Finish vs bush mowers

[GSS]

That's pretty much my predicament too. I got a 72" RFM with my Cub, but may sell it after I get the 72" Woods BrushBull (this week?) and cut my *grass* with it. I'm just looking to keep its height down and don't care much for the end result. If it's uniform and short, I'm happy. Should save me a lot of time swapping between my most commonly used (and heaviest) implements too. I'll post once I have decided...

- Gerald

 

[ipwanab]

go take a look at the last couple of posts from "Whiskey", I think in JD forum. He attached a picture of his new tractor and the swath it cut with his new cutter. I had to brag on it ,as it looks to my eye as good a cut as I do with my RFM.I dislike my RFM 's four hard wheels leaving paths in damp ground. Does the lone wheel on a cutter leaver less of a trail?I am starting to rethink my decision now that RFM is used and I will have to keep it.

 

[Alan L.]

If your grass is not very tall, you mow often, and there are no rocks or brush, the finish mower will do a prettier job, and pretty fast too. Plus, you can usually use a wider cut finish mower than you can brush hog with the same horsepower.

However, my experience is that if I let the grass and weeds get even 6" tall, the brush hog (Rhino SE5) is faster AND does a better job. By "better job", I mean it cuts the grass and doesn't leave any survivors, whereas the finish mower cuts beautifully to a point, but starts leaving survivors when it gets a little tough or tall.

I'd like to get to a point where I could always use the finish mower on my acreage, but frankly, the brush hog still always does a better job on most of it. Plus, I have areas back in the woods where I wouldn't think of using the finish mower. The result is that since I moved from town where I mowed a one acre yard with the finish mower, I really don't have much use for the finish mower any more. I am considering selling it or trading for some other implement.

I am happy with the cut the brush hog gives, especially when I don't let it get too tall between cuts, and hit it with an angle grinder from time to time. From a distance, looking out over several acres, there's not all that much difference in the cut. Get in the middle of it and look closely and you can tell the grass is a little taller and rougher cut than what the finish mower would do.

My wife uses the Craftsman for the acre or so "yard" and the rest is brush hogged. Our neighbors all use brush hogs too, even up next to the house. Of course this is no country club I live in, so you might not be satisfied with it.

However when we both mow on the same day, you really can't tell precisely where the Craftsman leaves off and the brush hog takes over.

 

[cisco]

A good finish mower with sharp blades cuts grass as well as a quality lawn mower. The lawn will be pristine, like a golf course (as such is what is used on the fairways of most courses). However, if you've rocks, small tree stumps, large branches or whatever hiding in your grass/weeds, a finish mower will rapidly become toast (dull or chipped blades, bent blades, etc). A light duty brush cutter will do a reasonable job (and not just tear the tops off of grass shoots) if the blades are kept sharp, and the tractor motor rpm's well above 2000. However, brush cutters do not discharge large amounts of fiber well (no outlet shoot), and if you let a field of thick grass/weeds get fairly tall, you're going to need a lot of pto power to keep brush cutter rpm up enough to cut, and not tear/rip, grass - especially if you hope to cut it fairly short - all the cut stuff just sort of "osterizes" inside the brush cutter, as there is no way out except for right against the ground as the cutter moves along.
Me, I use a brush cutter, as my property is no where near tame enough for a finish mower - however, someday ---

 

[agcomike]

I have a curtis 6' finish mower i've used it maybe 3 times this year. I wish i'd went and bought a 5' bush hog instead. i realy don't think there'd be much to see in the way of cut quality i've been told ?

I'd rather of got a LX-5 or another good brand. Then if you hit a rock you could just smile instead of worring about what you broke.

Of course my neighbor's jealous he bought a L-120 and my yard looks like a golf course and only takes 30minutes to mow about 1.5-2 acres
/forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I use both an 8' Woods finishing mower and a 5" bush hog. The 8' Woods finishing mower is great for the pastures if I cut them regularly. However if a field gets too high I need the bush hog to blast my way through. Some fields I only cut two times a year and the grass can get to be 4'+, that's when I need the bush hog as the finishing mower will bog down and the belts start slipping. If I cut in a counter clockwise direction with the bush hog I recut the windrow each pass and it makes for a nicer look without the big rows of cut grass. On the other hand, an 8' cut makes a faster job out of it. (about 4+ acres an hour.) Someday I'll get a 15' batwing and cut every week. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Whatcha going to pull that 15' batwing with, those suckers are heavy and seem to take about 40 hp PTO to run. They will pull you sideways on a slope unless your tractor is heavy enough.

 

[SPIKER]

the boss has a 15" woods batwing, it does a good job with ihs 80 hp tractor, though it can stall the thing if he gets one wing too close into the lake... it will smoke the tractors clutch where as the old one would smake the clutch on the batwing. stall or smoke? well old 150 hp ones gone and only has the 80 hp one.

as for the rest, I have caster type wheels on my finish mower which have 10" inflated rubber tubed tires. it is 1/4" material and 5' wide heavy, but does not leave marks from the weight as the tires I think help that out, 3" wide (4.10 X10) same size that is used on cheep cart/dolly tires, though with a better bearing (used for caaters too.)

I got my reply form the dealer today they have 5 of the international brush hogs left. Hope they still have them next week when I get there!

Mark M /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[GSS]

Thought I'd update you guys since getting my BB72...

It doesn't look like it's going to give me the cut that the RFM did. The key thing is that the RFM rides a long the ground on its 4 wheels. The 'hog is essentially rigidly fixed (side to side at least) to the tractor. So, if your land is not flat and varies quite a bit, you will not get an even cut. I may just deal with it and sell the RFM anyway, but do not expect a 'hog to take its place, especially if your "lawn" is uneven and not relatively flat.

- Gerald

 

[djradz]

Since the BB comes with a swivel top link, with the addition of "check chains" you can get a very near "mower-quality" cut. With these the BB will float and no longer be limited to the up and down movement of the 3-pt lower links as the tractor travels along over varying terrain. Especially, if you're looking to cut fairly short, I'd say give it a try.