Brush Hog mods

[2manyrocks]

Here is an hydraulic brush cutter I built for my backhoe a month or so ago. I suppose it fits the thread, since mostly about using chains. I do have a flail mower for the backhoe, which worked fairly well, but it's just an heavy attachment and I wanted something lighter.

Cutting width is about 50 cm or nearly 20". Using 3/8" grade 80 chains. Rotor speed is about 2000 RPM.

It has been painted since, I just haven't taken any pictures of it yet. Still need to test it properly but for that I need to haul the machine over to the remote propriety, however I still have digging work for the backhoe here at home.

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Every TBN member who either has or wants a 16hp or so chinese made mini-ex must be salivating at the sight of your cutter.

I wouldn't have expected a 17hp backhoe to have enough power to run a cutter?

Could you explain the way you've oriented the skid shoes perpendicular to the tractor? They also appear to be very wide compared to most brush cutters I've seen.

Your fabrication work is astounding.

 

[ptsg]

In my experience it recovers slower than cutting with a blade... which can be a good thing if you are simply mowing to reduce the fire fuel.

Exactly. These are truly brush cutters meant for brush cutting. I know a lot of people get by with using a rotary cutter to leave a decent finish, but this is not the tool for them, even though it won't actually leave that bad of finish either. Not as a good as blades but not far out.

 

[ptsg]

Every TBN member who either has or wants a 16hp or so chinese made mini-ex must be salivating at the sight of your cutter.

I wouldn't have expected a 17hp backhoe to have enough power to run a cutter?

Could you explain the way you've oriented the skid shoes perpendicular to the tractor? They also appear to be very wide compared to most brush cutters I've seen.

Your fabrication work is astounding.

Thank you!

So the reason I can get by with 17hp compared to a chinese mini-ex is because I have a dedicated pump for the auxiliary circuit and I match the attachments to this machine. This means I always have flow there regardless if I move my machine or use the arm.

In my case, 17hp is pretty much the bare minimum. Ideally I would need an engine with about 25hp to be comfortable for what I want to do with this machine. In this configuration, I do lower the pressure for the arm to leave more HP for the auxiliary circuit so the engine doesn't have to work that hard and mostly because I refuse to rev it to the near max RPM.

This has been working very well with a flail I had. All these months later and I haven't had the chance to test this new cutter I built.

Regarding the shoes or skids being mounted perpendicular to the machine is because when using the cutter, you move the arm left/right instead of moving the machine forward or backwards. This way, it also protects the operator from debris.

As far as the width, we run the brush cutters dragging on the ground, so the wide shoes let it float better and won't let it dig much.

Maybe this video leaves a better idea of one of these cutters:

 

[ptsg]

About time I took this cutter out for testing. I only have some pictures of it painted though.

As far as performance, I'm happy with it. I tested it on some overgrown brush. It took it just fine, no issues, no weird noises, no vibrations. Just smooth operation. I would like to test it on some thicker and dryer material as well.

One thing I could possibly change and may happen eventually, is to move the rotor down some. I left it a bit to close to the bottom of the deck. I would like to go a bit closer to the ground.

I did noticed an huge difference in hydraulic oil temp by running this cutter instead of the other flail cutter I have. With the flail, the temps would sit at around 60C. With this cutter, it sits at around 40C, which is the same as when just digging holes.

Eventually, I would like to upgrade the engine, preferably an air cooled 3 cylinder diesel in the 30 to 35hp range. This would allow me to run a bigger pump on the auxiliary circuit for more flow. Then, I could push the RPMs on the cutter from 2000 up to 2500 or 3000 RPM.

Unfortunately, no videos and no pictures of the before and after because I got carried away with it and forgot about. Once we finally get a break in the rain, I'll take some videos of it.

 

[2manyrocks]

Moving the rotor down would make it easier to find rocks?

 

[ptsg]

Moving the rotor down would make it easier to find rocks?

