk more stumps and rocks.

My solution has been to get cheap used push mowers off Craig's List and set the blade to a tall position. When I bend a drive shaft, I get another. I'm tired of the physical struggle and headaches, though. I've already bent one blade this year.

I'm interested in riding mowers, but they seem to be designed for suburban lawns, not unseen stumps and rocks. I thought I'd stop by here to see if 2 wheeled tractors offer solutions. The comments here about thrown blades do not comfort me, though.

Any suggestions?
 
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   / BCS Mower Experiences and Thoughts #10  
Hello joebobbill,

I like your simple solution and I do that myself at one of my properties. The sickle bar on the two-wheel tractor offers a relatively hazard free way to mow over rocks and stumps but it does not mulch the cuttings into small pieces. Here is where the brush hog type and flail mower leave the cut area looking like a second tier lawn. I still like the simplicity and low cost of the junk lawn mower approach.

Stihl and others make a 12" long power scythe as an attachment to some of their 2-cycle brush mowers. It like a 12" hedge pruner on the end of the hand brush cutter. I've recommended it to many people who have dangerous areas to mow. I don't own one yet but I'm about to.
 
 
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