How do I get clean cut with Brush Hog?

[MESSMAKER]

If you have the horsepower to spare, try lowering the rear of you cutter. This means raising your tail wheel. You will will use more fuel, but you get more cutting action. Sharp blades can help when cutting grass. I can't see any help in tough stuff though.

 

[boggen]

rear end of old BH is it round? or square shape? or rhombus shaped?

same question for new BH. the rear end an how it is shaped. can make a difference in the "wind current" that is created by the blades to pull the weeds / grass back up. a rounder back to a BH. will allow for better window currents, a box shape back end of a BH is not the best for creating wind currents that can help pull weeds and grass up.

also do you have a rear end side? or open back? or perhaps open back with some chains hanging down? rear end with a solid piece of sheet metal. will allow better wind currents to help pull weeds / grass back up. open back. just sends stuff straight out, open backs with chains, are more geared in trying to keep stuff from flying out and hitting something.

physically setting the tail wheel lower, and 3pt hitch lower. so entire BH sets lower. will allow better wind currents under the BH, to help pull up weeds and grass to be cut.

ditto messmaker reply. getting so front and back of BH to set level. can help create better wind currents to help pull weeds / grass back up.

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on a side note. rotatory cutters aka (bush hogs) are there to cut down tall weeds. they normally do not leave a pretty look afterwards like a regular finishing mower. due to the "clumps of grass/weeds" (aka windrow) they leave behind them.

taller the weeds, greater chance a weed is still caught up under a rear wheel of tractor. and really never gets a chance to lean back up into the blades. resulting in stragglers.

 

[vtsnowedin]

I have my tires set wide so they don't mash down the grass just before you mow it. The right side wheels are out in the next pass but the grass has whatever time it takes me to get around the piece to stand back up. The left side wheels (mowing clockwise) are out in the already cut grass. I'm still getting used to mine and I haven't tried any different tail wheel positions but they way the dealer set it seems OK. What I may do soon is switch the back braces to chains as the linkage there doesn't have enough range of motion to follow the rougher sections of ground I'm mowing. When ever the front of the tractor starts up a steeper incline I have to raise the level control or the cutter will bottom out.

 

[nuffer460]

This spring, I had allot of rain in April. I had a bearing issue with my 6' finish mower. I looked at my father-in-laws old IH 411 Rotory Mower. It's old, bent and very heavy. It is a long bar type with about 12" blades. I hauled it to the barn. Checked it out. Greased the pto shaft. Sharpened the 1/2" thick blades. Mowed my front lawn with it. I mowed the front on a diagonal. Changed directions cut it again. I do the same with the finish mower. This mower is probably all of 40 years old, and it looks it. It produced a better cut then my finish mower. I could not believe it.

 

[cisco]

Not sure where your Woods fits into their prior lines, but I have a current line 72" and it will not cut anywhere near what a finish mower, or for that matter the zero turn mower I usually use, can do on grass. Keeping the PTO at or above the usual 540, and having sharp blades (I take mine off 1-2X per year to grind or replace them), should give a decent result. And, yes, I agree that most sites recommend keeping the front of the brush cutter a bit lower than the rear.

 

[granteck]

Tomorrow I will try duct taping something over the hole and see if that makes a difference.

 

[granteck]

No I am not running the deck level as that is not what they say to do. Everyone reecommends setting the front lower than the rear.

540 is the PTO setting. I run at the a high throttle so it doesn't stall out and I have the power for big clumps or rocks. Probably confused some by mixing the 2.

 

[granteck]

Just for grins, try raising the whole deck up or down and see if it makes a difference. I've got a feeling you may be cutting too high. You may have to lower the tail wheel. Having the front of the deck 3"s lower than the rear won't hurt either.
I still don't understand your pto speed. Are you saying you san run the PTO speed and the tractor speed independantly? No matter what, you want that pto speed at 540 or more, for me that works out to about 2,000 RPM. Adjust the tractor speed with the gears. You may want to go down a gear. Is your pto live or independant?
If it's set up right there's no reason you shouldn't get a nice cut.[/QUOTE]

I raised the rear today one bolt hole and will try it tomorrow. I now have a bigger difference between the front and the back. Looks high to me. I already lowered the rear a lot from what came from the dealer. There was only 1 hole lower to go in the rearbefroe I raised it today. I would love to hear from someone running a 54" Heritiagge as to their settings.

As far the the PTO I am runing at 540. My mention of the throttle was only so I do not stall out. I have stalled with lower throttle settings.

Sorry for the slow replies but I work out of state so I only get to run the tractor on weekends.

 

[granteck]

Did your old cutter have a stump jump or just a blade bar? Normally a cutter with a large round blade carrier will not cut as clean as one with just a bar. Also lots of old cutters used shorter blades vs. newer cutters 2ft. long blades.

The old brush hog had a big round fly wheel type stump jumper. The new brush hog has a plate type.

It was open in the front and rear. See attached pictures.

 

[joshuabardwell]

It's hard to judge anything from those two picture you're posting, because the tail wheel is turned around backwards. If your cutter is anything like mine, the rear drops several inches when the wheel turns around front-wards. If you're going to adjust the height, flip the wheel around front-wards before you do it. In the pics, it looks like the front of the mower is riding a few inches lower than the rear, but I bet you once the tail-wheel flips around, the back is going to be level with the front, or maybe a smidge lower. I'm not sure that's what you're going for.