Mowing Bush Hog operating Hints and experience

[eastexan]

Here are some pictures of stuff we cut.

Looking at the picture on the left, I see you have Giant Ragweed there, too.
I guess it must be all over the South.

I'm allergic to it and it tears me up in the fall of the year. So I have to either mow it before it blooms or have someone else mow it. Along the rivers, and in the bottoms it gets like trees.

 

[TripleR]

Looking at the picture on the left, I see you have Giant Ragweed there, too.
I guess it must be all over the South.

I'm allergic to it and it tears me up in the fall of the year. So I have to either mow it before it blooms or have someone else mow it. Along the rivers, and in the bottoms it gets like trees.

We sure have our share of it and try not to let it get out of hand, but we had a tractor go toes up last year and it about got away from us.

It tears me up too and even a cab doesn't completely keep it out. On our flatland farm, it grows along our ditches and we can't mow them and they do get as tall as trees. Last year they got so tall they were actually falling over. My brothers mow out there on open station tractors. I went out and helped last year and boy it was something else.

 

[eastexan]

We sure have our share of it and try not to let it get out of hand, but we had a tractor go toes up last year and it about got away from us.

It tears me up too and even a cab doesn't completely keep it out. On our flatland farm, it grows along our ditches and we can't mow them and they do get as tall as trees. Last year they got so tall they were actually falling over. My brothers mow out there on open station tractors. I went out and helped last year and boy it was something else.

As easy as it is to grow, it's too bad there's not a market for it.:mur:

 

[eastexan]

Watch out for down wire. Barbed wire, electric fence wire, woven wire fence, nylon electric tape, etc. I have gotten barbed wire tangled in my stump jumper and watched it cut a 40' diameter swath just like a giant weed eater. It will cut the legs or suck someone into the brush hog if they are standing too close.

I've seen fence wire and steel banding get tangled up so bad that it had to be cut out from around the blades with a cutting torch.

About 30 years ago, a guy I knew was mowing a RR right of way and ran onto a 2-way radio tower guy-wire and pulled the tower down. He wasn't hurt and it missed his tractor. It was a tall but skinny/flimsy tower.

 

[deepNdirt]

when doing an area with high brush (without smalls trees) I like to make the first cut by backing up in the center and work my way out and back driving fwd and back. this way I watch the back wheel on the brush mower to see if it gets muddy or starts to rise or fall sharply...helps to determine the lay of the land and where the wet areas are. when mowing fwd, I like to keep the fel low and it can help if i get stuck.

:thumbsup: same as me I spend equal amount of time backing as much as pulling forward over stuff, people tent to let stuff grow tall and thick before they decide to have it cut, Making it more difficult for us tractor operators, Recently I was ask to cut a dam and retention pond, all the man told me was the dame is in there somewhere and stated was barely wide enough for a truck to drive across, and was over 150 ft long, I began backing little by little diagonally until I could see the cutter start dropping over the edge and knew was where to stop, worked a little on one side than some on the other, all along this was having cut through 8 ft tall briers and at a slow rate made it seem more like 500 ft. long,

The dam wound up being more like 15 ft wide and I then became more relaxed knowing this :thumbsup: ....
Remember when you don't know the lay of the terrain it is better to go at backward and watch the cutter and how it responds then going into it forward and having the tractor drop off in a hole and then having your Heart respond

 

[bironacad]

Excellent! I know however I will have to read this again after some experience with mistakes then say oh ya, lol. I really appreciate the shared experience, Thanks!:thumbsup:

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Couple of things off the top of my head:

1. Don't engage the hog if you're near a building with lots of windows; or you're be spending a lot of time picking up broken glass and re-glazing the empty frames.

2. Make sure your cars and trucks are either garaged, barned, or far from where you're cutting. It's a bad feeling going from a good job mowing to finding that you need to replace your windshield (been there, done that, made the wife mad); or that you pebble-finished the side of your new truck.

3. Inspect your mower before using. Make sure everything is tightened up, and the blades are attached properly, and the bearings and shaft aren't badly worn.

4. Do that pre-walk and beware of stuff that might break your mower blades. Those blades will punch through the apron and fly hundreds of feet if they break or come off the shaft.

 

[CompactTractorFan]

Watch out for down wire. Barbed wire, electric fence wire, woven wire fence, nylon electric tape, etc. I have gotten barbed wire tangled in my stump jumper and watched it cut a 40' diameter swath just like a giant weed eater. It will cut the legs or suck someone into the brush hog if they are standing too close.

Yikes! :confused2:

 

[bironacad]

Yikes! :confused2:

Yikes indeed, I have property that has been used for farming\ saw mill\black smithing\farming (rocks)........for 150 years there about, so there is always something finding its way into the blades of my mowers: swede saw blades, front end linkage parts, fence wire, rocks, low stumps, old farm equipment parts...... lol, all stuff that I have hit with my riding mower. The bush hog is just a big honking mower which generates a lot more energy when in contact with stuff other then grass, . A lot of the posts here are from shared experience with the like. :laughing: Long grass and brush will also hide wet depressions that can bog you down and expression that actually comes close to the truth here, but it is all part of the adventure. The comforting thing here is that we are not alone in this adventure.:thumbsup:

 

[bironacad]

I put the HTL on and hooked up the bush hog yesterday and it worked great!

