What have you done to your Branson today?

   / What have you done to your Branson today? #251  
Thanks.

Sorry, it was a long day. I meant to explain it a bit better but totally forgot to do it.

So, here in Portugal, is quite common to use big chains (I think it's 3/4" chain) on the mowers instead of regular blades. This will last a lot longer when working in places that might have rocks or boulders hidden in the bush where the blades would break.

It will also do a better job in the forest environment, which we have a lot, as it will shred pretty much everything. This will take use more horsepower than the blades but can also handle cutting canes a lot better. That's why we buy the mowers a bit smaller than the tractor.

Here a couple of pictures of what I'm trying to explain. It's a bit harder to see as they have painted everything on the first picture. You can see the chains hanging down in the second picture.

aDKgcjcl.jpg


QLs2XLSl.jpg

That’s cool and looks like low maintenance. Do you have any more pictures of it’s destructive power? How does it handle brush?
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #252  
It will handle brush really well. Even for just a 35 hp tractor. You can see a bit better in the video in my Youtube channel.

Yesterday I mowed a field that half of it was walking fern about as high as the ROPS. I had to do it in reverse and it just destroyed everything to the ground in just one pass. Unfortunately I forgot to take any pictures.

Here is the heaviest and harder brush I've ever deal with, plus it was done in a really steep hill. This is more like a forest brush, not like grass and other herbs. It was at least 50" high and from 1/2" to 1" diameter, sometimes ever larger on the bigger ones.

tAVEGWXh.jpg


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And here is a small clip mowing those walking fern after I've put my dad to work. I have the mower in the lowest height setting which with brush as dense as this, doesn't leave much room for the processed material to spread around and keeps leaving small piles of brush. I need to put it in the other setting which is around 2 1/2" from the ground versus maybe 1" or 1 1/2".

It's not really a finish mower but it does pretty well. And yes, if you don't keep constantly hitting rocks, the chains will last really long time.

 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #253  
Thanks Bob!

Yes, I've built a few things myself. I'm only 24. Started my backhoe at 13 years old, with the help of my dad and finished it at 18 years old. To be honest, I've never finished it as I keep improving and adding things.

I'm now in the process of designing and building a loader for my tractor. I've build one for a Kubota B7000 a few years back that came out pretty good at the time. I will build pretty much everything, including the cylinders.

6KxJwJhl.png

Wow!

Good stuff Pedro.

I'm looking forward to watching your Youtube channel.
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #254  
I mounted by back hoe yesterday in about 10 minutes. May not sound like much but it was the second time. First time took me over an hour! Glad I stuck with it.
Once mounted I worked on building up the banks of a little stream crossing. When my 12 year old nephew comes to visit this week he can help me build the bridge. It will give us something to do together.
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #255  
Wow!

Good stuff Pedro.

I'm looking forward to watching your Youtube channel.

Thanks Bob!

I might just create a thread here in the Forum whenever the time comes to actually start building it. It will be a really long process as I have to manage the funds for this. Otherwise I would just bought one either used or new.

I already have the rectangular tubing and some pieces of steel for the main structure in stock so that's a big plus on building it myself.
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #256  
I mounted by back hoe yesterday in about 10 minutes. May not sound like much but it was the second time. First time took me over an hour! Glad I stuck with it.
Once mounted I worked on building up the banks of a little stream crossing. When my 12 year old nephew comes to visit this week he can help me build the bridge. It will give us something to do together.

I'm definitely getting better with mine - probably 5 minutes this time, from when I started backing up the tractor to the 'hoe! This time I backed up spot-on, killed power, connected hoses, power up, used outriggers to push the backhoe up... then hopped in the driver's seat and jimmied it forward and backwards a few times so that it lined up again since the backhoe wasn't well aligned once I'd raised it. A bit more outrigger and dipper (push enough with the outriggers and the front of the subframe went up, so dipper down to counter that), and then backed the tractor onto the hooks, and then it was pinning time.

Less and less trauma... I almost killed my tractor the first time I tried to re-attach my backhoe (I'd dropped it on "flat" but somewhat rutted ground and nope it wasn't flat at all) and that was a confidence killer!
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #257  
All done sifting the dirt after 3 years .
Started to dig a pond in 2015

IMG_0928.JPGIMG_0930.JPG

As you can see it was a loosing battle with the water. The area was a pond 20 years ago but last owner filled it in with old culvert asphalt and crap.
So I hired a guy to assist. 6 hrs later in was done.
Then the sifting started.

IMG_1485.JPGIMG_1490.JPG

IMG_0936.JPGIMG_1484.JPG

Guy that dig the hole figured there was 40-50 tandem truck loads

IMG_1941.JPGIMG_1940.JPGIMG_1939.JPGIMG_1938.JPGIMG_1942.JPG

and the end result

IMG_1943.JPG

All that dirt and crap went one bucket at a time though the grizzly.
Still have several trailer loads to hide in the low spots in the woods road But sifting is all done .
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #258  
Nova Scotia!

I thought that part of the world was pretty rocky. The soil looks fairly clean though.

Nice job... did you use bentonite or a liner?
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #259  
This part of NS is mostly clay. So no liner is required.
Been having a long dry hot sunny > Might have had 5 hrs of light rain drizzle in 5 weeks. Pond has only dropped 12".
 
   / What have you done to your Branson today? #260  
What brand mower is that? I've never seen one.
Thanks.

Sorry, it was a long day. I meant to explain it a bit better but totally forgot to do it.

So, here in Portugal, is quite common to use big chains (I think it's 3/4" chain) on the mowers instead of regular blades. This will last a lot longer when working in places that might have rocks or boulders hidden in the bush where the blades would break.

It will also do a better job in the forest environment, which we have a lot, as it will shred pretty much everything. This will take use more horsepower than the blades but can also handle cutting canes a lot better. That's why we buy the mowers a bit smaller than the tractor.

Here a couple of pictures of what I'm trying to explain. It's a bit harder to see as they have painted everything on the first picture. You can see the chains hanging down in the second picture.

aDKgcjcl.jpg


QLs2XLSl.jpg
 

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