Rotary Cutter Say No to Rear Bands on Rotary Cutters, Get Chains!

[Tractorable]

Today, for the second time this year, I bent the rear metal band on my bush hog backing up into a small low cut stump hiding in the grass, causing the blades to impact the back of the bush hog.

Last time I spent a lot of time repairing it, this time I’m just going to remove it all together and order a set of rear chains.

What a PITA these rear bands are. They also don’t let material flow out from under the bush hog very well.

Just venting after busting my equipment....

 

[MechanicalGuy]

I've been eyeing the thing on my landpride and it looks mighty flimsy. It's also not covering much. If I take it off, the mower deck has just a little turn up in the middle that would open up.

 

[ptsg]

Chain guards are a must on mower IMO. We only have mowers with chains guards here. We also use chains instead of blades for the cutting, that will throw big things, really far away. A band guard wouldn't last 3 hours.

It won't get all bent up when reversing over hidden stumps, rocks and etc.

It allow for a better spreading of the mowed stuff.

 

[oosik]

I've been looking at rotary cutters for several years now. Just can't swallow that large $$$ outlay and pull the trigger. I see the advantages to chains and would be getting them on anything I would purchase.

I just wonder - why is a set of chains so God Awful expensive. Right now my choice would be - Rhino TW35 @ around $4000. A set of chains for this cutter would add almost $1000.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Chain guards are a must on mower IMO. We only have mowers with chains guards here. We also use chains instead of blades for the cutting, that will throw big things, really far away. A band guard wouldn't last 3 hours.

It won't get all bent up when reversing over hidden stumps, rocks and etc.

It allow for a better spreading of the mowed stuff.

View attachment 614590

Could you tell us more about how your mower is set up with chains instead of blades and what advantage chains are to you over blades. Maybe a picture too. Thanks.

gg

 

[3Ts]

I agree on the chains. I tried the rubber guard bands and while I didn't have the problems about bending things or backing into stumps, the guards got torn and were more of a problem than a help. Chains are the only way to go, but they are not perfect. I've still had material thrown out from under it.

 

[ruffdog]

Chain guards are a must on mower IMO. We only have mowers with chains guards here. We also use chains instead of blades for the cutting, that will throw big things, really far away. A band guard wouldn't last 3 hours.

It won't get all bent up when reversing over hidden stumps, rocks and etc.

It allow for a better spreading of the mowed stuff.

View attachment 614590

No tail wheel, chains instead of blades, chain guards,.....very interesting rig. Nice.

 

[TripleR]

Learned that pretty quick, I managed to bend mine, but we have hydraulic press and they look like new. We grew up farming, so bent stuff is not unusual.

 

[ptsg]

Could you tell us more about how your mower is set up with chains instead of blades and what advantage chains are to you over blades. Maybe a picture too. Thanks.

gg

First, let me clarify that those mowers are never intended to use as finish mowers. They are mowers built for land clearing. They will eat everything in their way.

The reasons we use high strength chains, instead of blades are that chains can handle rocks easier than blades and chains will also shred the brush to pieces. But then again, it's not a finish mower and won't leave a nice finish. The small chain we use is 3/4" high strength chain. It will get bigger size chain with bigger mowers.

We run our brush mowers hard. We use them as true brush mowers instead of a finish mower. Having a tail wheel, would mean that it would be destroyed in a matter of a couple hours. We back these things up close to walls, trees and some hidden stuff that we can't even see. These mowers are built simpler and strong.

Most manufacturers will offer 3 model ranges:

Light duty usually built with 1/4" thick steel.
Medium duty usually built with 5/16" thick steel
And Heavy duty built with 3/8" or more thick steel.

As far as prices, mine is a light duty (which is still really strong) 4.5 ft and cost me about 700$

Most models come with 2 chains, but we can also add another 2 chains making a total of 4. Usually used with higher HP tractors. There are also some manufacturers that make a spindle for 3 chains but it limits you to always use 3 chains. Others also have side shift ability.

