1st time at my new property & 1st time ever brush-hogging - some lessons learned

[Eaglesfate]

Saturday I went out to my newly acquired 34 completely raw undeveloped acres and attempted to do some brush hogging. I currently own a relatively newer Kioti CX2510HST 25 hp tractor/loader/backhoe. I have not used it for anything up until this point for doing anything other than some light gardening work at my current house. I realize my tractor is under sized for that type of acreage but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

I bought a 5 foot rotary cutter used last weekend, with a stump jumper. I also realize that 5 foot may be slightly oversized for my tractor, but I opted to go to the 5-foot over the 4-foot and take smaller bites.

For my first attempt, I attempted to clear some area in the woods and quickly discovered that rotary cutters are not meant for uneven terrain. Besides just the shear difficulty of maneuvering with it, I experienced a lot of issues with binding my top link. Only after I got home and watched some more brush hog videos, did I discover going on uneven terrain was kind of a no-no, especially going in and out of valleys/dips/etc.

Other issues I had is that my hydraulic top link quick connect kept popping loose. Not sure why that was happening.
And the other fittings on my top link kept loosening, causing me to loose hydraulic power. I'm assuming all this was because of the binding. I guess I'm pretty lucky I didn't do any major damage to the PTO but it didn't bind up. But you live and learn. Kind of a tractor rookie here. Have some seat time, but not at doing anything more than a little light gardening work for years.

Another problem I had was that the previous owner had put a rubber no flat tire on the rotary cutter wheel. The tire was not a perfect fit and kept slipping off, and I had to fight to get it back on the wheel only to have it pop off again, 3 or 4 times. By the end of the day the wheel was pretty bent up and the fork was kind of leaning within the rear bracket, so I'm going to have to replace the whole assembly, I think.

With all this fighting of the equipment, I underestimated the need for hydration as well. I was working in 90 degree temps - I have not done any significant amount of work in those temperatures in at least 5 years. By 1pm I was rationing my water. By 4pm I think I was in the early stages of heat stroke or something similar. Lesson learned, bring a lot more water than you think you need. Since the AC in my truck doesn't work, bring my 18V cordless fans and plenty of batteries too.

I ended the day brush cutting in a largely level field with about 4 foot of weed growth. Went slow, kept my loader bucket down and curled back. Found several large tree stumps that I thankfully spotted by keeping the bucket low. When the bucket would start to slide up the stump, I was going slow enough that I could back up and change course.

It was a good day, but kind of a rough first day out.
Re-thinking a lot of my preconceived ideas of how I was going to go about building a home here now that I've actually spent a few hours on the ground. We're not building for awhile, so I'm going to continue to get to know my property over the next year or two before breaking any serious ground.

After struggling with mounting the brush hog, I think I'm going to buy a Speeco Quick E-Hitch also. And seriously looking at a PTO Link (quick connect). When it's hot, I really don't want to be struggling with those.

Congrats on the land, something I hope to acquire one day.

 

[Jaygyver]

Rocks can certainly bend/break blades. Both times in recent years I bent or broke one, I did it while backing up.

Here’s a bent blade-real bent.

View attachment 3512537

OMG, for a minute there I thought my wife borrowed your cutter!
A few years ago in one of my shop reorganizations I found all the blades my wife bent with the riding mower. I bet you I had around 15+ metal pretzels, I just got tired of straightening them out and just threw them under my bench for another day. You know you had a cheap blade when the mole holes took them out. We won't talk about the rocks, branch's, etc. she "didn't see". lol

 

[bgr]

I do commercial rough mowing for people who have let their fields get over grown with with weeds and brush. My Kubota has 35 PTO HP and I use a very heavy duty Woods 5 foot mower. i could use more HP, but I feel a little bit safer not putting more power into the mower as it does not throw things as far if I hit them. The mower has hanging chain guards front and rear. Being a heavy duty model, the swinging blades on the mower are 5/8 inches thick.

Many times I can't see the ground in tall weeds so I use a lowered bucket and set it at about 7 inches. On the first run, the mower height is set at 8 inches, hoping the bucket will find most rocks. However, I do hit plenty of rocks.(We have them in New England) Some go flying. Also the blades take a lot of concentrated stress and every so often one breaks off just beyond the attachment hole on the inner end of the blade. That leaves a metal bar 20 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 5/8 inches thick to fly off when the blade breaks. I usually never see where they go. One I did see went 150 feet across a field and buried itself 20 feet up in an oak tree trunk. Of a 20 inch piece of metal, 10 inches were sticking out. I am sure that blade piece would have gone through two people, standing one behind the other, without stopping.

Hay Dude is right. There is a substantial danger in thrown blades, rocks, and other trash. Shields on the mower don't usually stop the big, dangerous stuff. No one is in the field when I am mowing, and if someone shows up to watch from outside the fence, I stop the mower and walk over and ask them to leave before I start mowing again. Mowing 1-2 inch saplings is noisy, so you can attract an audience. You have to keep an eye peeled for them.

 

[California]

Maybe what's saved me from thrown blades is generally no rocks, except along the lane where they were imported for erosion control. I raise the cutter working there and occasionally hit one.

I do hit and shred orchard pruning debris. 1.5" material and smaller turns to splinters. Some prunings 2 inches and larger make a big racket, with some of the material torn off. But so far I've never seen anything thrown more than a few feet. I don't think this Howse (homeowner grade?) rotary mower has the blade velocity of a commercial mower.

 

[bgr]

If your Howse mower is breaking up your 1 1/2 branches well, it probably has the same velocity. The pieces are just not heavy enough to get thrown far. But every now and then one will zip out. But not like a broken blade bit.

The blade bits are given extra zip because they are spinning with the head and then detatch instantly.

I wore out a standard duty Woods in 1 season. All the welds on the deck started to crack out from the shock.

 

[sreeb]

If you are concerned that your PTO shaft could bottom out and damage your tractor, you should probably trim it a little.

 

[Hoobie]

On hitting rocks. Years ago mowing old corn stalks I hit a rock which fractured a piece off and shot it forward into my right foot. I had sneakers on....not a good idea.
Been hogging for 50 years and have hit everything.
If someone asks you to mow their years old field be careful. They will say the field is clean with nothing to be concerned about. And you will find anything there. Old fence wire, engine blocks, stoves, forgotten wood piles, rock piles etc. It is always. "Oh I forgot that".

 

[EmeraldCity]

Rocks can certainly bend/break blades. Both times in recent years I bent or broke one, I did it while backing up.

Here’s a bent blade-real bent.

View attachment 3512537

Rocks can certainly bend/break blades. Both times in recent years I bent or broke one, I did it while backing up.

Here’s a bent blade-real bent.

View attachment 3512537

Please advise the size of rock that caused this damage? As stated, my intent is to walk the ten acres, remove all big objects, the mow with my bucket as close to the ground as I can without digging in. However, this would still miss pretty big rocks (say the size of a softball). Wondering if that size will damage the blades or break/bend the mower housing.

Thanks
Rich

1965 Ford 3000 w/FEL & hydraulic 3-pt
2008 Kubota BX24d
2010 Kubota GR2000g

 

[Hay Dude]

Please advise the size of rock that caused this damage? As stated, my intent is to walk the ten acres, remove all big objects, the mow with my bucket as close to the ground as I can without digging in. However, this would still miss pretty big rocks (say the size of a softball). Wondering if that size will damage the blades or break/bend the mower housing.

Thanks
Rich

1965 Ford 3000 w/FEL & hydraulic 3-pt
2008 Kubota BX24d
2010 Kubota GR2000g

It was about the size of a watermelon. Hidden perfectly in tall grass.

 

[sandman2234]

I do not understand why rotary mower manufacturers do not make smaller trail-type mowers. Trail type mowers exert much less stress on the tractors, result in much less vibration on the tractor, reduce the potential for raising the front end of the tractor and/or overturning, etc. Granted, they may be more difficult to maneuver, but the trade-off is worth it to me. Considering the smaller mowers are used on smaller, lighter tractors, it seems to make sense they would be better and create fewer problems. A 100 HP tractor using a rotary mower is much more able to stand the stress of a 3 point mower, but there is a wide selection of trail type mowers available for them.
Do any of you knowledgeable people on here, and I know there are many, know of any cons to using a trail type mower that I'm not aware of?

