DR Brush Mowers, Finish Mowers and generator.

[BrianSouthernMD]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am reviewing old threads and find these two wheel tractors very interesting. As far as brush and finish mowing goes can anyone comment on how they do on hills, especially in tracking around a hill? I have an old troybilt sickle bar mower that is very hard to track on uneven terrain and results in a workout when used. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif )</font>
rogdan,
My father bought and we still have a walk-behind 1993 Troy-Bilt Sickle Bar Mower, 5hp with 42" cut, as well as a 2003 DR Field & Brush Mower, 17 hp with 30-inch brush cut and 42" finish deck. The DR is much easier to use around hills than the T-B Sickle Bar, and not only cuts once but also mulches material. The decks pivot independently of the tractor wheels in a better setup than the T-B. On the DR, it is a bit harder to track the finish mower with caster wheels around hills than the brush mower, but it is doable depending on degree of slope and direction of attack.

But the Sickle-Bar mower is less than half the weight of my DR so it's good in very wet, marshy conditions! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif (And these two-wheelers still get use on very steep terrain and for trim work around densly treed areas, even after purchasing brush and finish mowers for our new Bobcat Toolcat!)

 

[rogdan]

Thanks Brian,
We need a large tractor on our farm but one of these seems to fit the bill for cutting brush in tight areas and finish mowing some steeper areas. What I don't like about the sickle bar is cutting blackberry vines and having them fall over on your hands, would be nice to chew them up. Does DR sell retail now or just on TV?

 

[BrianSouthernMD]

DR sells anyway you want to buy! They do have sales and service dealers (mostly lawnmower sales & repair shops, equipment rental stores, etc.), but are primarily focused on direct marketing (by mail, TV & internet) and direct customer service by drpower.com web site and phone.

 

[rogdan]

Thanks again, I am going to check around at the lawn and garden shops.

 

[dmccarty]

I finally ordered and received the 17HP DR Brush Mower. Up until the end of January seemed to be the best yearly price so I ordered it. I don't have to pay anything until this summer so I bought it. Since I don't have a lawn, I have mud, I'll hold off on the finish mower. If DR comes out with a more powerful generator I think I would buy it. The current one is a bit low on the power for what we need to do. I still might buy it but we are gambling that we won't need it this winter and so far so good.

/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I was very impressed when I ordered the machine. DR has a decent return policy and the person who took my order told me to keep the pallet and shipping materials in case I returned the machine. How many companies try to make it easier to return something now a days? He was very pleasent and polite. I ordered on a Tuesday and the equipment was at the warehouse the followng Tuesday. I would have ordered over the Internet but the software was not giving me warehouses that I know DR Mower ships to so I had to use the phone. The packaging was a bit banged up but it was sturdy enough to protect the system. It fit on a small pallet in the back of the truck. I guess you could get this thing in the bed of a small pickup but it would be close.

Thankfully I have a tractor with pallet fork so I was able to get the mower out of the truck. This thing is heavy. Having to manually slide this thing down ramps would not be fun. I had skimed through the manaul that is online at DR and I was able to put the mower on the engine pretty easy.

That was the most I could do until Saturday when I put on the light and hour/tach meter as well as adding fuel, oil and the heavy duty blade. DR does not ship oil with the mower. For my engine I can use SAE 30, 10w30 or 10w40 oil. I went with a synthetic 10w30 that I will have to change after eight
hours. Expensive but I only need 1.7 liters. Anyway the whole machine went togather real easy. I was impressed. Usually when you have to assemble something its a royal pain. Not so with the DR mower. The only nit I had with the assembly was the US flag was on backwards. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

It was raining all day when I assembled the mower. It was just before dark when I just had to start the thing and see what she could do. The engine turned right on. It just purrs. Its not loud
either. Purrs. I like it. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Since it was running I had to charge the battery. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif I went to an area that I had opened up with the tractor but which needed to be mowed a bit. Gave me a fair amount of space to play in which I needed. Fourth gear will make you jog. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif First gear is for cutting heavy undergrowth. Second and Third are for more open areas. Its easier to turn in second and third gear. I don't see using fourth all that much. The linkages on the gear selecter, wheel locks and such are tight but seem to be loosening up. I had to turn on the light since it got dark before I noticed and it worked real well. The hour/tach meter shows RPM when the engine is running. When the engine is turned off the hours are shown. I put .6 hours on the engine that night.

