Mowing Mowing using ~60 hp, vs 30

[Richard]

WOW a 7 foot Brown, I have seen smaller new Browns, the label on the side says "tree cutter" I am sure his is worn off. That musta been one serious tool.

I've done some digging, it was a Brown 684. When I first saw it, though it LOOKED stout, I'd never heard of the Brown brand (local dealers only have Woods & Bush Hog). I at first, thought (feared) it was a cheap mower. After using it though, I gotta say, it really was a wicked monster

Brown Mfg Corp - Trench Master F-1201

 

[sandman2234]

Now that you have done the hard part, getting it cleared again, a wider, less expensive mower might work. There is no doubt that a Brown is the cat's meow when it comes to being durable, and once purchased, it will probably last for many, many years. With the price of the 684, and it only being 7 feet of cut, I would tend to shy away from it if the property I was cutting was already cleared. I would be looking at something almost twice that wide in hopes to lower my time expended mowing the property.
In regards to increase in power, I know how you feel, after going from a Ford 1100 to a JD 2555. An increase of about 5 times the hp, or 13hp to 68hp. I was shopping for a tractor of 20 to 30 horses when I found the JD.
David from jax

 

[redlevel]

You can get some serious work done with a 6640. I put 2000 hrs. on one, mostly pulling a NH 650 round baler. The manual with the baler called for a minimum 80hp tractor, and the 6640 is only rated at about 76hp. I pulled it in fifth or sixth gear without a problem. There was one hill where I had to punch the button for whatever NH calls their electronic gear reduction, and then only if I had almost a full chamber.

The engine in that tractor isn't turbocharged, intercooled, or any of the other stuff they do now to get more horses out of less cubic inches. If I remember correctly, it was about a 305 ci engine, developing 76hp. Some of the tractors on the market now that are advertised at 100hp have only maybe 75% of the displacement the 6640 has. I wonder if they will be as durable?

 

[Soundguy]

Small mowers are a pain aren't they. I only have 13 ac to cut.. and rally only 10 of that needs brush mowing.. the other 3 are good pasture and lawn.

I only get 1 day a week off.. and it used to take me the better portion of a day to get that pasture mowed.. Thus.. i had 3 days a month off. i got tired of that and traded in my 30pto hp tractor for a 90 pto hp tractor. Immediatly went to a 10' mower vs a 5' mower. ( couldn't afford anything bigger than 10' ). Wow.. what a difference... mowing time, predictable, dropped by a bit more than half. ( mow width doubled.. but tractor was beefy enough to catch a gear and mow faster ). Imagine my suprise when i got a good deal on a beat up 15' mower... Tractor is still beefy enough to run the 15'er in 5th gear. It now takes me 1hr 45m to cut the 10 ac.

See if you can get that big mower and take a load off your 'back'..

Soundguy

I don't know the exact HP numbers...

I use to cut the fields using an IH-444 (30 pto??). I haven't cut the fields in 3 1/2 YEARS because of the BEATING I get.

Example: The tractor is old & not kept up very well, the 5' mower (to cut about 125 acres is also beat to "heck")

Cutting one specific field alone, takes about 9/10 hours, cutting in low range, first/second gear..depending if you are going up or down the hill. I sometimes think I could use hand clippers and get it done faster.

Because it's so brutal to use this contraption we call a tractor, we don't mow often. Since we don't mow often, it becomes overgrown. Since it becomes overgrown when it IS mowed, it's a real nighmare with saplings everywhere.

So, it's been 3 1/2 years since the entire farm has been cut.

(I might add, since the land belongs to my father in law, I'm hesitant on ME forking out some $$ to buy a "real" tractor & mower to cut it for him...I don't mind doing the labor part if he'd get the horsepower)

Fast forward to last week.

My brother in law has a bulldozer. Seems someone wanted to rent/borrow it. The guy is in real estate. This guy has a 65 pto NH, with steel plates underneith it, cages on the side. He uses it to clear out raw land he's listing for sale.

Hmmm.... somewhere someone said "what if you use the dozer and let us use your tractor???" (also equiped with a HD 7' "Brown" (brand) mower)

So, last week, (Friday) this thing popped up. Brother in law and sister in law cut one of the fields. We thought the owner would pick it up on Monday.

He didn't.

I went home at 11:00 on Tuesday before Thanksgiving. I started cutting & kept cutting.

For what was done over the weekend and on through Wednesday, we (primarily me) put 50 hours on this thing and went through about 50 gallons of diesel.

This thing was a cutting MONSTER!!!! I was knocking over saplings that though were maybe 3" diamater, were 15' tall making me feel like I was cutting down Sherwood Forest!!

The last time I cut the farm it literally took me ALL summer. The field behind my house that usually takes 9/10 hours to cut on the IH, took me about 4 hours

I was cutting this hill (after not being cut in 3 1/2 years) in FIFTH gear, going UP hill!!! I can't even begin to say how much easier this machine made it.

Now that Father in law sees farm cut, he thinks it looks great, which it does. He's wanting to KEEP it this way... (hmm...)

He's looking at a Kubota M-8200 (I think is the number) and wants to see if he can drive it with his bad hips. I told him it doesn't matter if he can or not, that I'd be HAPPY to keep the farm cut, if we JUST had something not so brutal to use...

I really don't want to spend my free time during summer months cutting someone elses property. If however, we had a 10/15' cutter, I'd probably cut the farm a couple times a year to keep it neatly trimmed.

No point to this thread other than to simply gawk at what the difference in twice the HP and a 50% bigger cutter will get ya when you are cutting down some thick stuff!!

 

[1bush2hog]

If you only had 3 years worth of growth the Brown 484 would do the trick for you. The 484 is pretty heavy duty so I can only imagine what that 684 must have been like. The 684 is almost 1000lbs heavier than the 484 and it costs twice as much

Richard - Did you have any problems on the hills with the front end getting light with that much weight hanging off the back?

 

[Richard]

No, not at all. Not only do I belive the tractor had front end weights (not 100% positive but I think it did)... actually, I guess it probably HAD to?? Now that I think about it, there were a number of times I was moving around with the mower completely lifted up and never ever felt the front end lighten up.

Now, it's probably worth pointing out that this machine had a steel plate fabricated along the entire underneith of it, as well as probably 2" square tubing going vertical in the very front, angling back to the ROPS, into a makeshift 'canopy'. it also had that stretched metal as a cage. On the right side, about knee height, it didn't have the stretched metal, it had the same solid plate that was under the machine.

I don't know HOW much weight was added by the extra steel, but it was clearly obvious that someone built this thing to be taken into places no mortal tractor would/should go without fearing for it's hoses.

This thing really was rock stable. Even when running over say, a 3" tree, our regular tractor first off, would never do it. This tractor, not only ran it over, but instead of shaking to death like ours would do, it simply made a lot of racket as the tree became chipped up fodder.

When running over say, an 8' tall "evergreen" kind of bush...what I found interesting was I could tell when it hit the blades. It created a soft 'mushy' feel, instead of the stout crunch the regular trees created.

Oh, if only I could have this for a summer... my wife & sister in law want some trails cut throughout the farm...this would make doing that absolute childsplay!!! (and fun to boot)