My Bush Hog 3008 is what is known as a semi-mount, and has some characteristics of a trail mower so I will mention the drawbacks of it, which apply to a trail type (I think).
When I go to load my M7040 on my 20+5 trailer, with folding ramps, the tractor is as long as the deck of the trailer, and when I go to fold up the ramps, the wheels of the mower are in the way. Now "if" I could raise the mower using the 3pt, I could fold the ramps up and then set the mower down. Since the semi mount only raises the front of the deck with the 3pt and the rear is raised by a cylinder, the wheels never leave the ground. Can be an issue at times. My cure is to raise the loader up above the gooseneck and pull forward far enough to clear the ramps, then I flip the ramps and back the trailer up to allow for better weight distribution.
I am sure there are more issues with trail type mowers, but I am not sure of them. I will probably learn more, as I will be putting a 15 foot batwing into service this year.
David from jax

 

[sandman2234]

I do commercial rough mowing for people who have let their fields get over grown with with weeds and brush. My Kubota has 35 PTO HP and I use a very heavy duty Woods 5 foot mower. i could use more HP, but I feel a little bit safer not putting more power into the mower as it does not throw things as far if I hit them. The mower has hanging chain guards front and rear. Being a heavy duty model, the swinging blades on the mower are 5/8 inches thick.

Many times I can't see the ground in tall weeds so I use a lowered bucket and set it at about 7 inches. On the first run, the mower height is set at 8 inches, hoping the bucket will find most rocks. However, I do hit plenty of rocks.(We have them in New England) Some go flying. Also the blades take a lot of concentrated stress and every so often one breaks off just beyond the attachment hole on the inner end of the blade. That leaves a metal bar 20 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 5/8 inches thick to fly off when the blade breaks. I usually never see where they go. One I did see went 150 feet across a field and buried itself 20 feet up in an oak tree trunk. Of a 20 inch piece of metal, 10 inches were sticking out. I am sure that blade piece would have gone through two people, standing one behind the other, without stopping.

Hay Dude is right. There is a substantial danger in thrown blades, rocks, and other trash. Shields on the mower don't usually stop the big, dangerous stuff. No one is in the field when I am mowing, and if someone shows up to watch from outside the fence, I stop the mower and walk over and ask them to leave before I start mowing again. Mowing 1-2 inch saplings is noisy, so you can attract an audience. You have to keep an eye peeled for them.

Some of my mowing is like that! Rough cut with a twist!
I was mowing a 35 acre section last year and crossed over a roadway that they had made in the front pasture out of small gravel. I raised the mower up to clear the gravel, but not quick enough. I tossed a couple pieces of that gravel about 75 yards into a nice big plate glass window in the house adjoining the property. The owner walked out into the field in flip flops waving me down. Told me what happened and to go mow further away from his house, and he would take care of that section. I expected to have to pay for that window, but got lucky. The owner of the property I was mowing was his mother in law, and the two of them worked it out.
I always stop mowing when someone or a vehicle comes onto the property that I am mowing. The chances for an accident are just too great!
David from jax

 

[California]

It was about the size of a watermelon. Hidden perfectly in tall grass.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

Luckily there aren't rocks like that in the orchard here. Only some grapefruit-size, bordering the easement. I have hit and thrown some of those.

 

[Trackerjoe]

Saturday I went out to my newly acquired 34 completely raw undeveloped acres and attempted to do some brush hogging. I currently own a relatively newer Kioti CX2510HST 25 hp tractor/loader/backhoe. I have not used it for anything up until this point for doing anything other than some light gardening work at my current house. I realize my tractor is under sized for that type of acreage but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

I bought a 5 foot rotary cutter used last weekend, with a stump jumper. I also realize that 5 foot may be slightly oversized for my tractor, but I opted to go to the 5-foot over the 4-foot and take smaller bites.

For my first attempt, I attempted to clear some area in the woods and quickly discovered that rotary cutters are not meant for uneven terrain. Besides just the shear difficulty of maneuvering with it, I experienced a lot of issues with binding my top link. Only after I got home and watched some more brush hog videos, did I discover going on uneven terrain was kind of a no-no, especially going in and out of valleys/dips/etc.

Other issues I had is that my hydraulic top link quick connect kept popping loose. Not sure why that was happening.
And the other fittings on my top link kept loosening, causing me to loose hydraulic power. I'm assuming all this was because of the binding. I guess I'm pretty lucky I didn't do any major damage to the PTO but it didn't bind up. But you live and learn. Kind of a tractor rookie here. Have some seat time, but not at doing anything more than a little light gardening work for years.

