Mowing What size brush hog can I use?

[CowboyRon]

My dad and I are going to purchase a 4025 next week. He wants a 6 foot brush hog and I say this tractor can handle an 8 foot easily. How high can we go on this without putting too much strain on the tractor.

[beppington]

The standard answer is generally 5 PTO HP per foot of cutter width; so a 6' rotary cutter would match your 31 PTO HP pretty well. The dealer can probably also make a recommendation. It also somewhat depends on what you'll be cutting. Mowing heavier/ thicker vegetation will require a smaller cutter; Mowing lighter vegetation a bigger cutter could be used.

[CowboyRon]

Ok thank you for the info.

[2516mo]

I hope you don't mind if I jump in with a similar question....I had not heard of that formula, but it makes prefect sense.
Does the same formula hold true for finish mowers?
I reused a 6 foot finish mower, and it seems all my 2516 can do with tall field grass, and i have always wondered if a 5 foot would have been a much better fit.
Thanks in advance!

[JD5210]

This is an informative URL on this subject.

TractorData.com - Mowing with tractors

[BobF]

An important factor in this is setting the mower properly. If the rear of the mower is lower than the front, even a little bit, it will require much more power to mow.

Adjusted properly, the front of the mower should be slightly lower than the rear.

[wallace]

Another thing you may want to look at is a twin spindle cutter.
A twin spindle cutter will run with less PTO hp.
There are also different grades of cutters. A cheaper line cutter will usually take less hp to run.
IE;
Land Pride RCR18 series 72" cutter is rated for 20-65hp
Their RCF36 series 72" is rated for 60-190hp
Now the twin spinet RCD18 series 84" is rated at 35-50hp

The last couple of days I was cutting using a Mahindra 3015 (30hp engine) and a Bush Hog SQ172 72" cutter. I had to take my time but it did a beautiful job!

[idaho2]

CowboyRon,

Look at the difference that a pull type mower needs for pto hp compared to 3pt hookup. I have a Mahindra (Kodiak) 10' pull type hooked up to my 5530 Turbo 4wd with a 48 pto hp. Kodiak web site has alot of info on these various mowers.

idaho2

[CowboyRon]

Thanks for all of the info guys, it was really helpful, especially the link JD. I am new to this site, and really like it. As far as my question goes, I guess father does know best.

[ky wonder]

I hope you don't mind if I jump in with a similar question....I had not heard of that formula, but it makes prefect sense.
Does the same formula hold true for finish mowers?
I reused a 6 foot finish mower, and it seems all my 2516 can do with tall field grass, and i have always wondered if a 5 foot would have been a much better fit.
Thanks in advance!

your problem will be better served with a bush hog, a finish mower is just that, a tractor mounted lawn mower, and not designed for thick and heavy field grass

the light weight blades on it rely only on the horse power of the tractor to power the blades through the grass where a bush hog gets a tremendous amount of its power from the centrifical force of the much heavier spinning blade to power thru the tought stuff

i have pulled a six foot bush hog with ease in heavy clover/fescue with a 961 ford tractor,

the same tractor in the same grass with a good woods 6' finish mower will cook the tractors clutch,

so the tractor will probably be all right in a lawn enviroment, but will be under powered to try and force the finish mower through heavy grass