Sunday was clear so I was able to really work the mower. To put it simple this thing is a MONSTER that eats saplings. It does what it is supposed to do. It also will wear you out. The hour meter showed I worked two hours. At the end I just quit. I was worn out and tired. Turning the mower is not hard but it takes some energy and it flat wore me out. I'm also going to have to get some gloves with padded palms. My hands were very tired and due to all of the turning I was doing. The ends of the handle bars got to my hands. I seldom get worn out after a couple of hours of work but running the DR was work. I don't think the temps I was working in got above 42 degrees and I was one sweaty pig. I thought it was nice outside while mowing. Just the right temperatures. After I put up the mower I went inside to take a break. When I got back outside to finish my chores I was shocked how cold it was. I was burning some calories running the monster. The kids and wife would not get near me when I was done. I drank some water while working but not a lot. During a hot summer day I could see going through quite a bit of water.

On Sunday I went out to my west boundry line. I have had some trespass issues over there and its near the house. I'm making it very clear where the property line is located not only with mowing but with painted trees and posted signs. If the problems continue a fence is going up. This is one of the reasons for buying the DR. The tractor just can't get into areas like this. Once I get things cleared out with the DR I can get in with the chainsaw and widen the line to get the tractor in to maintain the line. Last year I cleared this line with my Stihl 85 brush cutter. It was BRUTAL. It took hours and hours of very hard work that pushed the brush cutter to its limits. I took the DR over to see what it would do. In 45 minutes it did what would take HOURS worth of work to accomplish with the Stihl. Using the DR is WORK but its a heck of a lot better than running the Stihl. I have an infestation of Russian Olive. This stuff has a "stump" that shoots out lots of trunks. If the trunks are less than a 1/2 inch the Stihl cuts them just fine. BUT if there are lots of shoots or shoots over 1/2 inch it takes more effort and time to cut with the brush cutter. The DR just mows the stuff down like grass. AND if the brush is big and the mower pulls some of the stumps out of the ground. The brush cutter also leaves a nice even cut. I cut down a bunch of bushes yesterday that had regrown after I cut them with the Stihl. The DR shatters the stumps like a tractor brush cutter. I am hoping the bushes dies off after this treatment.

If I assigned points to measure work effort the Stihl is at 100. The DR is at 90 AND the DR does the work at least 4-6 times faster.

I was told to keep my tractor out of the septic field. So one use for the DR is to cut the field. I had to do this by hand last year and to do roughly 3/4 of the field took between 4 and 6 hours of very hard labor. I went and did the remaining 1/4 of the field in a few minutes. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Simply stated I'm very impressed with this machine. It works as advertised. DR shipped an extra pulley for the mower. They said that the pulley acts like a share pin sometimes and breaks.
This pulley is HEAVY. I can't imagine this thing breaking but DR gives it to you to lesson your down time. I never bogged down the motor. I fed the mower some large trees at least 2 1/2 inches and I fed it lots of little trees at one time. As other have said, if the mower can push it over it will eat it. There is one tree I'll have to measure but it was big and the DR chewed it up. Very impressed.

I'm clearing woods and lot lines so I have quite a few down trees to deal with. Obviously the mower is not going to walk over a 12 inch tree trunk. I struggles on 6 inch trees which is a pain. I'm thinking of getting the chains to see if that will help the mower tires grab and walk over.

I have no complaints so far with the mower just little itty bitty nits.

Hope this helps someone.

Later,
Dan

 

[NIXON]

Dan, Thanks for the post . I've been "on the fence " about the Cost . But, Your review helped to clear up some of the questions I have had .

 

[treefireguy]

I have the wide deck 17 HP Pro That thing is a beast. I have the chipper attachment too, and am in need of the generator but I can't find them on the site or anywhere to buy.

 

[Locutus1546]

I know this topic is old, but during my idle hours of googling the new DRs I found this little topic.