Thanks for the tips on setting up the hose ports for the HTL to the side and the BH height settings, it work as prescribe now if I could stay away from large rocks with the BH, lol.


Thanks
:thumbsup::laughing:

 

[dennis52]

After every use, a quick clean under the raised brush hog with a long handled thick bristle broom to remove wet clumped debris.
Will reduce rusting and allow you to spot tangled wire , blade damage or loose bolts.

 

[bironacad]

After every use, a quick clean under the raised brush hog with a long handled thick bristle broom to remove wet clumped debris.
Will reduce rusting and allow you to spot tangled wire , blade damage or loose bolts.

I am basically a weekend warier and yesterday was my first go at it and was thinking that I should have gave it a look, lol, will check for sure this weekend coming. Great tip though, the HTL will really help with the inspections.

Do you ever need to replace your blades? and if so how often? Do you keep back ups?

 

[kebo]

Unless you have LOTS of rocks in your area, blades should last a VERY long time, like many years. Of course, it also depends on how many hours of use the mower gets each cutting season, or if you break/bend a blade. Most people will "dress" them (or put a new edge) on them once a year. It never hurts to keep a spare blade or two on hand though.


I've only owned two bush hogs so far, one had new blades just installed when I bought it. I used that 4ft one for about 9 years before I sold it (with the same blades) and upgraded to a 5ft mower. The blades on the 4ft mower were very dull when I sold it, but that was mostly by choice. It makes the cuts very rough which makes it harder for scrub trees to regrow from the same stump. Have had the current 5 ft mower for about 3 years now and it's on the same blades I got with it (bought it used so age unknown). The blades on this one are rather dull but again that is by choice. I probably should sharpen them every so often but I don't.

 

[Samandothers]

It may not matter in your case but if you have a slip clutch versus shear bolts and your cutter sits for a while you need to loosen the bolts on the slip clutch before you use. Turn the brush hog blade with the PTO to pop the 'rusted' clutch loose. Then retighten to proper amount.
check the gear box to ensure proper amount of gear oil.

I back about as much as I go forward. especially in the edge of woods.

 

[RoyJackson]

All VERY GOOD posts!!! (rare in an internet forum!)

I'll add o a few (but you've probably experienced a couple already)

Engage the PTO at a low RPM (reduce the shock load to the tractor's PTO), but keep your foot or hand near the throttle if the engine starts to stall (give it a bit more fuel if that happens).

By now, you know the cutter will make a lot of noise and vibration initially...and you'll hear the "bang" when the blades pivot out.
Also remember it takes quite a while for them to spin down (my old Land Pride takes close to a minute)...still fast enough to throw debris out. Use caution and stay on the seat if possible.

Kebo wrote about watching the temperature gage...yes, do this. I keep a small paint brush (about 2" wide and the bristles cut down to 3/4-1 inch) to clean the grills. Bush cutting is a dirty dusty job!

Speaking of dirty dusty...you're breathing the same crap that is clogging your radiator grills...think about a dust mask...goggles (and, of course, hearing protection).

 

[TripleR]

There is an old thread that I can't seem to find on reducing the engine RPM prior to disengaging the PTO.

 

[bironacad]

All VERY GOOD posts!!! (rare in an internet forum!)

I'll add o a few (but you've probably experienced a couple already)

Engage the PTO at a low RPM (reduce the shock load to the tractor's PTO), but keep your foot or hand near the throttle if the engine starts to stall (give it a bit more fuel if that happens).

By now, you know the cutter will make a lot of noise and vibration initially...and you'll hear the "bang" when the blades pivot out.
Also remember it takes quite a while for them to spin down (my old Land Pride takes close to a minute)...still fast enough to throw debris out. Use caution and stay on the seat if possible.

Kebo wrote about watching the temperature gage...yes, do this. I keep a small paint brush (about 2" wide and the bristles cut down to 3/4-1 inch) to clean the grills. Bush cutting is a dirty dusty job!

Speaking of dirty dusty...you're breathing the same crap that is clogging your radiator grills...think about a dust mask...goggles (and, of course, hearing protection).

The low RPM deal on PTO engagement I am use to with the rear mount snow blower but the dust is something again. My grill was fairly clogged with dandelion seed when I was done playing so temp watching and grill cleaning is good advice. One of the reasons I was using the BH is because it was so hot. I decided to give my weed eater and mower a rest and climbed into the enclosed cab, filtered air conditioned air, what a wimp eh? :laughing::thumbsup:

 

[TroyR57]

check out this thread, of my bush hog use last weekend, I wish I had read this before then. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...g/208765-l3700su-working-hard-lehigh-gap.html , had a lot of fun though.

 

[RoyJackson]

There is an old thread that I can't seem to find on reducing the engine RPM prior to disengaging the PTO.

That was a good addition to the topic, TripleR...
I do decrease my RPM prior to disengaging...didn''t think about adding it when I wrote my post.

 

[TripleR]

That was a good addition to the topic, TripleR...
I do decrease my RPM prior to disengaging...didn't think about adding it when I wrote my post.

I went for a lot of years disengaging my PTO often without reducing the engine RPM; wish I could have found the thread as it did a good job of explaining why.

It often seems the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.