bushog brand bushog pissed-off

[trotter13]

I bought my bush hog last year, used it twice, frist time had blades come up and dent the housing, and broke pin after it dented the housing. Today blade came up through housing, pin stayed intacted. Broke pin after 10 min. rocks that I hit were 3-4" above ground. I thought this was to hold up against minor rocks and things. Should I tell bush hog what sh*t they sell or?
thanx, mad TOM

 

[Darren]

Were the the rocks loose on the ground or embedded? Which model Bushhog did you buy? Does the mower have swinging blades attached to a central disk or does it have blades attached to a spindle?

 

[crown]

trotter,
I would imagine it should hold up to the rocks, I have hit many with my inexpensive very basic Howse cutter, however if the rocks were part of a rock ledge it would make a difference.

 

[JohnMiller3]

What model BushHog is it? What PTO hp are you pushing it with?

Anytime, you come into contact with the ground, rocks, stumps or any non-moveable object..., you should immediately disengage the pto and lift the cutter off the obstruction... it doesn't matter what brand or model rotary cutter you are using...

Those abnormal noises you hear back there sometimes are telling you to stop what you're doing... NOW!... don't wait another 5 seconds to think about it or I'll self destruct... /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

Now, the economy line of BushHogs... Squealer line has a thin skinned deck, smaller blades, basic gearbox (small diameter shafts), basic gearbox deck mounting, etc. etc. that won't take much to bend the heck out of them... (even under "normal" usage...) /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Trotter I have an inexpensive King Kutter 72 in. high lift rotory ie what every body calls a bushhog. Behind which I pull a Swisher 72 in. finish mower when I want things real pretty. OH I forgot I own 12 acers of an old gravel pit. Every time it rains we get a nice crop of soft ball size stones!

Classifications list;

Those that we have mowed over and pass on the next round that are now visible and some how did not scratch.

Those that are audible over the ear muffs and just needed a 1/2 in. off the top.

Those that are directional ie go back and knock the spark plug off the Swisher or go forward and hit the front axle and make the impact protection on you're sunglasses worth that extra $2. Sideways gives the mower character(bulges).

Those that are refered to as blade stoppers---ie the reason you have soft bolts too shear and you're hand on the lift leaver!

Those that are the reason you mow with you're FEL on with a shovel in it. Dig,pry,dig,pry,drag,lift,bang,re-seat,pull PTO.

Those that are refered to as "letherbees". These are the ones that were attacked as descibed above but when you are three shovel fulls down you decide to mow around and just let-her-be.

" Letherbees"disapear when you're buckets empty and you have a chance to bring some power?

The blades are now what I like to call " serated" knarlley but don't need ground on. But other than a few 1/2in. shear bolts,a spark plug(swisher),air filter mount(swisher),and one cool direct hit on the shift nob(swisher) half gone, all is well.


Smoke,rattle and,stink docdezl

 

[gusg]

And I thought I had rocks! Sounds like my MMM would be destroyed.

 

[trotter13]

My Bushog is the razerback, it has self colapsing blades, its on a disk. The rocks were imbeded in the ground with about 5-6" sticking up. I think I did my most damage hitting these rocks while going down hill, kinda sneaks up on you fast. Because of the incline my bushog wouldn't lift up high enough, thus blades through the housing. I've stalled the tractor too. I just think that the hog should of been able to handle this type of terain, my dealer saw my property and recomend the razerback. Do I have any recourse?
Thanx, Guys....Tom Kirby

 

[AndyF]

Just a suggestion. If you have rocks sticking 5 - 6" out of the ground you should see them before you hit them. Stop the tractor and dig them out rather than trying to cut them down to size. The bush hog is designed to cut brush and tall grass, not to quarry rocks.

I don't think that you will have any recourse with the manufacturer as you are trying to do something with the bush hog that it wasn't designed to do.

If they are "sneaking up" on you as you go downhill, slow down. When I first let my son use the tractor with the bush hog I had him go in low range to ensure that he would have time to stop. He didn't, but thats another story.

 

[Bill_Ryan]

If you have a bucket attached, leave it low (just above the ground) with the edge tilted up. It'll clang first prior to running over a rock with brush hog. ....early warning system in tall grass.

Bill

 

[Phred]

Tom,

I have a Bush hog 286 which is a 6 ft medium duty model made by the same company. I also have lots of rocks...big ones.
This model weights ~1000lbs and will cut the tops of those rocks in some cases. So I don't think the coompany makes a bad product at all, it may just be you have the wrong tool for the job.

You may be able to make it work by:
1) Set the cutter very high for the first pass and then pick up the rocks. No fun but this will solve your problem as long as you don't till or plow up more rocks.
2) After you have cut it several times and cleaned up the rocks you can slowly drop the height.
3) The loader setup discussed above will also help as long is your land is fairly level other wise you can end up tearing up the ground by digging in the loader.

You rear wheel should have two bolts ( at least mine does yours is probably similar). If you pick up the mower fully using the 3-point lift you can undo these bolts and drop the tail wheel a few notches then out the bolts back. This will allow you to have ~ 10" cutting height. That should get you above any rocks for the first few cuts. You can still use the 3 point hitch to adjust the height but if your rear wheel is set very low it will be hard to get a tall cut. If your tail wheel is set very high then it will be hard to get a short cut.

Fred