What to expect from a mulcher on a svl75 standard flow.

[Hersheyfarm]

Is there an affordable mulcher for the svl75 standard flow size machine, and what could you expect using it?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I'll be watching this thread as I have a SVL-75 on order from the dealer, but mine has the hi-flow option as well, I really want the MTL-XC7 , 3 blade with mulching teeth, but am scared due to all the bad customer service reviews, so I am looking at the Terminator XP 4 blade with mulching teeth from Rut Manufacturing, only problem with it is they have gone to a square blade carrier instead of round and that scares me a little.

 

[4570Man]

This isn’t a mulcher but a medium duty rotary cutter. This is only rated for a 4” tree so not as mean as other options but I was happy with the performance. It doesn’t chop up the trees very good and is more of a hack it down tool is the main drawback.

 

[Rustyiron]

I think you'll just need some patience and realistic expectations.
I have an Ambusher rotary mower (stud flow no case drain) on a SS with 25 - 26 gpm and it's a 110hp machine. Patience is required. It is a older mower, one of the first made for SS application a is built just like a bush Hog with only a stump jumper. The newer models will the heavy disc (inertia) would have to be better at least until the built up inertia is spent.

 

[Hersheyfarm]

I got a 15 batwing, not really wanting a bushhog. All though they look usefull. I’m wanting to turn honeysuckles into wood shavings.

 

[Rustyiron]

You should be fine with that and anything similar.
In fact I've been thinking of selling the mower I mentioned. Hmmm
I just got what I really need.

Just waiting for the snow to melt.

 

[Hersheyfarm]

Do those work as good as the drum ones?

 

[4570Man]

Do those work as good as the drum ones?

They’re not as good as a drum mower in terms of the chip size and they’re worse about throwing stuff. The upside is they’re about half the price.

 

[JethroB]

I following as I’m looking for a contractor to clear brush around my 2 acre pond and along the dam, and also around the edge of woods and along fences. One fellow has a 10 ton excavator with a mulching head, 20 ft reach. $2000 for a minimum 8 hour day.
Another contractor is coming tomorrow to look it over. They run CTL’s with drum head mulchers and mower types. Anxious to see what he says.

 

[oldnslo]

Is there an affordable mulcher for the svl75 standard flow size machine, and what could you expect using it?

Not sure on cost difference but companies size the hydraulic drive motor based on flow available from the skid steer. You will have less torque since the hydraulic motor displacement is decreased to provide correct cutter head speed

 

[bullbreaker]

After the original blades would wear out, I wonder how hooking up chains would work on a CTL bushhog mower ? Like the TBN member here from Portugal (can't remember his handle) with a Branson tractor has posted videos of tractors with three point of course rear mounted bushhogs. Might be a way cheaper alternative from buying replacement blades ? Not saying it is just some thoughts .

 

[4570Man]

After the original blades would wear out, I wonder how hooking up chains would work on a CTL bushhog mower ? Like the TBN member here from Portugal (can't remember his handle) with a Branson tractor has posted videos of tractors with three point of course rear mounted bushhogs. Might be a way cheaper alternative from buying replacement blades ? Not saying it is just some thoughts .

I think you’d only be able to cut light brush like that. I can’t see chains cutting 4 inch or larger trees.

 

[Rustyiron]

Do those work as good as the drum ones?

Much faster but not as small chips and throws them wildly, BUT I've never run either a only have a YouTube education on the matter along with other forums and some folks that are in the business. Apparently bigger mulching contractors will run both types, knocking it down quickly with the disc and if required, running the drum style across it for a more constant and finer finish.
There's quite a bit on YouTube if you search disc mulcher, even the outdoor Morgan guy has a video.

 

[ptsg]

I think you’d only be able to cut light brush like that. I can’t see chains cutting 4 inch or larger trees.

Yet they do, even thicker stuff with bigger setups. Matter of fact, we don't even use skidsteers with mulching heads for clearing brush. Just a tractor with either a PTO mulching head or one of these brush mowers with chains that operates faster and at a third of the cost of a skidsteer while still producing very nice results. I'll go as far as saying that a 70 HP tractor will outwork a 95HP skidsteer.

In certain scenarios, the chains will actually work much better than blades or a mulching head. The biggest advantage is that chains don't care about rocks, stumps or whatever it's hidden in the brush.

I've done up to 3" easily with my little 35 HP tractor.

A couple pictures of my mower, which is a light duty one. The heavy duty and forestry versions are some bada$$ units made mostly out of Hardox steel and can/will eat some really nasty stuff.

A couple of examples a brush mower with chains:

 

[4570Man]

Yet they do, even thicker stuff with bigger setups. Matter of fact, we don't even use skidsteers with mulching heads for clearing brush. Just a tractor with either a PTO mulching head or one of these brush mowers with chains that operates faster and at a third of the cost of a skidsteer while still producing very nice results. I'll go as far as saying that a 70 HP tractor will outwork a 95HP skidsteer.

In certain scenarios, the chains will actually work much better than blades or a mulching head. The biggest advantage is that chains don't care about rocks, stumps or whatever it's hidden in the brush.

I've done up to 3" easily with my little 35 HP tractor.

A couple pictures of my mower, which is a light duty one. The heavy duty and forestry versions are some bada$$ units made mostly out of Hardox steel and can/will eat some really nasty stuff.

View attachment 734433 View attachment 734434

A couple of examples a brush mower with chains:

A tractor no doubt cuts grass cheaper than than a skid steer but I don’t agree with 1/3 the cost. In heavy brush the skid steer shines. The skid steer comes from the factory sufficiently armored for the job. A tractor needs extensive plating to be ready for the job and probably won’t ever have equally as good protection for the operator. Also the skid steer has superior maneuverability and you’re facing your mower which is going to be better and less fatiguing. The tractor would no doubt win at mowing a field but when you’re in heavy brush especially with larger trees you can’t mow the skid steer is winning that one. The main advantage a tractor has over the skid steer is speed and the ability to run a much wider batwing mower. But when you’re in heavy growth you’ve lost both of those advantages and you’re back to driving backwards and the skid steer guy is facing his work.

 

[ZTMAN]

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I would hate to know that I had to look backwards all day, but it was getting the job done.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

i wonder what ir would have looked like if he had mulching teeth on the bottom of his blade carrier on the brush cutter.

 

[ptsg]

A tractor no doubt cuts grass cheaper than than a skid steer but I don’t agree with 1/3 the cost. In heavy brush the skid steer shines. The skid steer comes from the factory sufficiently armored for the job. A tractor needs extensive plating to be ready for the job and probably won’t ever have equally as good protection for the operator. Also the skid steer has superior maneuverability and you’re facing your mower which is going to be better and less fatiguing. The tractor would no doubt win at mowing a field but when you’re in heavy brush especially with larger trees you can’t mow the skid steer is winning that one. The main advantage a tractor has over the skid steer is speed and the ability to run a much wider batwing mower. But when you’re in heavy growth you’ve lost both of those advantages and you’re back to driving backwards and the skid steer guy is facing his work.

Did you bother to watch the videos? These mowers are used in heavy brush, exactly where they shine. A skidsteer spends more time ramping the mower speed up, only to slow down again on the next hit again.

We're used to operate the tractors in tight spaces so we probably work around it just fine. If there is an area that's big enough to be a field, then it's either a pasture or used to grow something. So it's not that people here is mowing huge fields either.

A fully shielded tractor with forestry tires and a heavy duty brush mower with two rotors with 4 chains per rotor will be quite a bit cheaper than a skidsteer with a brush mower, plus it can move in between jobs without an extra hauling equipment, while still operating at a third or less of a cost of the skidsteer. A 75HP tractor mowing brush here, will cost about $75 to $100/hour. What would a skidsteer cost? $350/hour if I remember correctly from a couple threads here? And would take more time than the tractor to do the same job.

If the skidsteer would be that much superior, trust me, we would be all over it in my country because we do value our hard earned money very well, yet the skidsteers seem to stay in the construction business.

As far as looking backwards, you'll look backwards quite a bit on a skidsteer as well, unless you like hitting whatever it's behind you. Part of operating a tractor, is actually looking backwards. Not sure why this is a big deal. We seem to survive just fine over here.

Two rotors on this one to reduce the overall length of it:

 

[Lineman North Florida]

As far as looking backwards, you'll look backwards quite a bit on a skidsteer as well, unless you like hitting whatever it's behind you. Part of operating a tractor, is actually looking backwards. Not sure why this is a big deal. We seem to survive just fine over here.

i ordered my skidsteer with a backup camera and on my farm tractors I use mirrors where possible, it's only a big deal because it hurts my neck to look backwards for long periods of time now that I am older, we survive pretty good over here ourselves.