ck20 60" rotary cutter experience?

[Agentiron]

ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

I know some of you fellas have used the 60" bush hog on your ck20's. I have been told that there is too much weight with a 60" on a ck20. Would I be safe with a 60"? Would there be a great risk of damaging the tractor with a 60"? The 60" is only 135lb's more. I can see if I were on unstable terrain where it may be dangerous, but with relatively flat ground or undulating, am I putting something at risk?

Thanks

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

I think you will find that you are lacking in horsepower, not in weight capacity. I don't know what brand 60" cutter you are looking at, but I suspect you are looking at a light duty cutter for a tractor the size of a CK20. A rotary cutter will require roughly 4 to 5 horsepower per 12" of cutter deck for chopping up thick stuff, that said, if you are only going to do light duty work, figure 4hp per foot of cutter deck but you have 5 feet of deck so you would want about 20 PTO horsepower to run that cutter deck. Your CK20 will have roughly 14 PTO horsepower. I suspect you would be far happier with a 48" cutter deck because you'd be able to more effectively use the deck.

Now people will tell you that you can use a 60" deck and to them I say hogwash. To use a 60" deck in anything other than light conditions, you will either have to take partial row cuts or you will have to drive unbearably slow; either way you are not utilizing the deck properly. With a proper sized deck you will be able to run the tractor at a reasonable speed and you won't easily choke it down when you hit thick grass/brush/etc.

People often put oversize implements on small tractors, they then rationalize their use by saying it works great. But often they don't have experience with a proper sized implement, and they don't realize how much they are missing by using the wrong size implement.

A good dealer wouldn't even sell you a 60" cutter for that size/power tractor.

 

[Agentiron]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

Bob

I respect your opinion as much as anyones on this site, and what you say makes sense. I know some folks say they have used a 5 foot deck successfully on the ck20, and I was suprised. I noticed on the Kioti web site it lists a 60" cutter as an option for the ck20. I guess with my wishful thinking, I want to believe it would work fine except in heavy conditions. I know when I read that guys with 35hp tractors bogging down at times with a 5 foot deck, it really makes me wonder.

The deck I was considering would likely be a Rhino. I figure I will move up in tractor size in a couple years and thought it would be nice to have a deck that I could use on another tractor. Like you say, I will likely not be satisfied with the performace. I do think it odd that Kioti lists a 60" deck as an option on a rotary cutter.

Thanks Bob

 

[ToadHill]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

You might get along well with a 60" finish mower on the ck20 for mowing a lawn but the 60" bush hog in heavy brush or high grass won't work. I use a 60" with my DK35 and in heavy brush it has to work real hard at times even with a newly sharpened blade.

 

[Agentiron]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

Now that I think of it, will a 60" box blade be to much for the ck20? I figure in my soft dirt it would be fine, but when it comes to clay I wonder if it will be worthless? Any thoughts, any rules of thumb for determining box blade width in different soil types. I know weight of the tractor is likely as important as the horsepower.

Thanks

 

[KAB]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

I have used a rented 60" rotary cutter behind mine. About 2.5 acres fairly flat, from low to high point about 8' in elevation difference. Field was probably not cut in atleast 5-10 years. (saplings about 1" diameter and lots of good size rose bushes) Slow and easy about 4-5 hours. Finished up the edge of heavier brush in sizes up 2". about .25 acre. This took a LOT longer. Required backing into the brush, pulling out, back in again, back out, repeat until done.

It would not be a problem on a field that is kept maintained and fairly flat. If hills are involved a 4' will be easier to maintain speed.

I also use a 5' box blade. I have not had any problems pulling it. The only complaint that I have with the box blade is that it fills up to fast /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif. This is through top soil and clay. I have used it with the rippers down to remove roots (from the area that was brush hogged). Spread about 16ton of gravel on approx 200' of driveway (see attachment) (it was just dumped.. not tailgated). Also makes it nice since it is wider than the tires. The only one that might be better is a 54" to match the bucket.

Kurt

 

[KAB]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

Here is a pic of about 88' of an other driveway that the boxblade and toothbar cut out. (this is still in the rough stage). (This is the same field that the Rotary Cutter was used on.)

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

You said you are a landscaper in other posts, you also said you will be cutting fields for customers, that means you will be on strange property in various conditions. No way in h..l would I ever consider recommending a 60" rotary cutter for that type of situation. The Kioti 60" rotary cutter is a light duty model that is recommended for the CK20, I'd not suggest a light duty model for a commercial landscape operation.

Regarding the box blade. You are in NW Indiana. Some areas are very sandy (near the lake), some are solid clay (central and south Lake/Porter/LaPorte counties). I'd suggest a 48" BB if you are in an area that is solid clay or in mostly clay. In sand you could pull the 60".

Fact of the matter is you can use anything you want. I'm just throwing out a word of caution.

 

[gmsssi]

Re: ck20 60\" rotary cutter experience?

I use to use a 48" on a Kubota B9200 (21.5 HP....16 PTO HP) and there's no way I would have gone to a 60". I'm not saying you can't do it but IMO your tractor, maneuverability and comfort will suffer significantly.

Get a 48", take a little more time and get the job done right and safely!