Hi Tim,
I've got a Big Bee rotary cutter - 6' that I use on my Jinma 454LE. I am new to the world of tractoring, so, I have no point of reference for other cutters as I have used only this one. With that said, I am extremely pleased with the Big Bee rotary cutter. I use it around my property (approx. acre rough cut), keep all of the common areas in our home owners association cut (approx 8 acres) and neighbors fields and pastures. This cutter has always been able to tackle anything I throw at it - and I get pretty abusive. I cut almost 4 acres for some people up the road a couple of weeks ago. Their field had not been cut in years. There was brush, saplings and weeds higher than the canopy. The cutter took all of it down with no problems.
The gearbox apears to be heavy duty. Seems to be comperable to some of the King Kutter's I have seen around here as far as size and type of build. I have hit some rocks and stumps, shearing the pin right off. Put in a new one and I am back up and running.
Couple of things I like:
Housing is very thick.
Like the reinforcement plates under the gear box.
I have not seen this on others, but, I like the way the top plate is reinforced with the "webbing" - kind of a tic-tac-toe grid around the gear box.
Couple of things I don't like:
The tic-tac-toe grid around the gear box does not allow water to drain off when cleaning. Would have been nice to had some holes for drainage. Probably just need to go ahead and drill some holes - prefer the reinforcement over ease of cleaning though.
The chain that connects the "top down bar" to the back of housing is somewhat cheap. Better design would have been 1) use a heavier chain and/or 2) punch holes in the bracket and bar instead of welding the chain on. The chain links have snapped apart on me - yes, I was driving too fast and the up and down stresses busted the links, but, I still think the chain is to light weight. I have cut off all the chain links with the exception of the 2 welded pieces and replaced with 3000#
quick links - have had no more problems. If and when the welded links break, I am drilling 1/2" holes and putting quick links in those as well.
Overall, I like this cutter. It works well for me and what I do; especially liked the price. From what you described you will be doing, think it would be a good fit.
-Eddie