Depending on the brush in the land that is being cleared, some people will carry a set of blades and chains. They just select whatever fit the job better.

Chains will eat lots of HP, so we just get the mowers either the width of the tractor or about a foot smaller, depending on the tractor's HP.

 

[MechanicalGuy]

First, let me clarify that those mowers are never intended to use as finish mowers. They are mowers built for land clearing. They will eat everything in their way.

The reasons we use high strength chains, instead of blades are that chains can handle rocks easier than blades and chains will also shred the brush to pieces. But then again, it's not a finish mower and won't leave a nice finish. The small chain we use is 3/4" high strength chain. It will get bigger size chain with bigger mowers.

We run our brush mowers hard. We use them as true brush mowers instead of a finish mower. Having a tail wheel, would mean that it would be destroyed in a matter of a couple hours. We back these things up close to walls, trees and some hidden stuff that we can't even see. These mowers are built simpler and strong.

Most manufacturers will offer 3 model ranges:

Light duty usually built with 1/4" thick steel.
Medium duty usually built with 5/16" thick steel
And Heavy duty built with 3/8" or more thick steel.

As far as prices, mine is a light duty (which is still really strong) 4.5 ft and cost me about 700$

Most models come with 2 chains, but we can also add another 2 chains making a total of 4. Usually used with higher HP tractors. There are also some manufacturers that make a spindle for 3 chains but it limits you to always use 3 chains. Others also have side shift ability.

Depending on the brush in the land that is being cleared, some people will carry a set of blades and chains. They just select whatever fit the job better.

Chains will eat lots of HP, so we just get the mowers either the width of the tractor or about a foot smaller, depending on the tractor's HP.

View attachment 614667View attachment 614668View attachment 614669

It doesn't seem like chains would work for the 2" saplings I hog.

 

[ptsg]

It doesn't seem like chains would work for the 2" saplings I hog.

It handles it with absolutely no problem. I've cut 3" stuff easily, some times even 4" going a bit slower.

We do mow a lot slower because most of the time we are just backing up against brush higher than the tractor. Sometimes there are some hidden surprises there like open old water wells anywhere from 6 ft to 15ft wide.

Here is a video. Not mine and it's a bigger JD though but doesn't matter anyway.

Limpeza de Terreno em SIntra muitos carrascos - YouTube

 

[coobie]

Chain guards are a must on mower IMO. We only have mowers with chains guards here. We also use chains instead of blades for the cutting, that will throw big things, really far away. A band guard wouldn't last 3 hours.

It won't get all bent up when reversing over hidden stumps, rocks and etc.

It allow for a better spreading of the mowed stuff.

View attachment 614590

PLUS 1

 

[coobie]

I've been looking at rotary cutters for several years now. Just can't swallow that large $$$ outlay and pull the trigger. I see the advantages to chains and would be getting them on anything I would purchase.

I just wonder - why is a set of chains so God Awful expensive. Right now my choice would be - Rhino TW35 @ around $4000. A set of chains for this cutter would add almost $1000.

YIKES> set of chains $1,000 bucks.

 

[Tractorable]

Bush Hog wants $400 for a set of rear chains for my 5’ SQ160 Squealer

 

[Gordon Gould]

It handles it with absolutely no problem. I've cut 3" stuff easily, some times even 4" going a bit slower.

We do mow a lot slower because most of the time we are just backing up against brush higher than the tractor. Sometimes there are some hidden surprises there like open old water wells anywhere from 6 ft to 15ft wide.

Here is a video. Not mine and it's a bigger JD though but doesn't matter anyway.

Limpeza de Terreno em SIntra muitos carrascos - YouTube

Thanks for the good explanation and the video says it all

gg

 

[jjp8182]

This just reminded of how my grandfather had his rotary mower set up -- which if I'm recalling correctly was with short blades connected to the spindle which then held a chain with a set of Y-shaped knives (like would be on a flail mower) at the ends.

