Mowing Bush hog size for L3560

[Will_C]

I know it had been discussed many times on TBN, and the general consensus is 5 PTO hp for 1 foot of bush hog size. Just looking if anyone has had any real world experience with a L3560 and a "2 inch" capacity bush hog. I need a 6' cutter to cover my tracks- tractor is 70" wide- but worry if I'll be underpowered. I do trust my dealer, and he says I'll be fine with a 6' cutter-just thought I'd see if anyone has used a 3560 or similar sized tractor-35 engine hp and 28pto hp-with a 6' bush hog.

Will

 

[jeff9366]

I know it had been discussed many times on TBN, and the general consensus is 5 PTO hp for 1 foot of bush hog size. Wondering if anyone has real world experience with a L3560 and a "2 inch" capacity bush hog. I need a 6' cutter to cover my tracks- tractor is 70" wide- but worry if I'll be underpowered. I do trust my dealer, and he says I'll be fine with a 6' cutter.

You will be find with a RCF2072 behind an open station L3560 if you cut grass and no brush thicker than 1". RCF2072 weighs 745 pounds.
The addition of a 600 pound CAB and liquid filled rear tires to an L3560 would moderate my assessment, especially if you need to mow hills.


Rotary Mowers, like other implements, come in Light Duty, Medium Duty and Heavy Duty models. Generally speaking, there is 150 pounds of weight difference assoicoated with heavier increments. If you carefully study new mower specs, most have Category 3 drive lines. Heavy Duty models have Category 4 drive lines. Dealers often refer to HD Category 4 mowers as "Right-of-Way" Mowers.

L3560 has 37-horsepower gross.


25 horsepower will power a Light Duty 5' Rotary Mower
35 horsepower will power a Heavy Duty 5' Rotary Mower

35 horsepower will power a Light Duty 6' Rotary Mower
45 horsepower will power a Heavy Duty 6' Rotary Mower

Using a HD Rotary Cutter of 1,000 - 1,100 pounds you will need an FEL to hold down the front of the tractor on moderate slopes.

I use a Land Pride RCR2660 (60") HD Rotary Cutter with a Class 4 driveline, weighing 1,002 pounds. My 2013 vintage L3560 powers RCR2660 through Florida jungle mowing over flat land with no complaint and no damage/distortion to the implement. I "try" not to cut brush thicker than 1-1/2". $3,120.00 in May 2018.

I had a Land Pride RCF2060 (60") medium-duty Rotary Cuter with a Class 3 driveline, weighing 620 pounds, nominally rated for 2" brush. It required a ~~$600 repair each year when I would get into brush. It would have been reliable cutting grass. $1,600 in February 2014.

Most Rotary Cutter mowing is done in HST/MEDIUM, with HST/PLUS half-step shifts.

If you buy too light a Rotary Cutter, then cut saplings, it will soon visit the shop.

Regardless of what you buy, order chain guards for the front and rear, not rubber guards and not plain metal.

 

[big bubba]

have you checked the hp pto requirement for the 6' rotary cutter? 2" might be a tall order for your equip 28 pto hp might be a little low to keep up the tip speed esp when dull & in thick growth assume you have fel for ft ballast? best regards

 

[Will_C]

Thanks for the quick replies. My tractor is open station, and I do have a FEL that I always keep on when cutting. I have previously used a 54" Woods rotary cutter, light duty-I'd call it a 1" cutter-behind a B2620. Used for 10 years ,did the job, and it was in good enough shape to sell for 65% of what I paid for it.

For me, the Land Pride 2072 will be a much heavier bush hog than my previous one. No need to tackle saplings, if I ever need something that rugged that I'll have my brother rent a mulching head for his Bobcat CTL. Much of the mowing I do now is maintenance on land that he reclaimed with such an outfit. No power requirements listed for Land Pride that I can find.

 

[big bubba]

you'll probably receive more advice on your question beyond what i can offer on your situation. keeping the blades sharp throughout the season will certainly help
best regards

 

[SDT]

I know it had been discussed many times on TBN, and the general consensus is 5 PTO hp for 1 foot of bush hog size. Just looking if anyone has had any real world experience with a L3560 and a "2 inch" capacity bush hog. I need a 6' cutter to cover my tracks- tractor is 70" wide- but worry if I'll be underpowered. I do trust my dealer, and he says I'll be fine with a 6' cutter-just thought I'd see if anyone has used a 3560 or similar sized tractor-35 engine hp and 28pto hp-with a 6' bush hog.

