Low tech weed chopper...........your opinion.

[txslowpoke]

This is total redneck, but I think it will work for my needs. Would Like opinions good or bad. I need some sort of weed cutter for approx 2-300 acres we recreationly use. A tractor is not in our budget.
I have access to large metal reels that wire rope is sold on. These reels vary from 4' to 6' in diameter and 5-6' in width, empty weight in the 700lb range. They are built to hold 20,000 lbs plus of wire rope(steel cable) when full.My idea is to take reel and weld 3"x3" angle iron every 14-16"s across the flange of the reel( from side to side), In effect building large diameter stalk cutter, hopefuly with out the major Jarring effect. Like the one I used this yr, it had 4 blades that my grandfather pulled behind a poppin johnny many moons ago. The reel I am thinking about using has a roughly 2'hollow steel core with a 4" center hole. So if I need more weight I can add sand,cement etc. for extra weight to increase cutting depth/ground pressure.
At the 4" center hole I will use trailer spindles,bearings,hubs etc and build the trailer style tongue off that to hook to tow vehicle which is an old 4x4 truck. like a field packer of sorts but larger diameter. Each 3x3 angle iron section will be ground to a sharp edge, by grinder. Mainly rolling over cactus and weeds and a few small trees. Basically whatever I can pull it over without tearing my ranch truck up.
Reason for this idea is that this past year we have weeds over 5' tall with the rains we had, no way to cut them with out spending big$$. I have a big piece I-beam I can and have dragged to knock the weeds down, plus the old stalk cutter which beats the snot out of ya. The stalk cutter yielded the best results since new grass is growing and the drag area by I-Beam has less grass growing. The soil varies from soft sand to red dirt.

 

[gordon21]

If the vegetation you are trying to get rid of is dry, small and brittle, it will work. I don't see how a lot of dead weight or even slow moving angle iron will actually cut anything. It may force it to lay down while you run over it, but it will spring back up. Weeds are very resilient. You will probably cause a lot of saplings to break, but they will not be cut through and fall neatly. The trunks will be smashed but still intact. Now they will tilt at a 45 degree angle and you will then eventually have a ton of ragged stumps 6-12" high.

If the tow vehicle is a 4x4 truck, that means you will be driving over all this vegetation BEFORE you try to cut it? What about damage to the truck underbody?

If there are sections with just weeds, then the best soulution would be a lightweight rotary cutter (Bush hog) rigged up with it's own small gas engine. Weld the brackets to mount an old engine and then weld an extension arm/bom to connect to the trailer hich ball. That would keep it 5-10' back from the rear of the truck. Start the engine and tow the rotary mower with the truck. If the mower were light enough, you could tow it with an ATV or UTV.

Option two is an old fashioned tow behind sickle mower. You can find them for $500-600 and you can get high quality replacement blades for under $15 per box. This will actually CUT the weeds next to the ground and could definitely be towed by an ATV. When the ATV stops the blades stop.

 

[txslowpoke]

We have a 6' brush hog but no way to operate it. I have access to some motors and have the skill to fab mounts etc. My question is how do you take inline 6 truck motor and gear it down via transmission or whatever to meet the 540 RPM required. I have a 292 straight six and 3spd tranny to power the unit, but how do you figure the RPM at the driveshaft to the shredder.I have even thought about taking a 4x4 truck and cutting the frame behind the cab and grafting in the brush hog to the rear powered by the rear driveshaft from transfercase. Basically creating a front wheel drive redneck riding mower of sorts.
I have searched for the tow behind sickle mower with not much luck(plenty of PTO powered ones), do you have any info you can share on where to buy one?
I drive over anything that wont stop the truck, I have built skid plates etc for it. I have a strong 4x4 offroad background and not much of a Ag machinery background. Frustrating.

 

[gordon21]

When I said add a motor, I meant something around 20HP out of an old riding mower.

The tow behind sickle mower will be an ancient item best found on e-bay, craigslist or more likely the boneyard behind some tractor dealer that has done business in the same location for 40 years. I remember seeing a couple on e-bay within the past year. There is a big dealer up in eastern Tennessee that would probably have one in stock. He usually has at least a dozen used sickle mowers at any given time. The dealer name escapes me now. I think he is near Johnson City. He does a lot of business over the net and has a decent website. Maybe another TBN member will remember it.

