Bush hog

[W5FL]

Yeah, I noticed that for a long time. My Kubota has a wet clutch and brake on the pto. It stops the blades much quicker than my Massey that had the two speed clutch. I used to pull in the barn, cut off the tractor, close the door and the blades would still be turning. Now that is a lot of inertia!

 

[alan40]

Thanks for all the inputs. Went to the Bush hog dealer today and looked at a 6 foot squealer just to see what one looked like compared to other brands. He's asking $1275.00 before tax for a 5 foot. I find this rather hard to believe especially when he said,"medium and heavy duty are about the same price. The shopping around I've done lately seems to make me think a light to medium duty brush hog should be in the $750 - $950 range. Maybe I'm asking for to good a deal if there is such a thing. My Ford dealer is reccomending a SouthEast. He says it better constructed then the NH 951 rotary cutter and it'$750.00. The more you look at these things the more choices you have to make. That's to bad because then I have to go and hang out in more tractor and implement stores!!!!! My 3 year old son thinks this is great fun too!! Have a great day, Al

 

[Bird]

Wow, alan40, I bought a 5' Howse last Fall for $495 (light duty) because my dealer wanted $795 for a 5' Bush Hog squealer. I can't imagine a dealer pricing the squealer at $1275. Of course, when you get into the heavy duty ones, I priced one 5' John Deere that the dealer wanted $1450 for.

MikeH, I've been lucky so far and only gotten some very short pieces of wire in my brush hog, but Wednesday afternoon I was mowing deep grass and weeds in a pasture when my brush hog suddenly developed a severe vibration, and I found that it had picked up several feet of half inch rope that managed to get tied both around the spindle and at the end of one blade, then that rope held a big batch of grass and weeds to that one blade; sure threw things way out of balance./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif At least it was a lot easier to cut away with my pocket knife than wire would have been.

Bird

 

[W5FL]

You need to get on the phone and check Rhino and Bush Hog. They are both well known brands and in the light duty are pretty good mowers. They have a 1 year guarantee and next year you will be able to get parts for them or 5 years from now. The 6 ft medium duty Rhino was $1650 and the 5ft Light Duty Rhino was $650. I bough the Bush Hog Medium Duty 6 ft mower and it was $1850 with slip clutch and chains.

 

[alan40]

Thanks for the prices. I thought $1275.00 for a SQ600 Squealer sounded high. Called a second Bush Hog rep further south and got a completely different set of prices. Go figure!! Can't find a Rhino dealer in Vermont so now I'm checking upstate N.Y within a 100 miles or so. Still in search of,
Al

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Just for your info, just picked up some prices from a local JD dealer in western Washington state for 5 foot rotary cutters:

Bush Hog SQ60- 876.00
Bush Hog Razorback- 713.00
King Cutter- 715.00
John Deere 513- 735.00

Good shopping.

 

[PaulB]

alan - I live in Central New York, and just this year got a 4 foot King Kutter brand rotary mower for $520. The 5 footer was $30 more. I got mine at Farm and Family, and TSC has a very similar line at the exact same price. My tractor is 17 horsepower and handles the 4 footer easily. I think you are looking in the right range to go to 5 feet for your tractor. Over $1000 for even the "bushhog" brand name sounds outrageous, so maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to make the trip to N.Y.if it saves you several hundred bucks.

 

[alan40]

PaulB, your absolutely right. Have a brother-in-law in Watertown checking as I type this. I've narrowed my choices down to King Cutter, Southeast, and Farmhand (Agco Corp) based on specs and price range. Going to keep my eyes open for a good deal. Don't really have to have it until spring. This is just research to see how much extra money I need to earn this winter.
Have a great day, Al

 

[Von]

Al,
There is a Central Tractor in Watertown that sells Kingkutter. 5ft. for $529.00.

Von

 

[W5FL]

Check the warranties. Many brands are 30 to 90 days while others are 1 yr. Rotary cutters are sometimes misused and some dealers will not accept them as tradeins because they don't know how they have been treated or maintained. See if you can get parts like a gearbox or blades locally for them.