Will

As always, it depends upon what you plan to cut and how quickly you plan to cut it. Keep in mind that heavy grass pulls MUCH harder than does tall weeds and brush.

That said, 28 PTO HP is late model Ford 8N power. I would never consider any 6' rough cut mower for any 8N, even my two excellent ones with Sherman combination transmissions (12 speeds, 3 speed PTO).

SDT

 

[CobyRupert]

Why do you need it to cover your tracks? Are you trying to mow right up next to fences or a building?
A narrower mower means only one tire side tramples the grass you're trying to cut rather than two tracks.

Horsepower is simply a measure of how fast you want to apply energy. That is, it's a measure of how fast do you want to go. It takes x amount of energy to mow an acre. Any tractor can supply x amount of energy, given enough time. Its just that a 50 hp tractor can apply it twice as fast, in 1/2 the time, as a 25 hp tractor.

Considerations other than horsepower include whether the tractor can physically handle the larger mower and be stable (front ballast required?, etc...).

 

[Herkypilot]

I occasionally use a 6 foot med duty cutter behind my L3540. It's a struggle in heavy grass, but it will cut. I don't bother to cut any thick brush with it.

 

[jjp8182]

Don't have experience with a rotary cutter on my L3560, but for comparison I run a 72" finishing mower (a Landpride FDR2572) behind it for mowing both my yard and pasture.

Only time I can really recall having to significantly slow down or having any power issues was when I was cutting 18"-ish (plus in a couple spots) tall grass/weeds down to 4.5-ish inches in a neighbor's pasture -- as it was raining (he needed it cut prior to a equestrian event, had not been able to get to it himself, I'd missed his earlier calls, and he figured I could get it done quicker with my L3560 than he could with his JD 5085 with a larger rotary cutter/bush hog...which I'm pretty sure I did).

At the moment that's the only time I can recall having to go down to mowing with half-ish deck, and make multiple passes at a slow speed to get the job done ...and I'm fairly certain a large part of that was driven by the mower having issues discharging that much wet grass.

I suppose some might consider that abusing equipment, and I'm not entirely sure I'd disagree as it was more extreme than I'd consider doing on a regular basis - especially given how wet it was getting (single biggest reason I did it was because of all the hours of tractor work he's provided me over the years for no charge). Just for comparison, on my property it's more "normal" to mow at 3-5 mph taking 6-7inch (occasionally some taller spots) grass down to 4.5 inches with no more than 6-ish inches of overlap (usually less) between passes. I almost exclusively run mulching blades (replaced/sharpened yearly), and operating primarily on flat land (closest thing to an incline on my property is going from the ditch to the roadway which while relatively steep is a very short distance).

Again not a rotary cutter/bush hog, but it may offer some additional/different perspective on this topic.

 

[bdeboer]

I ran a Bush Hog medium duty behind an L3800 Hydro on ground that hadn't been cut in years last summer. 30 PTO horsepower.

I didn't have a lot of issues bogging down.

The only thing I didn't like was the 3 point geometry didn't let it pick it up very high. Never tried trailering it, not sure that would be an issue or not. Not an issue with my finish mower etc.

 

[dlundblad]

My L takes a 5’ rotary cutter so your larger Grand L should be fine with a 6’.

Your rear wheels will be covered and if it’s ever too much for the tractor, go slower or take half at a time.

 

[Turbys_1700]

The cutter you are looking at weighs 745#. Your wheelbase is 71". Your tractor weighs 3500# to 3900# according to Tractor Data un-ballasted. My advise. Load the rears. Keep the FEL and bucket on. You will struggle in thick grass but you will be OK. Without the FEL you will get light in the front end if you raise the cutter high. The FEL and bucket will give you the needed front ballast to handle a 750# cutter. I ran an 1100# Brown 472 with a Ford 4610SU. My Ford was ballasted at 6K pounds with loaded rears and front weights. It had a wheel base of 77.5". Plenty of power but the front end got light even with front weights. A FEL with a front bucket would have helped a lot. That Brown cuter was a nice heavy unit.

