Commercial walk behind mower for cutting light brush?

[mmaarrkk]

I've been using my CUT w/FEL+bush hog to open up trails and clear open areas at our weekend property of 18 acres. I am thinking about purchasing a used commercial walk behind mower to cut the grassy areas around the cabin and the future drain field. It would be nice to use the same mower to help maintain trails and other areas where I can't take the tractor. I can't really afford to purchase a walk behind brush mower right now. I have a good grass trimmer that I can put a blade on and a chain saw that I could use initially on the bigger stuff. I have a lot of blackberry bushes that I need to get under control.

 

[IXLR8]

I have a commercial WB mower, in the 8 years I have had it, all I have done is; add gas, put air in the tires, change oil, sharpen blades, grease it. That is until I did a bit of "off lawn" mowing last year. A stick poked its way up into the main drive belt, jambed and destroyed it. At that point I replaced all the belts and I am much more careful where I take it.
Would it do the job you are asking, yes, just be careful of errant stuff that might get up into the drive belt, or make a lower cover to protect it. A BushHog it is not though.

 

[KentT]

A Gravely commercial would certainly do what you're asking, if you're careful with it...

They are one heavy duty machine...

 

[DustyRoads]

I once rented a walk behind mower to cut weeds and briars. It did not work out to well. The front of the mower will ride up on the briars and small trees. I am not sure of the best way, but probably use a bushhog or spray with crossbow.

 

[Saxman]

I have two 42" Troy bilt sickle bar mowers. They do a great job with heavy weeds and light woody growth up to 2 or 3" dia. A great thing about sickle bar machines is they don't throw anything like a rotary mower does. They don't make these machines anymore as they were pretty expensive and the sickle bar is pain to maintain, but they really work!

 

[larso1]

You might look at the Better Products Quick 44" Ninja hydro w/ 15HP Kawasaki engine and HD fabricated deck. A lot of LCO's rave about its performance for the money...$2.6K on sale now which is a really good price, and they deliver it to your door. For that amount of money, it might be worth a try.

Better commercial lawn mower lawn tractor zero turn riding lawn mower.

 

[FlaDon]

Look for a good used 2-wheel Gravely in your area. Equip it with the 30" deck and solid tires and you won't find a better brush mower. Haven't found a raspberry or blackberry plant yet that the 5.5, 6.6, 7.6, or 8 HP units and up can't turn into mulch. Chops down small trees too.

 

[nunyabinis]

I use a $189, 6hp, 22 inch Craftsman push mower as a mini bush hog!!!

I use it to cut about 1800 feet of property line that I can't get my tractor near. It didn't work too good when I first started using it because it would ride up over small sapplings and the blade wouldn't cut them right away. I'd have to wiggle the mower from side to side to whack everything down so I took my plasma cutter and cut the bottom front edge of the mower off about an inch so that the blade actually sits below the edge of the mower instead of being recessed. Boy did that make a difference!!! Now the edge of the blade makes contact with sapplings and vines BEFORE they bend under the mower deck and it whacks them right off slicker'n snot.

Another benefit is that it actually mows tall grass much better now because, like with sapplings, the edge of the blade whacks it off before it bends under the mower.

It worked so well that I modified my Craftsman riding mower deck the same way and it cuts tall grass MUCH better now too!!!

 

[hobie]

How about the DR machines? That's what my brother uses, and it sure does a great job. Impressive two wheel tractor.

 

[Solo]

I would look for a used Gravely with either the 30" mower or a 42" sickle bar mower. Add a set of dual wheels and they are pretty much unstopable.

Solo