Bush-Whacker Experience?

[MickeyDBC]

I can spend a little money before the end of the tax year and would really like to replace my my old Schulte 10' 3 point mower. It cuts OK and has been great for cleaning the land up, but being a one piece deck it can dig in when turning on anything that is not perfectly flat and makes the tractor ride pretty bad. I have pulled a 15' batwing behind my Kioti 7320 before, does fine on the real flat areas of our place but struggles in the hillier part if grass/weeds get passed knee deep. Local dealer has Bush-Whacker MD144s and Rhino 12' and the Case dealer in Taylor also carries Rhino. The Bush-Whacker weighs about 800 pounds more than the Rhino and seems to be built a little heavier duty (claims to be medium duty). The Rhino is a little more refined and is powder coated vs. paint on the MD144 and you can already see paint fade on the Bush-Whacker. The Rhino also costs about $800 more. Any thoughts or opinions on these? It will be used to high mow weeds 3 or 4 times a year on about 50 acres and mow our orchards (about 25 acres) 6 to 8 times a year. I also have a zero turn that I use for close mowing around the trees and fences.

 

[MickeyDBC]

Here is a follow up. I bought one and man does that thing cut nice. Played with it for about twenty minutes today after it was delivered and setup. Set it to about 5" cut height and coastal came out looking beautiful even running in midrange 4th gear. Cut some 4" tall johnson grass and it looked great. Figure it will cut my mowing time in half next year.

 

[K5lwq]

That is awesome! Share some pictures when you get a chance. My brother down in Conroe is looking at the Rhino batwing. Might be another option for him to consider.

 

[MickeyDBC]

For me it came down between the Rhino and the Bush-Whacker but when I looked at them side by side the Bush-Whacker is a heavier duty. The thing that I did like about the Rhino is it is powder coated instead of painted and the lot models seemed to be holding up better in the sun (less fading), and the sales guy confirmed. When I did my short test, it did seem to have enough "lift" to lift and cut the grass that the tractor tires knocked down, so that was a plus there too. Another thing that I liked was that it is $800 less expensive than the Rhino, so that did not hurt there. I will try to post some pics this weekend.

 

[MickeyDBC]

I finally got a chance to take a couple of pictures of the shredder. Stump jumpers and blades are nice and heavy, the deck is thick enough that if it ever broke a blade I don't think it would go through it, and the folding mechanism is well done.









Kapper outdoors on youtube also has a nice review that shows one in action and has some more good info.

 

[K5lwq]

Thanks for the pictures! It looks like a very nice mower. Merry Christmas!