 

[jeff9366]

I ran a Bush Hog medium duty behind an L3800 Hydro on ground that hadn't been cut in years last summer. 30 PTO horsepower.

I didn't have a lot of issues bogging down.

The only thing I didn't like was the 3 point geometry didn't let it pick it up very high.

How wide was the mower? The OP's issue is 5' or 6' implement width.



Are L3800 left and right Lifting Rods positioned in the top hole? Top hole will provide 7" of additional lift for a mower, relative to lower holes.
(PHOTOS #1, #2) ((HIGHER HOLE = HIGHER LIFT))

Is the inboard end of your Top Link in the lowest of the three or four paired Draft Control holes? Lowest pair of inboard Top Link holes (PHOTOS #3, #4) will provide 4" of additional mower lift, relative to top pair of holes. (PHOTOS #5, #6)

 

[BRMyers]

I'm new to the forum and to owning a tractor. I purchased the Grand L3560 and a Land Pride 72" rotary mower. I have been using it for two days now mowing grass from a few inches to over 4 ft tall.

I had to mow in low gear, but the tractor did fine. My dad was able to mow faster on his old MF265, but he has about double the HP that I do.

The areas that had been kept up, I was able to mow in medium gear, but honestly learning the tractor and how it feels, I mowed mostly in low.

So, maybe that will help you with decision. If I did it right, there should be a picture of me mowing in my tractor and my dad on his (not the best picture).

 

[Will_C]

I bought a Woods 72" cutter a week ago. Have only used it on a couple of acres, but no problem with power- I went 3.5-4 mph while cutting 2-3' grasses. You definitely know you have something behind you, but no problem turning uphill, etc.
Thanks for all the advice.

Will

 

[cathy liebchen]

we run a 5' cutter behind our L3901, a LP 1860- works great even in 4 foot grass. We did replace the rear braces with heavier duty 3/8" steel ones because the stock mild steel 1/4 ones were constantly bent up. Some of our game trails would be too narrow to mow with a 6'

 

[jeff9366]

A comment on NEW Rotary Cutters: New Rotary Cutters with sharp, smooth blades will cut tall grass and brush OK. After 150 hours of use, when the blades are not smooth and may not be sharp, it can be a different story.

It is not hard to sharpen Rotary Cutter blades with a grinder but getting under a Rotary Cutter is something I do not do. I have the Rotary Cutter sharpened by the dealer when my tractor is in for fluid changes. The mechanic is in a pit when the blades are sharpened.

I find brush cleanly cut with sharp blades tends to grow back. Brush flayed with rounded blades dies after one pass more often.

As blades dull you need either more tractor throttle (or more tractor horsepower) or heavier mower blades with more rotational inertia, or both.

 

[art]

Depending on what you cut will make a difference on the cutter you need. In pasture conditions we often go to the twin spindle 7' landpride or bush hog style mowers and they do fine with that size tractor.. Mind you that is pasture ground and where there is good hay or grass there is not much to cut. Most mow in medium as the overall pulling load is light only the horsepower is needed for the cutter.

 

[Fallon]

A comment on NEW Rotary Cutters: New Rotary Cutters with sharp, smooth blades will cut tall grass and brush OK. After 150 hours of use, when the blades are not smooth and may not be sharp, it can be a different story.

It is not hard to sharpen Rotary Cutter blades with a grinder but getting under a Rotary Cutter is something I do not do. I have the Rotary Cutter sharpened by the dealer when my tractor is in for fluid changes. The mechanic is in a pit when the blades are sharpened.

I find brush cleanly cut with sharp blades tends to grow back. Brush flayed with rounded blades dies after one pass more often.

As blades dull you need either more tractor throttle (or more tractor horsepower) or heavier mower blades with more rotational inertia, or both.

Sharp blades make for sharp stumps. Sharp stumps make for holes in your tires (possibly feet).

Sharpening will improve your speed in grass, but generally isnt a good idea for brush & woody material. Shattered frayed stumps from dull blades are safer & more effective against regrowth.