Brown Tree Cutter

[MarkV]

Hi all,

Has anyone ever heard of a Brown tree cutter? I have a friend in N. Fla. who manages a plantation for a family and he was telling me about this tree cutter. As I understood him, it is like a bush hog that has a large weighted disk (+/- 300lbs) with 3 cutter arms hinged to the disk. The rear deck of the cutter is spring loaded to retract, as you push it into a tree, exposing the cutter heads. I was told it is rated to cut up to a 7" tree. He pulls this beast with a 100 hp 4wd Massey.

Way to much for my little tractor and I sure would want a good FOPS system. With the right tractor it sure sounds like you could do some serious rough clearing.

MarkV

 

[JerryG]

I have looked at their Internet site. When I was younger, I worked at a Massey dealer and we sold what was called a Tree Hog. They were alot like the Brown, but they also had a large cage frame over the brush hog. With the frame you didn't have to have FOPS on the tractor. I guess that it was a good thing because that was before even ROPS... They were really heavy. The decks were 3/8" steel and they had 4 very short cutter blades that were 5/8" thick. The blades were also reversible. As memory serves me, a small 5' model weight close to a 1000 lbs.

 

[rrinc]

brown tree cutters, what do you need to know
got 2 theyre great
if youre stupid, they will kill you
mow palmettos and heavy brush with them
used to mow everything with them
tuff unit great product

 

[334 lawn co.]

i got 1 and love that feeling when you mow down an 8 inch pine. we also got their rotary cutter and can cut up to 5 inches with it.

 

[pha7env]

Can you set it to mulch into the dirt, or will it leave little stumps and stobs when cutting heavy brush or trees?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Our right of way crew bought one to mow our transmission line ROW's and used it for years in the worst stuff that you could imagine, if the 100+ hp New Holland would run over it the Brown's tree cutter would cut it up, if the tractor couldn't run it over they would back the spring loaded deck into it slowly and cut it down, it's one of the toughest pieces of equipment that I have seen.

 

[MarkV]

Can you set it to mulch into the dirt, or will it leave little stumps and stobs when cutting heavy brush or trees?

Welcome to the forum. No the unit will not mulch the stump down into the dirt. It is like a bush hog and cuts at a set height only. As a side note I was surprised to see this thread having been the one that started it 11 years ago. Time does fly.

MarkV

 

[kebo]

That's one thing I don't like about this forum software, you have to really pay close attention if you reply to a thread that you found by searching. One thread could easily be..... 11 yrs old!!! Nothing wrong with doing that, but you might not get a reply from the OP. In this case, MarkV is still going strong on TBN! :thumbsup:

 

[Ductape]

As a side note I was surprised to see this thread having been the one that started it 11 years ago. Time does fly.

MarkV

No kiddin......... just think how young you were then !

 

[whistlepig]

They are called Brown Cutters. I have never owned one but have seen a few used by the state and power companies. I was very impressed. They are not cheap.

 

[bigtalker]

There is a learning curve to the brown tree cutter. It takes a little while to understand it,s capabilities. It can be used like the traditional bush hog or you can use it in places a bush hog could never go it can take up to three passes to reach the final cut. The first pass cuts bushes ect and will lay the tree down and chip the branches off. The second cut mulches everything finer and grinds the the trunk of the tree about 50%. The third cut is where you set the cutter down on top of the dirt and chip everything including the trunk to ground level. The disc the blades are mounted to is about 1" thick and takes about 10 minutes to stop turning. It must be used correctly or ican be deadly to you or bystanders. Probably need 90-100 min. Cab is a must. Vibration can be bad. Blades come balanced from factory and must be resharpened equally to minimize vibration.

 

[Piston]

As good as these are for the rough stuff, do they still give a comparable cut to a normal rotary cutter in the lighter stuff? As in, light brush and weeds?
Or is it more of a rough stuff only tool?

 

[sandman2234]

About 8 years ago, I went to an auction in Oklahoma and they had about six of them. I quit bidding each one at about $2000 and never even got close to owning one. In retrospect, one was probably a little much for my open station JD2555 but probably would have been great for the Ford 7710 FWA that I bought later.
David from jax

 

[bigtalker]

Comparing to rotary cutter. The tree cutter will cut the smaller stuff fine . It does not seem to chop it up in pieces like a RC. Each is a different machine. You probably don,t want to use the tree cutter for everyday use. It requires more attention to safety and is rough on the tractor. GB

 

[sandman2234]

Comparing to rotary cutter. The tree cutter will cut the smaller stuff fine . It does not seem to chop it up in pieces like a RC. Each is a different machine. You probably don,t want to use the tree cutter for everyday use. It requires more attention to safety and is rough on the tractor. GB

That was one reason I "quit bidding at $2000" because I figured I would need a bush hog after I got the initial clearing done. I couldn't see dragging that heavy thing around all the time when mowing the back forty...
David from jax