conflicting advice on using bucket with rotary cutter

[Hay Dude]

I don’t recall ever getting stuck with the loader off. It doesn’t get stuck as bad that way. But if it did happen I’d just have to go get my mini x and pull it out.

Not that easy when you’re mowing property alone 20 miles from the shop. When one of us goes on a “road trip”, we take everything we need with us. Can’t bring a mini ex. lol
Phone & wallet
Battery charger, battery grease gun & battery blower
Small portable air compressor
20’ of chain with hooks on both ends
fire extinguisher
Snacks & cold drinks to last as long as mowing job 8+ hours not uncommon.
first aid kit
maybe a chain saw.

 

[Hay Dude]

I have used bucket edge to pull myself out a few times when really stuck. Slow going, but it saved me.

 

[4570Man]

Not that easy when you’re mowing property alone 20 miles from the shop. When one of us goes on a “road trip”, we take everything we need with us. Can’t bring a mini ex. lol
Phone & wallet
Battery charger, battery grease gun & battery blower
Small portable air compressor
20’ of chain with hooks on both ends
fire extinguisher
Snacks & cold drinks to last as long as mowing job 8+ hours not uncommon.
first aid kit
maybe a chain saw.

That’s one of the big reasons I like hauling equipment vs driving it. If getting stuck 20 miles from home by yourself is a big problem a winch might be a good investment. Driving a truck with air brakes also has its perks.

 

[Hay Dude]

Oh, we haul em, too. With that tractor you have, you’d need to haul it. Its much too small to drive anywhere far from home. We have road speed. Slowest tractor is 24MPH. Fastest is 34MPH.

But with road speed at the same as top speed for most of our back roads, it’s not worth the time to load, unload in morning, then load & unload in the afternoon.
Besides, once you get stuck in a 4WD farm tractor with AGs, there’s no truck in the world thats not gonna get stuck trying to pull you out, too.

Best thing to do is not to get stuck in the first place by avoiding cutting when wet.

 

[4570Man]

Oh, we haul em, too.

View attachment 748191

But with road speed at the same as top speed for most of our back roads, it’s not worth the time to load, unload in morning, then load & unload in the afternoon.
Besides, once you get stuck in a 4WD farm tractor with AGs, there’s no truck in the world thats not gonna get stuck, too.

Best thing to do is not to get stuck in the first place by avoiding cutting when wet.

No, the truck isn’t going to pull it out, but at least I don’t have to walk home when the equipment breaks down or gets stuck.

 

[Hay Dude]

No, the truck isn’t going to pull it out, but at least I don’t have to walk home when the equipment breaks down or gets stuck.

I just call one of my guys for a ride, or he brings another machine out. Eazy peezy.
Havent been stuck in a long time, but have come very close. Those little R4’s get stuck pretty quick.

If this bad boy dont pull me out, I probably need a D-6

 

[4570Man]

I just call one of my guys for a ride, or he brings another machine out. Eazy peezy.
Havent been stuck in a long time, but have come very close. Those little R4’s get stuck pretty quick.

After I traded my backhoe for a skid steer and mini x hauling became an easier choice lol.

 

[Tbone07]

I almost always encounter something I want to push or move out of the way when I'm out cutting. Therefore mine always stays on.

Why travel all the way back to the barn to throw on the loader to take care of something I could've done right then and there?

If I had tight turns to make it might be another story.

 

[mo1]

I leave the loader and bucket on. The loader isn't all that easy to remove, and it and the bucket don't really get in the way when using a rotary cutter. They also provide a good counterweight and it's handy to use it to push fallen tree limbs and such into the treeline when mowing field edges. I lift the bucket a couple feet off the ground so it doesn't catch on the ground when crossing dips and ruts in the field.

I drive my tractor to the other couple of fields when I need to do so. The farthest one is only about 7 miles away, so it would take me longer to get the tractor loaded onto the trailer than it would just to drive there. Plus I generally am hooked to something that wouldn't fit on the trailer with the tractor at the same time and it would be a two trip deal, if it isn't something like a Discbine that doesn't really fit on a trailer without disassembly. Also I don't have anything nearly as neat as an F-750 that needs an excuse to be used to haul a tractor.