New Holland VS the King

[JohnMiller3]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

<font color=blue>...Can the TC33D adequetly power a 6' rotary cutter...</font color=blue>

I believe you'll be severely restricting yourself going with a 6' rotary cutter with that amount of PTO hp... you'll have to go a lot slower on mowing your field... especially if it's any length {not finish mowing}

Serious brush hogging requires "torque", something most compact tractors are weak in... when you run into the tough stuff- rough mowing {whether it's tall field grass or 1/2-1" thick woody stuff}... you'll hear the engine start to labor and die down in rpm... on larger cid engines - with this added "reserve torque" you can sustain and keep going without skipping a beat...

I'd go with a 5' rotary cutter to utilize the most PTO hp out of your tractor... you'll go faster through your fields, you'll have the right size to really brush hog some up to 1" serious stuff... you'll be much happier... /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

PTO hp is only one part of the equation using rotary cutters... torque reserve is another part...

 

[KYFARMER]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

A) It requires more horsepower to handle a rotery mower in thick grass than light brush. also more horsepower to mow grass with a rotery mower than a finish mower of same size. I guess because blades move slower (I think) and they are duller.
B) I would be concerned weather the tc33 will pick a 6' mower up. I would bet it would not lift my 6' Rhino on level ground, much less on a slope.
Good luck

 

[Bird]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

Newland, of course I agree with everything John Miller has said except . . ., if it were me, I'd go with the 6' rotary cutter for the job you describe. I have a 5' one on a 27 hp tractor and wouldn't want anything smaller (in fact, traded up from a 4' one). But I don't really have much heavy brush cutting to do. And my cousin has a 5' one on a TC29D and does do some really heavy brush cutting. You can always go slower with the big mower, or use more overlap (take smaller bites), and personally, I'd rather do that than be running at top speed wishing I had a bigger one.

 

[jinman]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

Newland, all of the advice you've received so far is excellent, and all I have to add is that you might consider a slip-clutch in your PTO driveline instead of relying on shear bolts. The King Kutter comes standard with shear bolts and on mine, if I don't engage/disengage the PTO slowly at low rpm, I have problems snapping shear bolts. Of course, I have a TC45 with much more torque than your TC33. You can always add the slip-clutch later if you need it, so don't dispair if you snap a few shear bolts until you learn how to engage the driveline slowly. Good luck with your purchase.

 

[djradz]

I'd go with the 6" myself. We had a 5' behind a Ford 1720 (about 28 hp) and never ran into any difficulty with having to slow down. I think 6' is reasonable behind the TC 33D. Yes, in some extremely heavy grassy fields you may need to slow down the ground speed a little, but the worst of that is your mowing a little safer. With the 5' we always felt a six would be better. We still pull a 6' finish mower with the 1720 and it does just fine, except when the grass gets about a foot tall. I think it takes more hp to mow with a finish mower, assuming your mowing the same length grass, etc, because the brush hog throws the choppings out while the finish mower continues to keep trying to cut them up, even though it's not a mulching mower.

On model selection, look at the overall construction. We have both a King Kutter and Woods regular duty brush hogs and although we've been very pleased with the KK, it's not nearly in the same league as the Woods. The deck is made of very light steel and ours hase dented badly. On the other hand, the side rails are first rate and without a ding. Not sure of the NH construction. The other thing to look at, and something I think is MOST important is the cutters ability to float. I think Woods still has the ability to use the "check chains" to support the decks front and incorporates a swivel 3-pt top link. We had to add the chains and swivel to the KK, although now I think they come with the swivel top link. Not sure what the NH has.

 

[JeffInDaUP]

Just wanted to give an opinion on KK. I've been very happy with my KK 6' tiller. It seems very heavy duty, and although I've only tilled about 5 acres worth of land with it, the land was virgin farm land with roots, branches, and very old stumps, that shaked and rattled my L4610, but ate everything in it's path with no complaints, and no damage.

It wouldn't scare me at all to go with their cutter, and like others have said, I'd go with the 5' for greater torque.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

 

[poman]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

Speaking of shear bolts on a KK, I just got one and, being the novice that I am in dealing with tractors and tractor stuff /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif, I am not sure how you are supposed to get to the place where the bolt is installed in the PTO drive line at the mower. When I get the drive line on the mower there is not enough room to get the bolt in the opening. I am sure that the cover has some way to be moved so that the bolt can be installed, but I cannot seem to find how to get it out of the way /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif.

Thanks for any help. /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

poman

 

[tag9889]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

Newland,

I have a TC33D with a 6' rotary cutter. My New Holland dealer sold me a Southern rotary cutter because he had had problems with the New Holland cutters and has not had any problems with the Southern. (The price of the Southern was much better as well.)

I have only used it 3-4 times since I purchased it back in June of 2001. I have used it primarily to keep the field (horse pasture) mowed. My field is approximately 7-8 acres and fairly level. After the first cut I have found that I can move right along. (The first cut had some places where the grass/weeds were 18" high and very thick.)

I haven't really kept track of the time it takes to do the field, but I can't believe it could be more that three hours.

I have cut some brush down with the cutter but nothing very big (1-2").

I really like the tractor, and have no regrets. However, I don't think I work it too hard either.

Good Luck,

Tim

 

[jinman]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

Roger, I suppose I'm opening myself up to being flamed by the safety crowd (not a bad bunch of fellows, just strict). I always take my knife to those end-bell safety covers and modify them by cutting off about 2-1/2 inches /w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif so I can get to the universal joint to grease it and the shear bolt to replace it. The end-bell has a hole in it that is supposed to be used for greasing the u-joint, but I've never been successful at anything but making a mess through that hole./w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif There is a way of releasing the end-bell and pulling it back, but after I use my cutter for about the first month, the release tabs become hard to operate. I used to have a Howse cutter which had a hinged guard like the one on the tractor above the PTO, and that was great because all I had to do was flip it up and the u-joint and shear bolt were right there in the open./w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif I wonder how many other folks have the same problem?

 

[Bird]

Re: NH KK and 5\' VS 6\'

JimI, I usually consider myself part of the safety crowd, but will admit that I simply completely removed the driveline shield from the tiller, and I bought my brush hog a little cheaper by getting it the way it came off the truck and doing the assembly myself, so I left off the shield so that I could get to the grease fittings easier (and can get to the shear bolts easier except that I've never sheared one). I know it isn't the thing to do, but since I'm the one using it, don't allow anyone near when I'm using it, and don't go near that driveline myself if the tractor engine is running (I won't hook up, unhook, or grease fittings with the engine running, even with the PTO turned off), well . . ., to each his own, I guess.