BUSH-HOGGING QUESTION

[Travis_R]

Hey ya'll,

I have been doing a lot of bush-hogging and cutting grass for hay. I have a question that I've been thinking about.

Do you have to run the cutter at 540 rpms, or can you run below it? Kind of judge by the sound of the engine. What do ya'll do? I don't want to tear my tractor and equipment up. Thats why i'm asking.

Thanks,
Travis

 

[em14]

Run the implement at the designed RPM which in this case is 540 RPM and you will not hurt the tractor nor the cutter. If you feel better and the tractor and the cutter are happy at a lower RPM then go there. You are not straining either of them at the designed RPM.
Leo

 

[AMP762]

The bushhog is designed to work at 540,it cuts better and is less load on tractor.Sometimes in really light stuff I'll run a little slower but not often.

 

[beenthere]

Travis
What I do, is run at 540 rpm for grass and weeds, as it cuts better. However, when I am into brush, I cut the rpm's back to roughly 1300 on the tac About half throttle. I don't like the high rpm and the sound of pieces of wood flying around. May not be right, but it is what I do for brush.
If I catch a rock, I hit it fewer times before I can get the deck raised at lower rpm's. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[MajMac392]

Travis, I'm new to bush-hogging but I've found my RC is smoother and cuts better at the 540 RPM mark, especially the larger the brush/sapling I want to take town. It also makes sense that there is quite a bit of mass swinging around and it is more effective at that speed than a real low rpm. I think most tractor Tachs have yellow marks for the PTOs and it is pretty easy to bring it up to that speed.

 

[Glenn9643]

If I'm just clipping the pasture I've found that I can run at about 2000 RPM (2600 is 540 on my tractor) and it cuts fine with sharp blades. Running at the lower RPM's is quieter and saves a lot of diesel. You can pick a higher gear to keep your speed up.
If cutting heavy brush or saplings my thoughts are different than some expressed. In that case I'll run at 540 on the bushhog. That's what the machine is designed for to achieve max power and cutting.

 

[penokee]

Travis - I cut more brush than grass/weeds, so run at recommended RPM,s. Chunks of wood are flying around pretty good at times and have been hit on occasion, so made a rear cab guard for protection - it does the job. Pic attached.
penokee /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif