Rotary Cutter Problems with my new Bush Hog 3008

[tradosaurus]

1. Go slower
2. Make sure rotary cutter deck is tilted forward slightly (3/4" higher in the back than the front) to help expel the grass out the back so you are not cutting the same grass over and over.

 

[LD1]

1. Go slower
2. Make sure rotary cutter deck is tilted forward slightly (3/4" higher in the back than the front) to help expel the grass out the back so you are not cutting the same grass over and over.

Uh, yeah. Did you read the post?

 

[LD1]

The problem is this stupid 3" brace all across the front that lays down weeds.

If this brace were on TOP it would let the stemmy stuff get to the blades better before being laid down

 

[LD1]

So now I have a brace on TOP. All I gotta do now is cut the bottom one off

 

[LD1]

Hope this helps. Otherwise it was a waste of 3 hrs

 

[Rustyiron]

LD, new blades did the trick. I've never used a bush hog over the years for "finer" mowing, just knocking down heavy brush or clearing woods of what will bend over and chop up. That (and all my rocks) led me to never ever sharpening the blades. I ordered 4 new blades (Bush Hog) and noticed that the old blade, when laid next to the new ones were dramatically curved upward. I had not seen this before and would have not imagined that it would have mattered so much.

 

[Turbys_1700]

View attachment 608985

Hope this helps. Otherwise it was a waste of 3 hrs

You did the only thing you could do. Great job on the fab. IMHO it was worth the time invested. Let us know the outcome LD.

 

[LD1]

LD, new blades did the trick. I've never used a bush hog over the years for "finer" mowing, just knocking down heavy brush or clearing woods of what will bend over and chop up. That (and all my rocks) led me to never ever sharpening the blades. I ordered 4 new blades (Bush Hog) and noticed that the old blade, when laid next to the new ones were dramatically curved upward. I had not seen this before and would have not imagined that it would have mattered so much.

Curious on your cutter, what's the distance between the blade and bottom of the deck? And how low does your from brace hang. I wish I would have got some before pics of the mowing quality. But it really looks just like the first pic the OP posted, even crawling at like half a mph.

Your new blades, are they flat or are they lift/suction type

 

[Rustyiron]

Flat, no uplift.

 

[Rustyiron]

....or at least no big pronounced up lift like on a lawn mower. I really don't remember and I'll have to check. My pic looks like there is a little and I may be remembering my old blades. As you know blades can be a not so fun job to be polite and I put those job's out of my memory. And then there's the "CRS":laughing:

 

[Ford850]

Flat, no uplift.
View attachment 609028

Wow, those were really bent up! LD1's blades look like they are still in good condition, with the cutting edges hanging level.
LD1, how much rake do you usually have? With your experience I'm assuming you've experienced with the amount of rake already.

 

[LD1]

Flat, no uplift.
View attachment 609028

Those actually look like what they call "uplift"

Looks like behind where it is sharpened, the blade gives a little upward curve. But pic could be deceiving.

And for that cutter, I think the "flat" blades are actually double edge. I am looking at getting bushhog part number 86666. Seems I can find them for ~35 a blade. And woods wants $140/pair. Dimensions are the same nearest I can tell. Mine measure 20-1/4" long, 17-3/4" from hole center to tip, 1.5" hole, and 2" offset. Only difference I see is my woods blades are either 3/8 or 7/16" thick and the bushhog are 1/2".

 

[LD1]

Wow, those were really bent up! LD1's blades look like they are still in good condition, with the cutting edges hanging level.
LD1, how much rake do you usually have? With your experience I'm assuming you've experienced with the amount of rake already.

I usually set the rear ~2" higher than the front.

But it varies. Some jobs I cut higher, some lower. And unless I make an extreme height difference, I usually dont mess with the tailwheels. So bumping the cut height up and down changes the front more than the back, so the pitch changes. I'd say a good average is 5"-6" front and 7"-8" rear.

But I experiment on the fly. Hydraulic toplink, I can change the pitch on the fly and just not let the tailwheels touch. I can rake the back up to 12"+ while leaving the frotn down at 5" inches. Makes no difference. Stemmy stuff still stands up. Dense patches of thistle that are 5' tall, stands of goldenrod, etc. Just cut like crap regardless of speed or pitch. And I run my blades sharp too.

