Brush Hogging Advice

[have_blue]

Everyone is right on target, but from what I've seen, wet ground is the worst offender. If th etires rut even a tiny bit, it can cause the weed stems to crush more than if no rutting at all. I suppose loaded tires could also contribute a little to the problem.

There's nothing like a front mower deck. I bet some day most finishing mowers and even brush cutters will be front mounted. I don't guess that will be any day soon though.

 

[Jackrabbit_Slim]

I'd echo what Gatorboy has to say. Instead of cutting in rounds, cut in inlands. Overlap your cuts and make sure you're not running wheels over stuff that's already been crushed. I just dropped an acre of 6 foot canary grass. Took my first pass with the cutter as high as it would go just to make things managable and prospect for big rocks, then dropped it right down on my second go 'round. This was really, really rough, sloping ground full of potholes and all kinds of other surprises. I don't know if it was scarier the first time not knowing what was in there, or the second time, after I did. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Don't own a rake or tiller. If anyone has any suggestions about what to do with all this trash...

 

[Soundguy]

I agree with Freds.. try setting the tires in a bit and/or overlap 6" on your cut..

Soundguy

 

[Birdhunter1]

What i have done on my MF-135 with a 6ft BH is I widened the front and back tires to strattle the outside edges of my BH and I mow one direction then turn and come back where I last cut leaving my tires on the outside of the grass. The BH blades lift the grass that I previously smahsed down the last pass. It seems to work well unless the grass is extremely wet or it's that #%*@ johnson grass, that stuff doesn't seem to cut well at all (burning late Feb. early March seems to work best). Also with the tires widened it adds much greater stability on hillsides and embankments. The easy way would be to lower your BH so it cuts low and cuts everything.

 

[OhioGuy]

And on a slightly related note. I found if I disconnect my toplink and driveshaft, I can pivot the brush hog with a chain hoist, throw another chain on for safety and I have a real accessable set of blades to touch up with the angle grinder.

It almost cuts like a finish mower when the blades are sharp,
but they don't usually stay sharp terribly long. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Curt

 

[To20Chris]

No, they don't, but dull blades really increase the HP requirement. And after you trim enogh rocks, it seems a 4" angle grinder just doesn't do the trick for sharpening anymore either!

In this case though, I'm thinking it's mostly long weeds and wet soil.

 

[Soundguy]

Not that I have all the ant mounds and rocks fairly cut off level after my first couple years of mowing my extended pasture.. I've found i can keep my blades about as good as lawnmower blades and they will almost produce a 'shaggy' finished lawn cut... I never expected that quality from a brush cutter.

Soundguy

 

[FIREWALLIT]

Try mowing clockwise (right turns) and overlap your tracks from the previous pass. This puts the retreating blade over the grass your tires pushed down on the last pass and will pull it back up quite well, especially with up-turned blades.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Sarge, I did that today. I cut a field that had grown pretty tall due to a lot of rain last week and week before. A lot of the stuff was smashed down and not cut. What I've always done is to vary the way I cut. I start cut in squares going clockwise, and then counterclockwise and then diagonally. With the cross trips to cut each section, I end up running the opposite way over the left overs which usually have lifted some by the time I get back to them. John