Possibly but that's what the chains instead of blades are for. Chains won't care about rocks.

 

[5030]

About time I took this cutter out for testing. I only have some pictures of it painted though.

As far as performance, I'm happy with it. I tested it on some overgrown brush. It took it just fine, no issues, no weird noises, no vibrations. Just smooth operation. I would like to test it on some thicker and dryer material as well.

One thing I could possibly change and may happen eventually, is to move the rotor down some. I left it a bit to close to the bottom of the deck. I would like to go a bit closer to the ground.

I did noticed an huge difference in hydraulic oil temp by running this cutter instead of the other flail cutter I have. With the flail, the temps would sit at around 60C. With this cutter, it sits at around 40C, which is the same as when just digging holes.

Eventually, I would like to upgrade the engine, preferably an air cooled 3 cylinder diesel in the 30 to 35hp range. This would allow me to run a bigger pump on the auxiliary circuit for more flow. Then, I could push the RPMs on the cutter from 2000 up to 2500 or 3000 RPM.

Unfortunately, no videos and no pictures of the before and after because I got carried away with it and forgot about. Once we finally get a break in the rain, I'll take some videos of it.

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Nice paint job. Wonder how long it will last.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm only posting this question for discussion because I don't know the practical aspects of how it might work. But lets say you have a mini-x or backhoe that has a 14-17hp engine. Rather than try to change it out for a larger engine to power a cutter, could you add some kind of engine with a hydraulic pump as both a counterweight and power source instead? 13hp gas engines are relatively inexpensive here in the USA.

I'm guessing that having one 35 hp engine is the better option because the excavator is pretty much still while operating the brush cutter and the larger engine could provide more fluid flow than trying to use a separate dedicated 13hp engine?

 

[5030]

You can buy auxiliary power packs that mount on the back end of a tractor that are self powered if you don't have sufficient hydraulic flow to power the implement pump efficiently.

 

[ptsg]

Nice paint job. Wonder how long it will last.

Probably not much at all, that's for sure.

 

[ptsg]

I'm only posting this question for discussion because I don't know the practical aspects of how it might work. But lets say you have a mini-x or backhoe that has a 14-17hp engine. Rather than try to change it out for a larger engine to power a cutter, could you add some kind of engine with a hydraulic pump as both a counterweight and power source instead? 13hp gas engines are relatively inexpensive here in the USA.

I'm guessing that having one 35 hp engine is the better option because the excavator is pretty much still while operating the brush cutter and the larger engine could provide more fluid flow than trying to use a separate dedicated 13hp engine?

My reason for the 25 to 35 hp engine, is mostly for my needs and my machine. I'm always trying to squeeze more out of it.

For one of those mini excavators, I don't think there is a need for a bigger engine, but for constant flow application like a cutter like mine or a flail, I would for sure want a dedicated pump just for that application.

Like you and 5030 said, you could build your own "mini" hydraulic pack and attach it to the counter weight. That would provide a way to power the cutter but also acts as counter weight for said cutter.

If I happen to need an excavator today without having mine already, I would most likely just went with one of these 2 ton mini excavators instead of building my own.

 

[2manyrocks]

I suspect few have your fabrication skills. I certainly do not.

 

[Gord Baker]

About time I took this cutter out for testing. I only have some pictures of it painted though.

As far as performance, I'm happy with it. I tested it on some overgrown brush. It took it just fine, no issues, no weird noises, no vibrations. Just smooth operation. I would like to test it on some thicker and dryer material as well.

One thing I could possibly change and may happen eventually, is to move the rotor down some. I left it a bit to close to the bottom of the deck. I would like to go a bit closer to the ground.

I did noticed an huge difference in hydraulic oil temp by running this cutter instead of the other flail cutter I have. With the flail, the temps would sit at around 60C. With this cutter, it sits at around 40C, which is the same as when just digging holes.

