bradco ground shark

[lumberjack1986]

Yeah, dealers can be frustrating. I sent you a pm.

What skid are you running it on?

 

[ShadowCat]

I am buying a 2014 Cat 289D Monday/Tuesday...

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

Davco cutters are also worth a hard look. Similar to the ground shark and extremely HD.

Matt

 

[powerstroke01]

I am buying a 2014 Cat 289D Monday/Tuesday...

What sold me on the Ground Shark was the stump grinder teeth inserts across the bottom of the disc. You don't need to curl out the mower and drag the knives to help pick up material. The stump teeth just graze the ground and throw material around and help to mulch loose material. They are also more affective at processing rotten logs laying on the ground than by beating them with the knives. As long as I don't hit any push mowers, bed frames or boulders hiding in wait, I can get 3 days out of the knives before I touch them up with a 7 inch grinder. Like I said in one of my other posts, this mower is heavy. At 2000 pounds, you need a decent sized machine to run it. The hydraulic motor is rated at 30 to 45 gallons a minute. My ASV puts out 30 gallons a minute, and that's just enough to run it. If I get too greedy tracking back and forth too hard, you can hear the machine lug pretty good.

 

[ShadowCat]

What sold me on the Ground Shark was the stump grinder teeth inserts across the bottom of the disc. You don't need to curl out the mower and drag the knives to help pick up material. The stump teeth just graze the ground and throw material around and help to mulch loose material. They are also more affective at processing rotten logs laying on the ground than by beating them with the knives. As long as I don't hit any push mowers, bed frames or boulders hiding in wait, I can get 3 days out of the knives before I touch them up with a 7 inch grinder. Like I said in one of my other posts, this mower is heavy. At 2000 pounds, you need a decent sized machine to run it. The hydraulic motor is rated at 30 to 45 gallons a minute. My ASV puts out 30 gallons a minute, and that's just enough to run it. If I get too greedy tracking back and forth too hard, you can hear the machine lug pretty good.

Will 32 GPM be enough or should I look at a mower rated 25-35gpm?

 

[lumberjack1986]

My SVL has 33gpm, 32gpm should be near identical the to the performance in my video.

 

[powerstroke01]

Will 32 GPM be enough or should I look at a mower rated 25-35gpm?

ShadowCat, 32 GPM is enough. But it's like my old man always says, "To much power is just right, and there is no replacement for displacement".

 

[Furu]

The Bradco extreme does look like a nice unit.
Hard to estimate but in the heavy stuff like lumberjack1988 was working on in the earlier post what can one expect to do an hour. 1/3 acre +/-??

 

[lumberjack1986]

Clearing 10" DBH trees, you won't be clearing 1/3 of an acre an hour by any stretch of the imagination. 1/3 of an acre an hour means a minimum .5mph/40.3fpm cutting full width. I certainly wasn't averaging that, but I was also processing material smaller. Knocking material down only would dramatically increase the speed.

 

[Furu]

Clearing 10" DBH trees, you won't be clearing 1/3 of an acre an hour by any stretch of the imagination. 1/3 of an acre an hour means a minimum .5mph/40.3fpm cutting full width. I certainly wasn't averaging that, but I was also processing material smaller. Knocking material down only would dramatically increase the speed.

You mean 7"dbh; the spec on the extreme bradco shark

 

[lumberjack1986]

Absolutely. :liar:

 

[ShadowCat]

ShadowCat, 32 GPM is enough. But it's like my old man always says, "To much power is just right, and there is no replacement for displacement".

Yeah, was also looking up about PSI... the 289D goes up to 4,061 PSI in High Flow, so that gives me hydraulic horsepower rating of 75.8, which is higher than many higher gpm 3,000 psi units. So much to factor in with all of this!

 

[lumberjack1986]

Walk around video of the Ground Shark

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwn7Toj6IIk&feature=youtu.be

 

[mactrade]

Nice Video Lumber

 

[Furu]

I had an "issue," or perhaps "conflict" is the better word, with the safety chain that fouled the blades pretty well. I took care of that issue.

The knives are nearly as sharp as chipper knives, roughly. The mowing in the video didn't appreciably wear the blades.

Any more detail on the safety chain blade "conflict" that resulted in premature blade dulling that others may learn from to avoid in the future, that you are willing to share.
Being totally self centered about this, as I am looking at the Bradco and want to avoid the same "issue" if I do get it.

 

[lumberjack1986]

As and end user I can say I have absolutely no need or desire for the height limiting chain on the back of the mower.

My course of action was to take the torch and remove it. I can report the operation was a complete success, it hasn't fouled the blades any more!

 

[Furu]

Thanks for the clarification

 

[Big River]

Yeah, was also looking up about PSI... the 289D goes up to 4,061 PSI in High Flow, so that gives me hydraulic horsepower rating of 75.8, which is higher than many higher gpm 3,000 psi units. So much to factor in with all of this!

Don't forget when calculating Hydraulic Horsepower to multiply your product (flow x pressure / 1714) times .85 for parasitic loss in the hydraulic system. this gives the Cat 289D 64.4 hyd hp.

I've sold these Groundsharks and I am a big fan. I've not had any customers come back with any issues.

 

[lumberjack1986]

Then factor in that most machines don't make published pressure at published max gpm by a wide margin.

 

[tonyoz]

Yep lumberjack, the published numbers for my machine required 230hp just to drive the cutter pump, hard to get that out of a 140hp engine.:confused2: