Brush mulching heads: Push bars & mulching doors.

[Gamma]

Push bars:

There's tall ones, short ones, ones with only two 'claws' and some with more. Some are hydraulically positioned while others are either fixed or manually adjustable.

Speaking from experience, what type do you prefer? Why? When are short ones advantageous over the taller ones & vice versa?

Mulching doors:
As I recall the Timberax door is really a manually adjustable cutting bar.

The Fecon door is a hydraulically operated 'flap' and does not come standard, it's an option. Is there any reason that people don't purchase the Fecon heads with the mulching door other than the added expense? When would you not want to use the mulching door? If you bend the door inward, does it strike the carbide cutting teeth and damage them?

I'm just trying to decide if I'd want to pay the extra for the mulching door, so any comments are welcome.

Thanks,

Rory

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Here's my .02 cents.

Doors, useless. All the ones I have ever seen are bent. Just reprocessing the mulch will usually give the desired effect. My timberax produces the smallest chips from what i have seen, that is probably why timberax's do not have doors for that none of loftness have doors anymore. Unless your mulching beside me you really can't tell a difference. Mulch on the ground is, mulch on the ground.

Pushbars. A very usefull tool. The growing trend is toward shorter bars. I can really control trees I'm cutting with mine as to fall them inline with the direction I'm cutting so i don't have to chase them. I have also personally seen and felt what happens when a pushbar it too short.

On a gyrotrac Gt-25 demo the saleman was cutting a 60' hardwood. He cut the tree at the base and was not able to push the tree over, it just kept walking standing straight up. Eventually it began to fall back over the tractor. That would be the "felt" part. I, was standing behind and to one side of the tractor behind a large pine. The tree rode the pine down and I was 55' away from the said 60' tree. It hit me directly in the head. After I was retrieved from the woods be the rescue squad and a ambulance ride and 14 stitches I personally know the value of a good pushbar. How about that??

The real lesson here. When it says stay back 300 feet on the tractor that is a good suggestion. Robbie

 

[Gamma]

Robbie,

Do you think a push bar can be too tall for some trees? Say the tree has low limbs that the push bar catches on as you try to get a bite on the trunk? Do you simply just mulch off the branches first? Muscle thru them with the push bar?

Rory

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

Usually not a problem. Branches are small enough and will just break as you push. Normally I cut the tree high 6-7' or so and them run down on the remaining trunk. That way the trunk stays put as you mulch it. If it's on the ground it a little harder to process, sometimes you have to chase it. It looks a bit dramatic when cutting this way but it is the quickest way I've found so far.

I have found as with mine, it's not too tall for trees but so tall you can put too much leverage on it and stress the mounting points and or the bar itself. That is the reason for the rebuild of mine. I bent it so bad it failed in several places.

 

[QwikDraw]

I did a small job yesterday right next to a busy road, I wish my fecon had the door. I had some chunks fly out in the road (but I didn't hit any cars). When i was renting the Bradco I thought the door was handy for directing the debris downward and not spreading it, although out in the woods I would rarely use one. I will be ordering one in the next few weeks.

Ted

 

[Robbie Hegwood]

I would have to agree on that one. My head has chains, they help but not that much. I guess we would rather have it and use it some than not and need it. Good point Ted.

 

[Gamma]

I did a small job yesterday right next to a busy road, I wish my fecon had the door. I had some chunks fly out in the road (but I didn't hit any cars). When i was renting the Bradco I thought the door was handy for directing the debris downward and not spreading it, although out in the woods I would rarely use one. I will be ordering one in the next few weeks.

Ted

I'm back to thinking I'd order a head with the door now that I read what Ted had to say about throwing chunks out in the road.

Rory

 

[DirtyWorks]

new obsevation on the bradco (magnum) door, When mulching with the door open, 90% of the time, the door acts as a guard for the hoses, a real plus in thick vines and hedge