Eventually, I would like to upgrade the engine, preferably an air cooled 3 cylinder diesel in the 30 to 35hp range. This would allow me to run a bigger pump on the auxiliary circuit for more flow. Then, I could push the RPMs on the cutter from 2000 up to 2500 or 3000 RPM.

Unfortunately, no videos and no pictures of the before and after because I got carried away with it and forgot about. Once we finally get a break in the rain, I'll take some videos of it.

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That is a nice tiny Bush Hog. You would be better off buying a Larger Tractor and Bigger Bush Hog that is designed for what you are looking for

 

[ptsg]

That is a nice tiny Bush Hog. You would be better off buying a Larger Tractor and Bigger Bush Hog that is designed for what you are looking for

This cutter is designed exactly for what I'm looking for.

I do have a bigger tractor and a brush cutter but the tiny bush hog is meant to go on places that the tractor can't go, like an 9 ft drop off I have on the left side of this bottom picture, although not visible when I took this picture a couple of years ago.

 

[2manyrocks]

Personally, I don't want to spend $100,000 on an excavator plus another $25,000 on a mulching head.

It's very interesting to see what you've been able to design and build. I am glad there are still people in this world with your level of creativity and workmanship.

 

[2manyrocks]

On the topic of chains, I've been hand clearing an area of honey locust trees because I didn't want to puncture any of my tractor tires, especially the rear ones filled with fluid.

I've cut the trees down and hand raked most of the area, but I'm still finding thorns here and there.

It would be nice to have a forestry mulcher grind the top layer of ground, but they have a $1,200 a day minimum. The work might take them 30 minutes.

Don't know if it even works because I've never used it, but I have an old Gravely front mount tiller attachment for my walk behind Gravely tractor. I thought about tilling the ground, but there are still some stubs of tree trunks and tree roots that would interfere.

In my imagination, it would be nice if I could beat these remaining thorns to pieces with chains.

 

[RayIN]

On the topic of chains, I've been hand clearing an area of honey locust trees because I didn't want to puncture any of my tractor tires, especially the rear ones filled with fluid.

I've cut the trees down and hand raked most of the area, but I'm still finding thorns here and there.

It would be nice to have a forestry mulcher grind the top layer of ground, but they have a $1,200 a day minimum. The work might take them 30 minutes.

Don't know if it even works because I've never used it, but I have an old Gravely front mount tiller attachment for my walk behind Gravely tractor. I thought about tilling the ground, but there are still some stubs of tree trunks and tree roots that would interfere.

In my imagination, it would be nice if I could beat these remaining thorns to pieces with chains.

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Get a tracked skid-steer w/front mount 3-pt hitch.

 

[2manyrocks]

I was just engaged in wishful thinking about not having to actually do the work.

 

[mllud]

Cutting with a new or freshly sharpened brush hog blade is nice but this shows that it doesn't really have to be sharp to hack down heavy brush and small trees.
Cutting field grasses the sharp blade wins.

This is a rip and tear operation. I have pushed the limits of my old Woods Dixy Cutter.
Build these out of the older brush hogs with heavy duty gearboxes and use a stout tractor. It will test it depending on the operator.
It looks like Scootr picked up as HD brush cutter. This could save you from a lot of nasty hand clearing work.
Let-r-rip

 

[scootr]

Cutting with a new or freshly sharpened brush hog blade is nice but this shows that it doesn't really have to be sharp to hack down heavy brush and small trees.
Cutting field grasses the sharp blade wins.

This is a rip and tear operation. I have pushed the limits of my old Woods Dixy Cutter.
Build these out of the older brush hogs with heavy duty gearboxes and use a stout tractor. It will test it depending on the operator.
It looks like Scootr picked up as HD brush cutter. This could save you from a lot of nasty hand clearing work.
Let-r-rip

The old Brush hog Model 12 I found could be as old as 70 yrs. It's heavy built and was in need of some repairs.
It was ideal for this experiment which has become my go to cutter, I mean slasher.