Best brush hog for under $2,000 medium to heavy duty

[Turbys_1700]

I can also recommend a Hardee. I've had a Hardee Tiger Cub 160 for about 30 years. It has sat outside all that time and is starting to rust but still mows good. Very well made.

I scored a lighly used Brown 472 several years ago for a little over a grand. Had to travel 160 miles one way to get it. Well worth the drive and cost. Heavy duty enough for me. I plan to keep it with my 10 foot Titan. A little more nimble than the 10 footer. The Brown is right at 1100# and the 10 foot Titan is 1480#. Very heavily built cutter.

 

[rbtjr]

We have the Everything Attachments 72" Extreme rotary mower and like it. Very solid and well built. About $2000. Before that we had a 66" Landpride, which also worked well but was a lighter duty mower. Before that, 10+ years ago we had a 72" Bush Hog mower that I regularly abused and held up well. I would buy an EA mower again. In fact, I have bought several attachments from EA and am very well satisfied with them all.

 

[DieselBound]

Bought an EXTREMELY used Bush Hog 286 for $800. (rare to find any decent used 6' rotary cutters around here) Had to have the rear tail wheel bracket welded up (improved the design) and get a new PTO shaft. 110 hp gear box. 10 ga decking, 1/r4" side skirting. It's 962 lbs stock, but came with an additional 1/4" of plate steel on it (because the previous owner punched through the deck eating up rocks). Has chain deflectors (instead of rubber), which are VERY nice to have. I figure its operating weight is around 1,100 lbs. It's not pretty. Not quick hitch compatible. Running off my NX510 I absolutely destroy heavy brush. As much of a beast as this thing is it is still only a medium duty mower! (though with the extra? decking it might be closer to the heavy duty mark).