Thats why I am hoping this works. With the cutter more "open" on the front, I am hoping it will lessen then angle of the weed as the front tries to lay it down. Hoping that buys enough time for it to actually get cut, rather than laying down under the blades.

Dont know the exacts, I can measure this afternoon, but there is only about 6" between the blades and the deck bottom.

And that piece I cut off, was 3". And it was a few inches forward of the blades even, when the blades were at their closest to the front of the deck.

SO basically having a piece of metal.....in FRONT of the cutting path.....laying weeds down. And that piece of metal was only 3" above the cutting height of the blade.

Now I have 6" of so

 

[LD1]

This is the before and after difference of how much the weeds will be laid over.

That is my usual mow height. 6.75" and 8.5" in back

 

[weathda]

I'm interested in your results LD1. That looks like it should do the trick! I've got a DS96 too and in tall stem johnson grass it doesn't do very well. I have to double cut some places. I took this video just after sharpening my blades. The weeds are taller than the deck is long and so the stems don't have a chance to come back up. This clip is fast forwarded to a spot that shows I had to do a triple cut. I don't cut for the public, but it's still annoying to have to go over an area twice.

Farmtrac Bush hogging - YouTube

My dad has an 8' Landpride and it does about the same in the tall stuff. My brother and I have a 15' Woods and it does much better in this stuff. But the deck is much deeper and longer on the 15'.

 

[SPYDERLK]

I usually set the rear ~2" higher than the front.

But it varies. Some jobs I cut higher, some lower. And unless I make an extreme height difference, I usually dont mess with the tailwheels. So bumping the cut height up and down changes the front more than the back, so the pitch changes. I'd say a good average is 5"-6" front and 7"-8" rear.

But I experiment on the fly. Hydraulic toplink, I can change the pitch on the fly and just not let the tailwheels touch. I can rake the back up to 12"+ while leaving the frotn down at 5" inches. Makes no difference. Stemmy stuff still stands up. Dense patches of thistle that are 5' tall, stands of goldenrod, etc. Just cut like crap regardless of speed or pitch. And I run my blades sharp too.

Thats why I am hoping this works. With the cutter more "open" on the front, I am hoping it will lessen then angle of the weed as the front tries to lay it down. Hoping that buys enough time for it to actually get cut, rather than laying down under the blades.

Dont know the exacts, I can measure this afternoon, but there is only about 6" between the blades and the deck bottom.

And that piece I cut off, was 3". And it was a few inches forward of the blades even, when the blades were at their closest to the front of the deck.

SO basically having a piece of metal.....in FRONT of the cutting path.....laying weeds down. And that piece of metal was only 3" above the cutting height of the blade.

Now I have 6" of so

Hey, you really got right on it! Good pics. Good job.

Its going to work. Youve touched on about every pertinent parameter here. The part I bolded causes a varying effect as you know, since the front is flat/straight, and not instead contoured to approximate the blade arc. - - I have no experience with multispindle. My only long term experience is with an old 5' JD which is contoured with 3 angles and therefore presents more equal layover across the cut path. Blade setback from the front edge is only 1" in the middle and doesnt increase a lot until out near full cut width.
- - With your front skirt essentially removed that varying effect might fall into the noise and be undetectable even with the straight across front.
​

Ill be interested in hearing how it works out, and also whether front ricochets become any problem

 

[Ford850]

That's good stuff LD1. I agree it should make a substantial improvement.

 

[lostcreekranch]

My BH 3008 is about 10 years old and probably 350-400 hours on it. I touched up my blades with a grinder about 100 hours ago. It's cuts just fine. This is tall Bahia grass, running in Range II 2nd gear.

The rear of the deck is set about 3" higher than the front.







It cuts the same forward or reverse.

 

[lostcreekranch]

For comparison here is Bahia in our 9 acre "yard", not quite as tall as the above pasture, cut with my 84" rear finish mower.

 

[LD1]

My BH 3008 is about 10 years old and probably 350-400 hours on it. I touched up my blades with a grinder about 100 hours ago. It's cuts just fine. This is tall Bahia grass, running in Range II 2nd gear.

The rear of the deck is set about 3" higher than the front.

View attachment 609737

View attachment 609738

View attachment 609739

It cuts the same forward or reverse.

Jobs like that I don't have a problem with either and can usually maintain 6-7mph.