What size brush hog do I need?

   / What size brush hog do I need? #1  

jjrennie

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Oct 13, 2008
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2
Hello all. I am a city boy who moved to the country and bought some acreage because I discovered I love country living. I am trying to figure out what size of a brush hog I need. I bought an 85 hp Kubota tractor. Some folks have told me I need a brush hog with a gear box that can handle at least 85 hp. Others have said I could use a 60 hp gear box six-footer with a slip clutch on the pto shaft.

I sure would appreciate any guidance you could provide, and also where should I look for such a piece of equipment?

Thanks in advance.
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #2  
15' batwing would run nicely behind 85hp
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #3  
jjrennie:

Welcome to TBN :D! There are much more experienced members (Soundguy Lone Cowboy, 3RRL, etc.) with your size tractor and mowing. But I would think you need a gearbox that could handle more than 60HP with your PTO HP in addition to a slip clutch. You also want a rotary cutter that is wider than your wheel width. Jay :)
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #4  
LoneCowboy- You beat me to the "punch" :rolleyes: Jay :)
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #5  
Hello all. I am a city boy who moved to the country and bought some acreage because I discovered I love country living. I am trying to figure out what size of a brush hog I need. I bought an 85 hp Kubota tractor. Some folks have told me I need a brush hog with a gear box that can handle at least 85 hp. Others have said I could use a 60 hp gear box six-footer with a slip clutch on the pto shaft.

I sure would appreciate any guidance you could provide, and also where should I look for such a piece of equipment?

Thanks in advance.


Which model Kubota? 85 hp on the engine or on the pto?
Hawkline makes a 7-ft BH with a 75hp gearbox that might be a good match for your Bota

Rotary Cutters 2 Page

I have a 6-ft Hawkline model RC72HD50 (50 hp gearbox) that I run on my Mahindra 5525 (54hp engine, 45 hp pto). Cost: $1150 new.
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #6  
Yeah, jj, lots of questions in response to your question.

How much acreage are you planning to cut? Open field or tighter wooded areas? Flat or hilly? As already noted above you could run anything between a medium 7' mounted shredder up to a full-on 15' drag mower with the tractor you have.....it'll all depend on what you want to do with it.

As for gearbox hp, if you know the ground well, aren't looking to mow a lot of dense brush or undergrowth, and just need to cut pasture grass then you could use something with a smaller rating. If you don't know the land that well yet or may well be running through brush or onto some little "surprises" that you haven't discovered yet or are trying to take back some overgrown areas then you'd be better off getting something equal in rating to the hp of your tractor.

Off the top of my head, an 8' mounted cutter with appropriate gearbox rating would be my first guess but it all depends on what you need to do.
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #7  
85 hp is a lot of tractor (for most folks). I wouldn't waste it by undersizing your attachments. The extra dollars to size-up would be money well spent in lieu of having to replace a gear-box on a lesser unit.

Go for an 8-footer if it's not to big for maneuvering on your property. If it's all wide open space and sizable in nature, do as the others have suggested and pick yourself up a bat-wing.

I have a 5' cutter, and could easily spin a 6 footer, but I already had the 5 footer in my possession (possession is 9/10ths of the law, after all - just ask my wife :)). Sometimes when I'm in really light stuff, I wish for the extra foot, or even two. However, I shouldn't ever have to worry about "the tail waggin' the dog" no matter what I'm cutting...

Good luck with your pick, and welcome to TBN!

Lunk
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #8  
A friend and neighbor who, many years ago, bought a 7' (used) brush hog to use behind his old Farmall M. He later bought an 80 hp Oliver tractor and mentioned on a couple of occasions that, even with the old Farmall, he wished that he had found a 10' brush hog.

I guess if you have a small enough acreage, 6' brush hog would do, and actually the only big deal with using one with a gear box rated for less than the tractor's horsepower is that IF you break the gearbox, and the dealer knows what size tractor you had it on, it will not be covered by warranty. Most people (myself included) prefer a gearbox rated for a little more horsepower than the tractor has.

And unless you have a small place, or don't mind spending a lot of time mowing, then, as the other guys said, get a bigger brush hog, right on up to the 15' batwing.

The biggest problem for some of us (myself included) would be the higher price of those big brush hogs.:D
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #9  
You WILL mind spending a lot of extra time mowing when you could mow faster with a bigger unit.
Jim
 
   / What size brush hog do I need? #10  
I would not want to buy a hog with a lower hp rated gear box than the tractor can put out! In fact, you typically want much more than the tractor can put out for reliabity. An 85 pto hp tractor can bugger up a 60 hp gear box pretty quick!

I would get an 8'. Either a Woods brushbull 840 or 8400 or the equivalent bushog brand. If you can find a decent used bat wing in the 10-15' that would be good for mowing and small brush. New, they are a lot of $$.
 
 
 
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