Using Brush hog as a chipper ?

[1bush2hog]

Seems to me it may be less work to move the whole pile as is, if you are planning on moving it anyway. Why would you want to chip it up and then move it


Not to step on your thread: but I always wondered exactly what the RC specs mean - can anyone tell me what it means if a RC is rated to cut 2" material - does this mean you can cut only one 2" sapling at a time, one per blade, or what.

Is this spec for the gear box, deck, or just to cover the liability issues for the Mfg.?

 

[john_bud]

Well, I'm not the manufacturer but in my experience it means that you can pretty much cut what ever you find that is that size and smaller. Most will still cut up saplings that are larger, but I reckon it can damage your cutter over time.

 

[PineRidge]

If it's still planted in the ground I have no problems backing over it and slowly lowering the chopper to do the deed. However with the way stuff flies out of the cutter I don't lower it on a pile of loose stuff waiting to fly out at me. Ever hear the story of the guy that was impaled while using a rotary cutter and purchased a cabbed tractor as a result? Don't know if the story was true or not but I'm not pushing the envelope to find out.

 

[rico304]

I think my bush hog is a light duty. (John Deere #513) Would it work with a model like mine, or would I just be wasting sheer pins? (I run it on a JD 4300. Which I think is around mid 20's+ for PTO HP)

 

[jbrumberg]

rico304:

IMHO it would depend upon the size of tree debris you plan to "process". I have not had problems with ~1+" diameter stuff in the past with a 11 HP PTO RC with a slip clutch. I have not yet tried to chip up anything serious with my new setup. Jay

 

[AndyMA]

I've run over lots of piles wilth my Brush Hogs. Yes some of it gets chipped into banana peel shaped chips, but a fair amount of the branches only get the twigs and bark on one side of the main brance cut off. Drop it enough and move the pile around and you will reduce it in size but no one will confuse it for a pile of chips. You have a chipper,why not use the correct tool for the job.

Andy

 

[knute_m]

Just know what is in the pile you are hoggin'.

Several years ago we bought a new place. Out behind one of the sheds, the former owner had piled up a bunch of forsythia cuttings, bushes pulled out from the front yard, and the boughs from some pine trees he took out. It was also becoming overgrown with raspberry and honeysuckle.

As I'd done on many a pile of brush, I lifted the bush hog up high, started it slowly, brought it up to speed, and slowly started lowering it into the pile of brush.

Wham! It was one of the few times I ever killed the engine on that tractor.

At the bottom of the pile was a bunch of rolled up chicken wire and other garden fencing. It must have taken me at least an hour with small bolt cutters and wire cutters to get that mess out of the mower.

Knute

 

[bcarwell]

I've run over lots of piles wilth my Brush Hogs. Yes some of it gets chipped into banana peel shaped chips, but a fair amount of the branches only get the twigs and bark on one side of the main brance cut off. Drop it enough and move the pile around and you will reduce it in size but no one will confuse it for a pile of chips. You have a chipper,why not use the correct tool for the job.

Andy

Andy,

I would use the chipper, but 1) its manual feed and I've got too much to do, 2) I'm told my chipper doesn't like brush-type stuff and 3) the chipper weighs 1000lbs and I've just got a Kubota 7500 and its very dicey if not impossible to get it up the hill where the brush is and too much work to move the brush to the chipper and 4) I don't have a FEL grappler, so it would be a major difficulty moving that much brush to where my chipper is. Its okay if I end up with banana peel chips, I'm just trying to reduce the volume and unsighliness. Maybe then I could move it with my FEL somewhere. Believe me I would use the chipper if it weren't for 1) - 4). (Don't ask how I could get the chipper where it is but not move it where it belongs- long story).

Thanks for responding.

Bob

 

[cisco]

Yeah, a brush cutter works at chopping up brush and, depending on the nature of your cutter and pto, can tackle fair sized limbs and trunks. The result is fairly coarse, and scattered (see posts re. punctured tires and such). If you've "country property", and don't mind the large shavings and limb fragments just lying around to deteriorate into mulch over a few years, no problem. I've also a chipper (DR, manual feed), and it turns stuff into sub-1" pieces - much smaller than my brush cutter, and in 1 pile that can be burnt or picked up and carted off.

 

[Highbeam]

I will vote no. If you have a pile of brush which includes trunks, stumps, and curly cedar limbs then I wouldn't bother trying to hog it. Once the material is piled up then it is better to burn it or let it rot. The larger the pile, the more true this is. Not so much for damage to the tractor but more that it is a waste of time.

If you have a pile of blackberry vines or other tiny stuff then you can chop it up finer with the hog. Rather than create the pile, why not mow the brush in place? This works much better.