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.