Mowing brush hog vs finish mower

[DmansPadge]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I think you could run a brush mower with 3 HP per foot, but you won't be mowing very fast.
If you want to mow with any speed at all I would want at least close to 5HP/foot minimum)</font>

There is no dought that the more hp the better. I guess I am speaking more of in terms of 30hp and less tractors. My neighbor has a Mahindra 40hp with a 6ft hog and can cut down anything in his way at any speed and not have a problem. If you've got a 40+ hp tractor you can just about buy whatever you want and not worry about the tractor being able to use it. But for the sub CUTS and CUTS I think the 3 PTO hp rule is a reasonable formula.

 

[Tom_H]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( When ya kill the PTO on a brush hog vs. a FM., how much longer do the blades spin on the cutter... Its not the size or weight of the blade, its the drive. Belts eat HP.

And I agree its like comparing apples and oranges. Two different tools for different jobs.
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On an MMM or RFM some drive may be lost in friction of pully and belt. Once the blades meet serious resistance the belts begin to slip and burn or the engine stalls. You are partially correct in that the "drive" in the rough cutter is superior because the power is transmitted through steel shafts and gears. Flexible belts on pullys do not transfer the power as efficiently. As far as saying that "it's not the size or weight of the blades", however, that is simply not correct. I am not trying to be unkind here but I do hold a certificate to teach physics. The transmission of energy through the drive system on the rough cutter IS a significant variable, HOWEVER, the mass of the blade and its inertia expressed in kinetic energy, and the pivoting of the blade are very significant variables as well.

 

[DK35vince]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( As far as saying that "it's not the size or weight of the blades", however, that is simply not correct. I am not trying to be unkind here but I do hold a certificate to teach physics. The transmission of energy through the drive system on the rough cutter IS a significant variable, HOWEVER, the mass of the blade and its inertia expressed in kinetic energy, and the pivoting of the blade are very significant variables as well. )</font>

You can feel the drifferance here even when starting to spin the mower.
My engine does not slow down, nor do I feel it when engaging my RFM.
When turning on my brush mower the engine will slow down and at times it will shake the whole machine till it spins up to speed.

 

[Bird]

Quite frankly, I have no idea which one requires the most horsepower; finish mower or brush hog. However, I had both in the 5' size. I could easily turn the PTO driveshaft by hand on the brush hog, but not on the rear finish mower. Of course, the finish mower had a belt from the gearbox to 3 different spindles. Of course, I always engaged the PTO slowly on either mower and you could definitely tell there was a load on the PTO until the mowers got up a little speed and then either seemed to turn freely.