Chain Guard Safety

[JohnS]

I posted this as part of another post in the "Build-it-Yourself" forum, but it is probably more relevent here:

Will be getting a KK 5' rotary cutter soon. There is no question that I will have chain gaurds. The area I plan to mow is notorius for shale rocks that push up every freeze-thaw cycle. So hitting one, here or there, is more of an actuality vs probability.

How well do the chain guards work? Has anyone launched any projectiles with chain gaurds on? i.e. they still caused damage after hitting the chains or traveled more than 5-10 feet. Just wondering how careful I need to be, even with chain guards on. I know you can't be too careful, but would like to have a confedence level to work with in my head. Thanks.

 

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"How well do the chain guards work?"</font color=blue>

John,

I can't give you any specifics regarding how far something may fly after it's hit the chain, but I can tell you this. I argued with our City Parks Director for a couple of years about not running the mowers and cutters his department operates without some type of guards. His excuse was that it was too costly to outfit all the equipment with guards. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif

I broke out the numbers from the various damage claims that we were paying on annually, and it worked out that we were paying, on average, about $2,200.00 a year for claims related to thrown objects from mowers! /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif We usually had about 8 - 10 claims a year, ranging from vehicle damage to broken windows and an occassional bodily injury.

Once he saw the numbers, he did go back and outfit his mowers and cutters with a variety of guards, but mostly chain guards. I don't know what it cost to do that, but in the last two years since he's done it, we've only had 2 claims for damage for a total of $107.00. And those were from riding mowers that the employee had flipped up the deflector chute.

I hope this information helps.

 

[Bird]

John, I mowed my pasture the first time with a brush hog without chain guards and saw it throw a limb the size of my arm well over 50' once. But with chain guards, I don't recall anything ever going more than 5'. But like you said, you can't be too careful. I know the highway crews just keep right on going, but when I mowed along the borrow ditches, I always stopped if I saw a car coming until it was past.

 

[Miklos]

Well, I don't have chains on my 60" Bush Hog. It has thrown 5" diameter rocks over 200 feet before. I do not mow when anyone is around. How much does it cost to add on chain guards?

 

[JohnS]

I think they are around $200 for both the front and back sets for the 5' KK. Its not listed, or couldn't find it in TSC's Blue Book. Will check when I pick-up the cutter. Making your own can be done at less than half that price. Since the cart is in front of the horse (new tractor won't be here till June) I have plenty of time to figure out, with help by TBN, and make my own.

 

[JohnS]

Most of what I have to mow, is well away from the road and the house. A small trianglular area is directly behind my yard. The house is about 80' from the back edge. Current plan is, while mowing this area, to make sure I am making parrellel runs to the house. i.e. the back of the mower will never be pointed toward the house.

Before mounting the chain guards I will need to do a couple of passes just to make sure everything is OK with the cutter. Don't think they would like it much with some holes in the deck. These test runs will be done as careful as possible, a few hundred feet from anything or anyone that could get hurt.

 

[Kodiak]

There is a pretty good discussion going on in the You Build It Yourself forum on this very issue right now. Maybe it could save some of you some money.

 

[patrickg]

John, I have chains on my 6 ft brush hog. I don't throw much of consequence very far unless I have the deck raised up or tilted up in back to attack a bigger tree from the top down. Chains came on my HD beast. If I had one without I would add them myself. It sure isn't rocket science and wouldn't require welding, just drilling and bolting. Take a look at some brush hogs (rotary cutters) with chiains and you'll see it would only be a few bucks for parts plus the chain.

Patrick