Rotary Cutter Countyline 5ft Rotary Cutter... any good?

[MESSMAKER]

I have the King Kutter and it has several differences from the countryline.
1. No spider bracing
2. lower 3pt hith is slightly different
3. The Countyline does not use chanel for the frame. They just turn under the lower edge as best as I can tell.
4. the Countline has a bowed top near the gearbox

I have the KK and it is pretty good.It could be sturdier. It has great cut quality. I can't believe the the Countyline is as tough. I would only conlider it for pastures.

 

[DAY]

Harbor Freight vs Snap-on:
TSC is fine for a few acres of weeds, but you need better machinery for clearing brush- or maintaining 20 acres of pasture.

 

[Ledgemere Farm]

Scratch that idea! I have 16 acres of overgrown fields to reclaim!

 

[bumperm]

Old thread.

I bought a Countryline 5' a couple of years ago.

Like most rotary cutters nowadays, the top link attach point has very limited range of motion to allow rear wheel to follow uneven terrain - unlike the cutters sold 20 years ago that had a chain support for the rear. The newer, "safer" design may be okay for the flat stuff, but I've got uneven terrain to mow so I modified mine, moved the "A" frame up and mounted on new bolts to pivot, put new lift arm pins below. Rigid rear supports replaced with chain.

The side skirts on the Countryline are a full 8" high. The blade tips are almost 4" higher than the bottom of the skirt so it's near impossible to cut much shorter than 5 to 6". To remedy that, I cut 2" from the skirt width using a plasma cutter. Instead of the 90 degree bent sheet metal at the bottom of the skirt, I reinforced the bottom with 3/4" square tubing, much stronger and lengthened the front corner skids as well. Maybe not Bush Hog quality, but it gets the job done.