Thinking about it how, I'm realizing it was a rather interesting setup compared to current retail rotary cutters. Not sure if he bought it like that or if it was something he did on his own. In fact at the moment I'm realizing just how many interesting items he had on his farm. A propane-powered Farmall 300 with wide front (as opposed to the standard tricycle), and the old IH two point fast-hitch system that was also compatible with standard 3pt hitch implements, and a 70's-80's era IH hydrostatic tractor with loader (can't recall the model though it was probably in the 7500-10k lb weight range).

Any way, back on topic I almost think I'd go rubber guards over steel bands just for this reason ....and the about the only reason I'd consider either of those options over a chain guard would be if I had to worry about bystanders or nearby vehicular traffic within the distance it'd take for an ejected object to fall back to ground level.

...but that's just me and I tend to be a bit ....different.

 

[WranglerX]

Funny how the thread morphed into using chains for cutting when I believe origin thread starter was about using chains instead of band around rear (skirt?) of mower to protect from having it throw things out by blades and from band getting bent in to hit blades...

Dale

 

[MechanicalGuy]

It handles it with absolutely no problem. I've cut 3" stuff easily, some times even 4" going a bit slower.

We do mow a lot slower because most of the time we are just backing up against brush higher than the tractor. Sometimes there are some hidden surprises there like open old water wells anywhere from 6 ft to 15ft wide.

Here is a video. Not mine and it's a bigger JD though but doesn't matter anyway.

Limpeza de Terreno em SIntra muitos carrascos - YouTube

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but the video makes that hogging look labored. As a matter of physics, there is no way that chains could be as effective on large diameter material as 3" or 4" long, 1/2" thick, swinging blades on a rotary cutter. For instance, my cutter is 3" x 1/2" in cross section and have much much more weight and inertia behind them, and when I back into a swath of 2" to 2.5" pine sapplings that are 8' tall, my hog makes them disappear in seconds. Now I agree that chains would be handy when dealing with foreign objects and unknown materials on unknown land, but there is no way that they could be as quick and efficient as rotary blades.

I should make a video to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Unfortunately I've had a tractor mis-hap, and it might be a little while.

 

[kthompson]

This is the second cutter I have seen on line using chains rather than blades. Sure not the same person. No doubt heavy chain rotating a high speed would do a lot of damage to small trees and while we don't have much of a rock issue here would be safer. The chains would have to be on the short order of they would drag unless rotating rather fast and if not short enough they could not touch each other they would have to get tangled upon start up.

 

[ptsg]

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but the video makes that hogging look labored. As a matter of physics, there is no way that chains could be as effective on large diameter material as 3" or 4" long, 1/2" thick, swinging blades on a rotary cutter. For instance, my cutter is 3" x 1/2" in cross section and have much much more weight and inertia behind them, and when I back into a swath of 2" to 2.5" pine sapplings that are 8' tall, my hog makes them disappear in seconds. Now I agree that chains would be handy when dealing with foreign objects and unknown materials on unknown land, but there is no way that they could be as quick and efficient as rotary blades.

I should make a video to demonstrate what I'm talking about. Unfortunately I've had a tractor mis-hap, and it might be a little while.

I understand your reservations. I had it myself before I tried it.

When I had the smaller Kubota B7000, I built the mower for it and at the time I just made my own blades, which worked just fine. Then I upgraded to this bigger tractor and bought a mower for it, that come with the chains, like 95% of mowers here. The difference on the ability to mow bigger and thicker stuff was just night and day for the type of brush with deal with.

I don't claim that the chains are more effective than the blades. Most likely it isn't, since you need more HP, although it pulverizes and spreads the mowed stuff better. But chains is what works better here, with our type of brush, terrain and all that stuff. Blades is probably what fits better the US stuff.

This is the cheapest option for land clearing, then we have the bigger flail mowers, but that is an entire new game with all the options for blades, hammers and so on.