Brush hog incident.

Soundguy · May 5, 2004

No.. run it at its designed speed.. just drive slower, and try to be carefull.. it's all you can really do. If you have a front blade for snow, or a front end loader.. keep the bucket low to help detech big items.. like tires, big rocks.. and stumps.

If you don't have either of those two.. just 'try' to be careful.

Soundguy

deere_x475guy · May 6, 2004

I guess that will be my plan. I will just leave my fell skimming the top of the ground and go from there. I have some dips and stuff from tire ruts but the fell will just clip that. I am also thinking about going over it with my LS rake first to see what I find.

Gatorboy · May 6, 2004

( So let's say I was cutting an area I was unsure of...Would it be better to run the cutter at a lower than 540 speed? )

Yes. If you have some spot that you are not sure of, raise the mower deck, lower the RPM's and lower the deck slowly (if you have that ability with your mower). If there is a large rock or something, you will hear it as you are lowering it and will save your mower with the lower RPM's and if you do hit something, it won't fly out as fast/far.

Soundguy · May 6, 2004

With a fel.. you are good to go.. besides.. if you find a big mound of dirt.. say from an ant or mole.. the fel will skim it off... Big ant mound dirt piles are responsible for the deaths of lots of shear pins.. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Soundguy

Bird · May 6, 2004

( Big ant mound dirt piles are responsible for the deaths of lots of shear pins )

I levelled more fire ant mounds with a brush hog than I could count, but never sheared a pin. Of course I tried to go into them slow and sometimes bogged the engine a big. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

Soundguy · May 7, 2004

I found the bulk of my ant mounds this year at the first cutting of brush.. some of the brush was 3' high.. and surprisingly so was one fire ant mound.. was being the applicable term... actually I htink my front bumper knocked of fthe top foot anyway... mower took out the rest.. at the expense of 15 minutes of changing the shear pin..

Mound was not so wide.. but was real tall.. reminded me of those neat termite mounds inthe midwest.... but was only ants...

Soundguy

LarryD · May 9, 2004

That sure was an auful looking tangleof vines. We get blackberry brambles around here big enough to conceal a house. I tried one year (pre NH days) to go at them with a good weed whacker and made very little progress. Poison was out of the question cause of all the little critters around so we added a couple of goats to the mix. It was amazing how quickly they ate the stuff. Even when they came across the tongue from the mobile home, I never felt in any danger. they do through things out the rear end but the velocity is very low.

ryanwharton · May 10, 2004

I had a similar incident with my brush hog. Fortunately no one was injured. I contacted the manufacturer several times via email and phone and they were not interested in dealing with the matter. I never even received a phone call or reply email. Oh well, eventually it will injure someone and they will be liable. They scare the hell out of me now.

Soundguy · May 10, 2004

Strangely enough.. I found a part missing on my 5' KK brush hog after owning it about a year... there was a small cir-clip that holds the pto shaft onto the gearbox stub when the pin shears... mine was !gone! I emailed them asking for price and order info, and got an email 3 days later saying they would send me one.. It came inthe mail that day... free... Now I call that customer service.. and from an economy manufacturer.. that is awesome!

Soundguy