Another problem I had was that the previous owner had put a rubber no flat tire on the rotary cutter wheel. The tire was not a perfect fit and kept slipping off, and I had to fight to get it back on the wheel only to have it pop off again, 3 or 4 times. By the end of the day the wheel was pretty bent up and the fork was kind of leaning within the rear bracket, so I'm going to have to replace the whole assembly, I think.

With all this fighting of the equipment, I underestimated the need for hydration as well. I was working in 90 degree temps - I have not done any significant amount of work in those temperatures in at least 5 years. By 1pm I was rationing my water. By 4pm I think I was in the early stages of heat stroke or something similar. Lesson learned, bring a lot more water than you think you need. Since the AC in my truck doesn't work, bring my 18V cordless fans and plenty of batteries too.

I ended the day brush cutting in a largely level field with about 4 foot of weed growth. Went slow, kept my loader bucket down and curled back. Found several large tree stumps that I thankfully spotted by keeping the bucket low. When the bucket would start to slide up the stump, I was going slow enough that I could back up and change course.

It was a good day, but kind of a rough first day out.
Re-thinking a lot of my preconceived ideas of how I was going to go about building a home here now that I've actually spent a few hours on the ground. We're not building for awhile, so I'm going to continue to get to know my property over the next year or two before breaking any serious ground.

After struggling with mounting the brush hog, I think I'm going to buy a Speeco Quick E-Hitch also. And seriously looking at a PTO Link (quick connect). When it's hot, I really don't want to be struggling with those.

I regretted buying my quick hitch because some of my implements weren't QH compatible. Spent a lot of time taking the QH on and off. I bought Pat's EZ change and never looked back. The only disadvantage is that you have to fit up the top link each time.

 

[The Gaul]

Looks like OP didn't spend enough time on this site before spending his money.
I faced some of the same dilemmas but spent a lot of time studying forums and videos.
As far as mowing is concerned, I bought a 6ft flail mower. Can accommodate up to 2" branches from what I recall and has none of the 'projectile' concerns that come with the brush hog. When tackling a new/overgrown property one could think about first mowing at the highest position, then making a pass with sth that has scarifiers (to remove the rocks), mowing again, etc.
I even use my flail at the beginning of the season to flatten my hay fields, it will knock down any rockchuck mounds, etc.

 

[ptsg]

I've hit all of this stuff in the picture before. Yes, including the well back there. Had I been using blades and I couldn't stock enough of them to finish cutting some of the places.

Chains are for sure the way to go when cutting stuff that is not just a clean pasture or a lawn.

 

[yanmars]

My mower was a county or township heavy duty reinforced Bush Hog brand mower that got traded in with chains at the bottom to keep debris from being flung at cars as they mowed the side ditches. My tractor was down so I used a friends skid loader with mower only used off road. Used it near my building, did not realize it was picking up and throwing gravel against my building. Put a half dozen holes in the siding. Did not turn it into insurance for my stupidity, have extra siding. Will fix it sometime.

 

[Hay Dude]

Don’t forget when considering a mower and your mowing conditions, to think about your tractors PTO.
If mowing rough brush, the shock loads when striking heavy objects, like stumps, rocks or small trees takes a toll on your tractor’s PTO. I had PTO problems on a 126HP Kubota after years of heavy mowing. When you strike a hard object, the shock load is transferred all the way back through your PTO box.
If your tractor is smallish on the PTO, you could be putting your expensive PTO at risk for failure.

 

[CoyPatton]

Saturday I went out to my newly acquired 34 completely raw undeveloped acres and attempted to do some brush hogging. I currently own a relatively newer Kioti CX2510HST 25 hp tractor/loader/backhoe. I have not used it for anything up until this point for doing anything other than some light gardening work at my current house. I realize my tractor is under sized for that type of acreage but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

I bought a 5 foot rotary cutter used last weekend, with a stump jumper. I also realize that 5 foot may be slightly oversized for my tractor, but I opted to go to the 5-foot over the 4-foot and take smaller bites.

For my first attempt, I attempted to clear some area in the woods and quickly discovered that rotary cutters are not meant for uneven terrain. Besides just the shear difficulty of maneuvering with it, I experienced a lot of issues with binding my top link. Only after I got home and watched some more brush hog videos, did I discover going on uneven terrain was kind of a no-no, especially going in and out of valleys/dips/etc.

Other issues I had is that my hydraulic top link quick connect kept popping loose. Not sure why that was happening.
And the other fittings on my top link kept loosening, causing me to loose hydraulic power. I'm assuming all this was because of the binding. I guess I'm pretty lucky I didn't do any major damage to the PTO but it didn't bind up. But you live and learn. Kind of a tractor rookie here. Have some seat time, but not at doing anything more than a little light gardening work for years.

Another problem I had was that the previous owner had put a rubber no flat tire on the rotary cutter wheel. The tire was not a perfect fit and kept slipping off, and I had to fight to get it back on the wheel only to have it pop off again, 3 or 4 times. By the end of the day the wheel was pretty bent up and the fork was kind of leaning within the rear bracket, so I'm going to have to replace the whole assembly, I think.

With all this fighting of the equipment, I underestimated the need for hydration as well. I was working in 90 degree temps - I have not done any significant amount of work in those temperatures in at least 5 years. By 1pm I was rationing my water. By 4pm I think I was in the early stages of heat stroke or something similar. Lesson learned, bring a lot more water than you think you need. Since the AC in my truck doesn't work, bring my 18V cordless fans and plenty of batteries too.

I ended the day brush cutting in a largely level field with about 4 foot of weed growth. Went slow, kept my loader bucket down and curled back. Found several large tree stumps that I thankfully spotted by keeping the bucket low. When the bucket would start to slide up the stump, I was going slow enough that I could back up and change course.

It was a good day, but kind of a rough first day out.
Re-thinking a lot of my preconceived ideas of how I was going to go about building a home here now that I've actually spent a few hours on the ground. We're not building for awhile, so I'm going to continue to get to know my property over the next year or two before breaking any serious ground.

After struggling with mounting the brush hog, I think I'm going to buy a Speeco Quick E-Hitch also. And seriously looking at a PTO Link (quick connect). When it's hot, I really don't want to be struggling with those.

You need to use caution when mowing hills and dips. Good move on keeping FEL bucket low and mowing slow. One big issue with unknown property and especially hills and dips is the potential for tipping the tractor, the lowered bucket is a good caution as hopefully it controls the tip.
When mowing uneven ground, many will remove the top link or use a flexible material for the top link if needing to lift cutter while working. A section of chain can be adapted for this with little effort.
Since you purchased your cutter used, it may not work with a traditional QH. Consider a Pat’s easy hitch, you have to get off the tractor regardless to connect the PTO, so connecting your top link is not a big deal.
If maneuvering space with the cutter is prohibitive, consider the more expensive fail mower. You can knifes (a more lawn like cut) or hammers (a rougher cut) for all I have looked into. Replacement is probably going to be needed more ofter than blades on a traditional mower, but extends about 1/3 the distance behind the tractor. Until you have a pretty good feel for your property, I would keep the FEL mounted on the tractor using as you described.

 

[CoyPatton]

I’m new. What is a chain or rocker link assembly and how does it work?

I have also suggested a chain in place of a top link. Add some type of ring on each end of the length of chain large enough your top link pins will go through them. This should allow slack when cutter is lowered, but tighten to lift cutter.
A rocker is a swing mount on the top of the 3PH of the cutter that allows for some forward and rearward swing of the top link. In my opinion the work well for mostly level yards and pastures, not so much in hills and rougher terrain.

 

[dkmc]

Quality Tail Wheel Assemblies | High Grade Manufacturing

Upgrade your equipment with reliable tail wheel assemblies from High Grade Manufacturing. Experience superior performance today.

highgrademfg.com

A stout 5 or 6/foot pry bar also makes it easy to shift rear implements back and forth as needed to line them up to mount.

Wow those tail wheels are dirt cheap! 25 yrs ago I bought a used-abused Woods 5ft brushog, no tail wheel. I called the Woods dealer, $375! Went to an auto junkyard, got a front strut/wheel/tire off of a Datsun. Scrounged up some ball bearings, barstock, a few bits turned on the lathe, welded things up, tail wheel for little money. The tire still holds the air that was in it when I got it.

I have a solid bar for a top link, my 5 acres is pretty much flat. Never any frt wheel/ tail wheel hang up issues.