Howse heavy duty mower

[RJJR]

Do any of you own one of these Howse heavy duty mowers? In particular the 6100C shown here? It comes in over 1000 lbs and has a 100 hp gear box in the 6 foot unit. They look like decent units. Think I can find one under 2K. Thanks for any insight.
RJJR

http://www.howseimplement.com/pdfs/101-B RED HOWSE.pdf

 

[Bird]

I only had a Howse 500, light duty 5' rotary cutter that I bought in 1999. Nearest neighbor had an old Howse heavy duty 7' with the dual rear wheels that he'd bought used several years earlier. He said his only complaint was that he wished he'd found a 10' one instead of the 7' just so he could get the job done quicker. Of course these were many years ago, so really can't compare them to the new ones, but I'd expect the new ones to be pretty good. As for price, I have no idea. Have you called Howse to ask about the price?

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I had a 6' medium duty rotary cutter from Howse and thought it was extremely well built, and what dealings I had with the Howse company they listened to what I said and had a solution to the problem and shipped me what was needed at no cost to me on another piece of equipment I had, very rare in today's business environment.

 

[tmeadows]

The only thing that would concern me is that it uses a shear pin instead of an adjustable clutch.

 

[DKCDKC]

I have a 10 year old Howse med duty and have put it to the test with brush, saplings and the occasional stump... I've always used cutters with shear pins, so I don't know too much about the clutch. I sheared a lot of pins the first few years, then learned where the stumps and such were. I shear a pin maybe once a year now.

But I like the cutter. It is solid and seems to just keep going.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have a 3 year old Howse light duty 6 foot BH that I have used behind a 50HP tractor and cut small trees of any size I could push over with the FEL and tractor and sometimes stalled the tractor but never even sheared a pin in it. My only complaint if you want to call it that is that when I hit a football sized rock the grenading material does make dents in the side due to the thin material. The blades are plenty hard and dont dull easily at all even with all the rocks I hit.
Very good quality for medium price. Heavy duty would be great as the only difference is the thickness of the plate used to build the frame.

 

[RJJR]

I have a 3 year old Howse light duty 6 foot BH that I have used behind a 50HP tractor and cut small trees of any size I could push over with the FEL and tractor and sometimes stalled the tractor but never even sheared a pin in it. My only complaint if you want to call it that is that when I hit a football sized rock the grenading material does make dents in the side due to the thin material. The blades are plenty hard and dont dull easily at all even with all the rocks I hit.
Very good quality for medium price. Heavy duty would be great as the only difference is the thickness of the plate used to build the frame.

Thanks, do you have a slip clutch or sheer pin? Chains? RJJR

 

[Gary Fowler]

I have the cheapest model I could find ($800 for 6 footer with shear pin)and no chains in front or rear. I have hit a few rocks that line drived out in front of the tractor for at least 100 feet which may have at least been slowed down by front chains.
My brother in law has a Fred Cain, medium duty I suppose you could classify it, with shear pin and he shears bolts by the dozens. Just engaging the PTO above an idle on his NH tractor will shear the bolt. I have suggested that he needs to drill out the hole from 7/16 to 1/2" and go to Grade 5 bolt which still should give plenty of protection. Actually as far as damaging the bush hog, he doesnt have the HP to hurt it, the shear bolt is more protection for the tractor but his shears too darned easy. Even with his instant on PTO electric clutch at 1200-1500 RPM it shouldnt shear the bolt but does.

 

[Bird]

The only thing that would concern me is that it uses a shear pin instead of an adjustable clutch.

And I'm the other way around; never had a slip clutch on any of my implements and never wanted one. For me, that would have just been one more item to spend maintenance time on.

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I got used to the slip clutch and would not want a mower without it, at the beginning of mowing season I free up the slipclutch then re-adjust it and it's good to go for the year, takes me all of about 10 minutes, I guess it's all what suits you.