Now I don't know about the 15 horse or the 17 horse, or the new 18 horse model, but my family owns a modest old model that was built in the 1990s. Not an original original but an older one. Now originally this beast had an eight horsepower motor. Bout half the power of these newer beasts. Unfortunately the original engine threw a rod and thus the motor is completely trashed. The blame to that is ours. It had been when I was still in high school (some years ago) and we had a class where small engines were a project and I figured we might as well give the little thing an overhaul. Well dad bought rings for it and all that and we went eventually pieced the beast together. When attempting to put the piston in I felt the rings were too tight, but pap insisted they were right for the engine. (I mean leaving marks on the cylinder wall tight) Consequently the engine locked up and... well. Now it has a 10 horsepower engine. Quite the beast.

Anyway back on topic. The DR field and brush mower is not all talk despite what some people think. This modest old timer has proven itself to me and my family time and time again. We have the light blade on it (Versus the heavier brush blade) and we've used it to clear long abandoned fields thick with heavy weeds and sapling trees (Including the softwood Caragana). We've also used it to clear around the house and our own field where we dare not take our other mowers. This thing will cut down grass. It will cut down weeds. It will even cut down mass clumps of caraganas so long as they're not full grown in their massive brush state (Too many 2-3 inch trees clumped together makes it impossible to get a good chomp on). For that we use the DR trimmer with it's beaver blade. (Ever seen a chainsaw blade on a mower? It's beastly.).

Now aside from this beastly little mower, our family possesses this wonderful old pickup truck. It's a 1984 Chevy full-ton pickup. It was built to order (one of their custom builds) by Burlington Northern. For the select few people who may possibly not know what BN is? It's the Major U.S. rail line that runs through a good portion of the Northern U.S. This truck was purchased as a crew hauler. (Not one of the trucks that went on the actual rails) It was bought to haul crew and equipment (it is a crew cab btw). Now this truck is rock solid. There is nothing weak about this truck. Everything from bumper to bumper was made soundly. From engine to trim it is a beast. At one point we loaded a full TON of dirt into it's bed before the springs even STARTED to settle. The gravel company doing the loading felt that it could have safely held another few hundred pounds, but we all wanted to play it safe. Well We pulled that home in this truck and it's engine barely even protested, as if we were carrying nothing at all in the back of this truck.

Now at one point we had to replace the tailgate unfortunately. I think if I remember right the latch quit working and since we had another pickup that we had put aside for parts (as it wasn't doing so hot with it's damaged door). We just used the tailgate off that instead of fixing the latch or buying a new tailgate.

I'm sure by now you're wondering what all this has to do with the DR by now right? Well.... That old tailgate from the crew cab found itself in with the weeds. It was long forgotten there until one day we decided to clear that area out. Weapon of choice? DR field and brush mower. We had forgotten all about that tailgate until THWACK! The loud sound of a high speed blade striking thick steel tailgate. Mother was worried she broke the DR. Nope. It was still running after it struck the tailgate, but she shut it down. Later inspection of the blade would reveal it to be slightly damaged, but still usable and good as new after a good sharpening.

The same could NOT be said of the tailgate.

Low and behold after deciding to find out just what she had struck with the mower, she spotted the tailgate and dug it out of the weeds. Upon this heavy steel tailgate was a very nice, deep gash where the blade had struck the tailgate. This BELT driven mower had sliced into the tailgate all the way through both sides of the hunk of metal and possibly 3-5 inches into it.

You think this mower can't cut down a 2.5 inch sapling? I think if it can get it's blade on it, push it over or not, it can. Both Blade and Mower will be fine.

I can't tell you of the quality of DRs today as I have not purchased one to replace this old beast, nor do I need to. I will admit I would love to see one of these new beasts in action, but because money doesn't grow on trees I feel it'll be a long time before I ever NEED to buy a new mower. If the new ones are anything like their predecessors, they are solid built and will last you decades.

With all that said, we have however considered buying a BCS with baler (We do have horses and think a baler might come in handy) to go in CONJUNCTION with our DR. There is no way we would ever replace a DR with anything but as they have proven themselves to be of solid construction.

 

[JakeBrake]

I know this topic is old, but during my idle hours of googling the new DRs I found this little topic.

