front-mount brush cutter

[quicksandfarmer]

A hydraulic HP calculator is here:
Genuine Metaris: Horsepower Calculator

8 gpm @ 2000 PSI =9.3 HP. At a rule of thumb of 5hp/foot for rotary mowers that means slightly under two feet. 25HP=20GPM +/-. Prince makes a PTO pump that is 21 GPM that is about $500. That should power a 60" mower.

Here's what I've dreamed about: replace the FEL bucket with a 3-point hitch receiver. Put a hydraulic pump on the PTO, and a hydraulic motor with a splined output shaft in the middle of the front receiver. Select the motor to have the same displacement per revolution as the pump, and the motor will turn one revolution for every revolution of the PTO. Presto! Front PTO that works exactly like rear PTO.

Then put mowers, PHD, etc. out front where you can see what they're doing.

 

[quicksandfarmer]

Something like this:
Surplus Center - 9.59 CU IN PTO DRIVE MOTOR

PTO style output shaft, rated at 470 RPM @ 19.7 GPM. Close enough to 540 RPM for government work.

 

[VroomVroom]

I notice this is an old thread. I have wanted something similar to wat JJ posted on the first page for quiet some time. I Know this spring I have to clear about 3 miles of alder thicket that grow in on the sides of the roads until the road is taken over. Their about 1 inche in diameter give or take. I have been thinking of mounting a rectangle stock off the side of the loader bucket, have it spring loaded to absorb some impact. Have ti drilled and place bearings along the rectangle stock to accept 4 or 5 12" circular brush saw blades, driven with chains or vbelts, with maybe a vbelt off of a hydraulic motor for some slippage. I just don't know how the blades will react to a slow steady pace being pushed through brush. The brush is thick enough that when the leaves are on them, its hard to see the ditches they are growing up out of, and its why you need something offset. I only have a 2816 hst mahindra.

 

[jimgerken]

How will your tires survive the "pungy stick minefield" you are going to produce? This sounds like a good job for something with tracks on it.

 

[3238dpw]

How about putting a tilt cylinder on a three point hitch so a brush mower could be angled up to "accept" more brush. Of course this increases risk but probably not as much as the front. I got this idea when I saw a you tube video of a guy that did this to grind up a huge shrub. I can't find it. I will post it if I do or hopefully someone else does.

 

[IslandTractor]

How will your tires survive the "pungy stick minefield" you are going to produce? This sounds like a good job for something with tracks on it.

I don't think that is really much of an issue. There are lots of front mounted mower systems (PowerTrac, Ventec, Steiner, etc) that function very well. If you overlap at all with a rear mounted mower you will drive over the "punji" sticks anyways. And, lots of us back into thick brush with our rear mounted mowers so we run over the "punji" sticks all the time without a problem. Six ply tractor tires are not going to be punctured by sapling stubble. The real Punji sticks are carefully sharpened, not broken the way a sapling would be after being chopped with a bush hog type mower. If you look at the stubble after mowing, there are rarely sticks with sharp points, most are actually rather flat and split.

 

[Xfaxman]

I notice this is an old thread. I have wanted something similar to wat JJ posted on the first page for quiet some time. I Know this spring I have to clear about 3 miles of alder thicket that grow in on the sides of the roads until the road is taken over. Their about 1 inche in diameter give or take. I have been thinking of mounting a rectangle stock off the side of the loader bucket, have it spring loaded to absorb some impact. Have ti drilled and place bearings along the rectangle stock to accept 4 or 5 12" circular brush saw blades, driven with chains or vbelts, with maybe a vbelt off of a hydraulic motor for some slippage. I just don't know how the blades will react to a slow steady pace being pushed through brush. The brush is thick enough that when the leaves are on them, its hard to see the ditches they are growing up out of, and its why you need something offset. I only have a 2816 hst mahindra.

You might get some ideas here: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/customization/280432-thinking-about-trying.html

 

[VroomVroom]

What I was talking about was more like an old sickle bar, which would be extended off the side of the bucket, the tractor would never run over the small stumps. You would drive near the edge, and the cutter would mow down the brush. The alder thicket started growing in the ditches and grow inward, so the tractor will be on the road, or what was once the road while the extension is off to the side mowing the brush. I'm just wondering what circular brush disks would work like on this stuff. I would think a chainsaw chain, would always pop off the bar while mounted on anything that you "Feel" while running it through the brush. I use chain saw for it now, but your bent over for hours on end, and its hard to get the saw in far enough that its not cleared for the following year.

 

[bcp]

I think I would borrow/rent a conventional rear cutter about 2 feet wider than the tractor tread. Then using hitch adjustments, offset it to the side as far as possible. Go mow the road edge a foot or two at each pass. You could probably use a larger mower than normal as you would be cutting only a foot or two at a time. It may take several passes to clear the roadside.

Bruce

 

[IslandTractor]

A simple flail mower like the Caroni TM1900 has the option of being mounted offset to the right by about 18" or so. That allows cutting outside the wheels. Better cut than a bush hog too. Check out the long flail thread here on TBN.