Bush Hog BH27 too big for MX5800?

[Hozzie]

I am in the market for a Rotary Cutter for my MX5800 with 50 HP PTO. After some research I was planning to order a Woods BB720 (6'). Just looking at CL and there is a BushHog BH27 (7') available with limited use which has a good price. My concern is the BH27 may be a bit too much cutter for my machine. The website says it recommends 55HP PTO. I do have my tires as far out as I can go, so the extra foot would be nice to cover the tracks, but not if I will be wrestling with it.

General terrain is rolling hills with some woods undergrowth cutting, but mostly just regular pasture maintenance. I am not mowing 20 acres, so the extra width for time savings isn't a big concern.

I can probably get the BH27 for $1000 less than the BB720.

Thanks for your insight.

 

[jblac197]

I am in the market for a Rotary Cutter for my MX5800 with 50 HP PTO. After some research I was planning to order a Woods BB720 (6'). Just looking at CL and there is a BushHog BH27 (7') available with limited use which has a good price. My concern is the BH27 may be a bit too much cutter for my machine. The website says it recommends 55HP PTO. I do have my tires as far out as I can go, so the extra foot would be nice to cover the tracks, but not if I will be wrestling with it.

General terrain is rolling hills with some woods undergrowth cutting, but mostly just regular pasture maintenance. I am not mowing 20 acres, so the extra width for time savings isn't a big concern.

I can probably get the BH27 for $1000 less than the BB720.

Thanks for your insight.

I ran a 6 foot rotary cutter on my 38 hp kubota without any issues at all. Handled it just fine. Only reason I downsized to a 5 foot was because I needed to fit into tighter spacers.

 

[sea2summit]

I run a 7’ finish mower behind mine and it doesn’t even know it’s back there, wish I had a gear splitter for it so I didn’t have to run the tractor at such high RPMs

 

[nybirdman]

I run a six foot LandPride behind a L4240 Kubota(44 H.P.),no problem.You should be about to handle a 7' for light duty clipping for sure.You may need to keep the loader on or run front weights.

 

[nybirdman]

I purchase a new Bush-Hog branded rotary cutter in 2004;it has been used on three different tractors and probably has at least 1200 hours of use;looks bad but still works fine.This one has a shear pin;the larger ones use a slip clutch;service every spring and you will have no problems.
That 7 footer weighs about 1300 lbs.

 

[Zebrafive]

If you're cutting very low the 6' will cut better (less scalping) than the 7'. You also might want to compare blade tip speed of both to help decide.

 

[Overtaxed]

50PTO HP should be more than enough to run that cutter. I suspect the reason they suggest a high HP is for weight more than power necessary to run that machine. A 50HP PTO machine can run a 12' batwing as long as you're not trying to cut 3' grass, you'll be fine, just slow it down a little. It's much nicer to run slower anyway, less abusive to the driver and the gear than using a smaller cutter and running 10MPH to try to keep the machine working hard. I'd say go for it. The only reason I don't have a 7-8' fixed deck cutter with my 50HP PTO machine is because my land is too hilly, I need a floating deck to keep from scalping. Even my 6' is hard to deal with at times if I want to cut down close to the ground. But this is a problem on any large fixed cutter and not related to your original question; I think you'll be fine with that machine and have plenty of power to cut quickly with it.

 

[Hozzie]

Thanks for all of the replies. After looking more and reading a bit more, I think I am just going to go with the BB720X. I do have fluid in the tires and don't foresee taking off my loader in most cases, so weight hopefully isn't an issue, but it weighs ~100lb's less and has a tip speed of 15,900 which is 1,500fps faster than the BH27. It should also be a bit easier to maneuver in tight spaces, albeit minimally. If I want to mow faster later, I will look into one of the low HP 12' batwings.

Thanks again.

 

[big bubba]

ran a 6' hd Bush Hog on an MX500. good match. would much rather go hduty 6' on a tractor your size than a mid or light duty 7'. besides, a 7' hog imho is an odd size to be avoided. with blades that size, you're going to get a lot of vibration hitting stuff and not the quality cut of a 6'.
am sure some will disagree, just my take

 

[inode]

I just went through this decision making with what to put behind my Kubota M7060. I was really leaning towards a 7' rotary cutter as anything larger was out of my budget. As I read more, I ended up going with a 6' Titan 1606 with chains. The specs on the deck looked better than the Bush Hog BH26 I was looking at and it was considerably less expensive. The 7' cutters are large and I know I'll be cutting some thick stuff initially. The land I cut in east TN is hilly in the front and I wanted more maneuverability in tight spots. At some point later, I might purchase a larger pull-type cutter for the pasture.

 

[Ford850]

The BH is category ll/lll while the Woods is cat l/ll in case that matters. The woods has about 10% better blade tip speed. The BH has a little lower set blades and able to cut down to 1 1/2" height compared to the Woods which as 2" minimum.

 

[Industrial Toys]

We used to run a three spindle Liliston 8 foot brush mower behind a 42 HP Tractor. No problem at all.

 

[big bubba]

We used to run a three spindle Liliston 8 foot brush mower behind a 42 HP Tractor. No problem at all.

actually think that's called a twin spindle machine with a center divider box.

 

[Industrial Toys]

It had three sets of blades, two pivoting on each spindle to help when hitting things. Which we did a lot! My Dad spent a lot of time under there! lol At one point we tried sharpened, cut up truck springs.

 

[Hozzie]

The other thing I can get with the Woods is dual wheels which I like to help reduce scalping. Was quoted $3900 and 90 day wait for a new one with the dual wheels and chains. Think I could buy the BH27 for $2750 but am convinced it's just too big and would be better to go to a pull type 8' dual spindle if I want to go bigger.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Not sure I have seen a brush mower with anti scalping rollers. Usually, you're not that close to the ground to need them.

 

[big bubba]

It had three sets of blades, two pivoting on each spindle to help when hitting things. Which we did a lot! My Dad spent a lot of time under there! lol

i stand corrected.... interesting set up, would like to see ... best regards

 

[Hozzie]

Not sure I have seen a brush mower with anti scalping rollers. Usually, you're not that close to the ground to need them.

They aren't technical anti-scalp rollers, just two support wheels on the back (more like an 8' cutter) instead of one. It doesn't allow the cutter to bottom out as much on a single side when going over undulations. Another benefit is it is shorter than a cutter with only one support wheel.

 

[Industrial Toys]

We bought it surplus from the Canadian Armed Forces in the 60s. We had no hydraulics on our first Massey Harris tractor, so you had the crank the two trailing wheels up and down. Our next tractor had a 3ph so we put a drawbar on the lifting arms and adjusted it that way. Today, I would have replaced the crank with a cylinder.

I'm sure Liliston is LONG gone, but it was a great design.

 

[RickB]

Not sure I have seen a brush mower with anti scalping rollers. Usually, you're not that close to the ground to need them.

It has two tail wheels.