 

[Renze]

How do do you end up with NO tractor, if you do have a bushog ? or am i missing something ?


If you use a truck motor and a manual gearbox, there;s allways a speed that will work.
Over here in Holland, after the war, tractors were too expensive so people made their own tractors out of Diamond trucks that the Allies left here. They usually have 2 gearboxes paired together, which meant they had lots of gears.

 

[barneyrb]

We have a 6' brush hog but no way to operate it. I have access to some motors and have the skill to fab mounts etc. My question is how do you take inline 6 truck motor and gear it down via transmission or whatever to meet the 540 RPM required. I have a 292 straight six and 3spd tranny to power the unit, but how do you figure the RPM at the driveshaft to the shredder.

Take the motor rpm and divide by the gear ration of first gear or second gear (2775 motor rpm/5.11= 543 rmp on the output shaft). To determine gear ratio of transmission turn input shaft and count revolutions (of input) until you have 1 rev on the output. According to one web site the Ford T18 has a 6.32:1 ratio and the T19 has a 5.11:1 (these are both "grandma" hevi-duty 4 speeds) Second gear in both of these are ~3.05:1 which would be 1650 rpm's on the motor. Hope this helps. If you wanted to apply some engineering use a tach and a cruise control to maintain a constant speed under all load conditions.

 

[RobS]

Unless I don't fully understand your concept, I don't think this is going to work. To cut a weed, you need the blade to move relative to the weed, usually quite a bit faster than the stationary weed. If I picture your idea, the reel will roll along with cutting edges along it's perimeter. When those cutting edges roll to the ground level, they will have zero speed (at bottom dead center). It may crush some weeds down, but I wouldn't expect much actual cutting.

For a real budget operation, how about a controlled burn? I do this annually to my prairie and it is common nowadays for prairie maintenance. You might even talk the local fire department into helping as an exercize for their practice.

 

[txslowpoke]

To answer some questions. This property(over 1000 acres, split 4 ways) was my grandparents and will be split sometime in the future 4 ways. It is currently being used and operated as recreational. Meaning the cattle pay the taxes and bills. After that your on your own.
At one time we had a MF 65 propane tractor with a tow behind shredder, back in 1986 when I was in High School I rebuilt the motor as it was wore out. My grandmother bought a new 6' brush hog. A few years later the planetary drive broke( driverside), which I replaced. After that, I guess the rear main let go as it was losing oil by over a quart per hr. Tractor was sold, never replaced. My grandfather was in a nursing home during that time and there was no $ to replace the tractor. Thats how we ended up with a shredder and no tractor.
RobS- your description of what I posted is correct. My thought was I could replace the cutting method of the OLD stalk cutter jarring effect by increasing weight with a larger diameter circle so to speak, with more weight, more cutting "blades" less jarring effect.I'll take pics of the stalk cutter this weekend and post, the area I used it in late December is yielding green grass now, I'll take pics of that too.. We have a few pieces of vintage equipment at the ranch, one old planter with a tree growing in the middle of it. Mainly 2 row stuff. We have approx a 75 acre pasture that a control burn might work if we rent a tractor to disc the fence line. I am not that familar with control burns on land that has alot brush, which ours does. Honestly I dont see a control burn working that well. It would have to be a fast moving burn. All the brush/trees on our place are Mesquite.
Barneyrb--Thanks for the help, I'll be sending you a PM if you dont mind. I have a 292 I6 and a 318 v-8 to use. The 318 is the better motor, just got to get the G-4spd.
gordon21- This truck is ranch only,is not street legal. Its equipped for running over small trees ets.

 

[rambler]

RobS- your description of what I posted is correct. My thought was I could replace the cutting method of the OLD stalk cutter jarring effect by increasing weight with a larger diameter circle so to speak, with more weight, more cutting "blades" less jarring effect.

The jarring is helping with the cutting tho, crushing the stems. Don't think you want to eliminate that effect? The pickup will tempt you to drive too fast as well, slow & jarring is the way to crush those stemmy things you want to damage.

--->Paul

 

[candersen]

I have seen a few antique sickle mowers that run off of a drive wheel rather than PTO. They sell at auctions up here in canada for about 300-500, in working order. at worst they would need new blades put on. They would cut down small saplings and brush, and could be towed by tractor, truck, horses and probably even an ATV.