Brown 417 or LP rcr2684 mower??

[bushhog28]

I need to cut 4 inch material that has been rotting about 2 years.

Brown has cat 6 drveline, lp has cat 4.
Both 130 gearbox
Brown 7 gauge deck, lp 10 gauge
Brown has spot welds..lp has nice continuous weld around entire mower
Both dual rear wheels
Both dealers same distance
Thoughts?

 

[MinnesotaEric]

You may not need to spend as much money as you think depending on how hard the rotting wood is. I looked at a Brown tree cutter and the Woods line. I ended up getting a Woods BB720X which uses the same size blades, is rated at 3" material.

In experience, the woods does a good job of mulching up ground miscellany and old, rotting stumps. What enclosed cutters are not good at is mulching downed trees because they tend to ride up along their trunks and I imagine a Brown, with its open design, would simply chop through. Downside, Brown, while 2.5 times more expensive also wants $375 for replacement blades.

As for gauge of the deck material, I haven't dented mine yet and it is 10 gauge on the top and I think the same 1/4" along the sides (earlier in the year I had all these specs memorized but now I'm forgetting).

 

[bushhog28]

The material is only a foot or two long. Forestry Mulcher went through it in may. These are 2/3 inch cut mowers listed above. Woods bb840x would be their model equal.

 

[Rocky Hoffler]

all of these are good choices have you considered Rhino I have an Alamo 6 ft. But I will say this Brown builds one tough mower.

 

[bushhog28]

Anyone know if the brown has keyed blade bolts? The manual says hold bolt with pipe wrench. That sucks! I hope its just an older manual. I'm not climbing under there to hold a bolt while tightening from top.

 

[brown40]

After you clear the rubbish, what role will the cutter play? If it's hammering down 4 inch stuff for its life, then I'd look to the heaviest gearbox and driveline... if its going to be maintaining nice fields, and you want a nice cut, higher blade tip speed makes a difference there.
You can throttle down a high ratio gearbox, but you can't speed up a low one.

The dedicated heavy (3.5"-4")shredders do not seem to turn up as high as the medium duty ones (2"-3") do, but given their roles I can see why... there are probably exceptions.

The most complementary support I have heard has been from Bush Hog, and the Alamo products (Rhino, Alamo--others?). I haven't heard a complaint about Brown, very few about Woods and Land Pride.

If I were buying new again, I'd check into driveline repair/replacement cost for my finalists.

Bush Hog components are readily available all over the web... some others assure their set-up is proprietary and costly (my JD for instance--replacement input gear and output shaft only were $100 more than a whole new (non-JD) gearbox and driveline with slip clutch!), and aftermarket support will be non-existent.

It's nice to be able to do a repair for hundreds, rather than thousands of dollars...

 

[bushhog28]

Well once it chops up the trash, it will just maintain the field. I need something to survive the first few mowings. Land pride mower is $5250 out the door.