ArmsOutWide
Member
I'm a new owner (15 hours) of an L3400 and a Rhino 172 brush cutter (with chain guards). I would call the mower "standard duty" as there are lighter and heavier models available at that size from Rhino. I also only have 4 hours on the cutter, so take my experience with a grain of salt.
So, given my brief experience, I think a 6' cutter is fine. At first I believed the dealer and was going to get a 5' cutter, but then on advice of the TBN nation I got the 6' instead. I had to talk the dealer into letting me pair the brush cutter / tractor together. It is slightly "over spec" at ~850 lbs, but the tractor handles it fine overall. A couple of times I thought that I was getting a bit of "tail wagging the dog" from the cutter, but later on a neighbor pointed out that my "check chains" had loosened up, and that was probably the cause of the sway.
Anyway, I have been knocking down 1-2" blackjack oak saplings (mostly dead already) with the FEL and then chewing them up with the mower (while mowing waist high grass). Now, most of the tree trunk would get pressed down below the blade of the mower, but after it gets run over the rest is pretty much mulch. On the disclaimer side, I was also driving pretty slow since I was trying to find the rocks BEFORE I ran over them.
So, given my brief experience, I think a 6' cutter is fine. At first I believed the dealer and was going to get a 5' cutter, but then on advice of the TBN nation I got the 6' instead. I had to talk the dealer into letting me pair the brush cutter / tractor together. It is slightly "over spec" at ~850 lbs, but the tractor handles it fine overall. A couple of times I thought that I was getting a bit of "tail wagging the dog" from the cutter, but later on a neighbor pointed out that my "check chains" had loosened up, and that was probably the cause of the sway.
Anyway, I have been knocking down 1-2" blackjack oak saplings (mostly dead already) with the FEL and then chewing them up with the mower (while mowing waist high grass). Now, most of the tree trunk would get pressed down below the blade of the mower, but after it gets run over the rest is pretty much mulch. On the disclaimer side, I was also driving pretty slow since I was trying to find the rocks BEFORE I ran over them.