Now I don't know about the 15 horse or the 17 horse, or the new 18 horse model, but my family owns a modest old model that was built in the 1990s. Not an original original but an older one. Now originally this beast had an eight horsepower motor. Bout half the power of these newer beasts. Unfortunately the original engine threw a rod and thus the motor is completely trashed. The blame to that is ours. It had been when I was still in high school (some years ago) and we had a class where small engines were a project and I figured we might as well give the little thing an overhaul. Well dad bought rings for it and all that and we went eventually pieced the beast together. When attempting to put the piston in I felt the rings were too tight, but pap insisted they were right for the engine. (I mean leaving marks on the cylinder wall tight) Consequently the engine locked up and... well. Now it has a 10 horsepower engine. Quite the beast.

Anyway back on topic. The DR field and brush mower is not all talk despite what some people think. This modest old timer has proven itself to me and my family time and time again. We have the light blade on it (Versus the heavier brush blade) and we've used it to clear long abandoned fields thick with heavy weeds and sapling trees (Including the softwood Caragana). We've also used it to clear around the house and our own field where we dare not take our other mowers. This thing will cut down grass. It will cut down weeds. It will even cut down mass clumps of caraganas so long as they're not full grown in their massive brush state (Too many 2-3 inch trees clumped together makes it impossible to get a good chomp on). For that we use the DR trimmer with it's beaver blade. (Ever seen a chainsaw blade on a mower? It's beastly.).

Now aside from this beastly little mower, our family possesses this wonderful old pickup truck. It's a 1984 Chevy full-ton pickup. It was built to order (one of their custom builds) by Burlington Northern. For the select few people who may possibly not know what BN is? It's the Major U.S. rail line that runs through a good portion of the Northern U.S. This truck was purchased as a crew hauler. (Not one of the trucks that went on the actual rails) It was bought to haul crew and equipment (it is a crew cab btw). Now this truck is rock solid. There is nothing weak about this truck. Everything from bumper to bumper was made soundly. From engine to trim it is a beast. At one point we loaded a full TON of dirt into it's bed before the springs even STARTED to settle. The gravel company doing the loading felt that it could have safely held another few hundred pounds, but we all wanted to play it safe. Well We pulled that home in this truck and it's engine barely even protested, as if we were carrying nothing at all in the back of this truck.

Now at one point we had to replace the tailgate unfortunately. I think if I remember right the latch quit working and since we had another pickup that we had put aside for parts (as it wasn't doing so hot with it's damaged door). We just used the tailgate off that instead of fixing the latch or buying a new tailgate.

I'm sure by now you're wondering what all this has to do with the DR by now right? Well.... That old tailgate from the crew cab found itself in with the weeds. It was long forgotten there until one day we decided to clear that area out. Weapon of choice? DR field and brush mower. We had forgotten all about that tailgate until THWACK! The loud sound of a high speed blade striking thick steel tailgate. Mother was worried she broke the DR. Nope. It was still running after it struck the tailgate, but she shut it down. Later inspection of the blade would reveal it to be slightly damaged, but still usable and good as new after a good sharpening.

The same could NOT be said of the tailgate.

Low and behold after deciding to find out just what she had struck with the mower, she spotted the tailgate and dug it out of the weeds. Upon this heavy steel tailgate was a very nice, deep gash where the blade had struck the tailgate. This BELT driven mower had sliced into the tailgate all the way through both sides of the hunk of metal and possibly 3-5 inches into it.

You think this mower can't cut down a 2.5 inch sapling? I think if it can get it's blade on it, push it over or not, it can. Both Blade and Mower will be fine.

I can't tell you of the quality of DRs today as I have not purchased one to replace this old beast, nor do I need to. I will admit I would love to see one of these new beasts in action, but because money doesn't grow on trees I feel it'll be a long time before I ever NEED to buy a new mower. If the new ones are anything like their predecessors, they are solid built and will last you decades.

With all that said, we have however considered buying a BCS with baler (We do have horses and think a baler might come in handy) to go in CONJUNCTION with our DR. There is no way we would ever replace a DR with anything but as they have proven themselves to be of solid construction.

I have both an old 8HP DR manufactured by Bachtold Brothers and a 2002 model with a 15HP Kawasaki engine. In my opinion the old DR is good, but the new model is much better.

I have never tried cut up a pickup tailgate, but I think either DR could handle it without much trouble.

 

[valleyoaksfarm]

My DR is a 99 with the Kawasaki and I love it! However, that old model is a pain to switch from brush deck to grass deck. Has anybody come up with a mod to make that switch easier? The new ones are designed that way.
John