Mower for keeping down weeds on 15 acres with rocks

K5lwq · Apr 5, 2020

Thomas said:
You won't get to many years use from mower rocks of that size $$$'s,if rocks are loose remove what you can with front loader.

You would think so. My BushHog is 20 years old and still have the original blades and gear oil! Never had to fix anything on that thing!

old and tired · Apr 5, 2020

I bought a used Landpride brush hog for $250 so that I can "find" where the rocks are. Plan was to use that mower until the gear box dies but it keeps going. It's been a while since I hit my last rock so I bought new blades for it and it's cutting about as well as my finishing mower!!

Replace one rusted top section, have the metal to do the other three sections...

tractorcrazy · Apr 7, 2020

I found a used brushhog brand brushhog it's called a squealer its seven foot wide but only about five feet long has two spindles with two blades each spindle total of four blades it weighs about the same as a five foot cutter its designed for small tractors 35 to 40 hp.it is offset one foot to the right .it doesn't do real well in tall thick grass or weeds leaves a lot of stragglers but if you hit it every couple weeks or so it looks like your yard .but with the size of rocks your talking about no mower is going to hold up to that I'd clean up all the rocks I could before mowing.

hawk10 · Apr 9, 2020

ptsg said:
Obviously a mower won't last much mowing over a rock pile but there are solutions out there that can handle rocks, just not sold in the US though.

Here is what we use in Europe:

View attachment 649263 View attachment 649264

High strength Grade 80 chains do a fine job on rocks. It does require more HP and that's why we run narrow mowers than you in the US. I keep backing this thing over rocks and whatever is hidden under the brush and it just handles it fine. It also will do thicker brush easily.

Here is a video of me backing over a destroyed old house. Bricks, rocks, cement. By the noise, you'll notice when I hit something hard. One thing to keep in mind, is to have a fire extinguisher with you. This things can spark a lot and with dry brush, it doesn't take much to light on fire.

The chain skirts will do a good job on containing the debris.

Is this mower built this way or is it modified with the chains? I think this is really cool, and it could be a solution because I also have alot of hidden rocks.

ptsg · Apr 9, 2020

hawk10 said:
Is this mower built this way or is it modified with the chains? I think this is really cool, and it could be a solution because I also have alot of hidden rocks.

This is built this way. Lot's of manufacturers here building similar mowers. You then have a light, medium and heavy duty versions along with the professional versions with hydraulic tailgate and other features.

I don't think it would be too hard to make a hub so you could use chains on your style of mower. One thing that concerns me a bit, is that I don't know if the spindle on the gearbox is the same as mine and if it will handle all the banging from the chains.

hawk10 · Apr 9, 2020

ptsg said:
This is built this way. Lot's of manufacturers here building similar mowers. You then have a light, medium and heavy duty versions along with the professional versions with hydraulic tailgate and other features.

I don't think it would be too hard to make a hub so you could use chains on your style of mower. One thing that concerns me a bit, is that I don't know if the spindle on the gearbox is the same as mine and if it will handle all the banging from the chains.

That is really cool, what is the name of this mower type? Chain mower?

ptsg · Apr 9, 2020

hawk10 said:
That is really cool, what is the name of this mower type? Chain mower?

We just called them Brush mowers, well, the Portuguese translation of that of course.

I don't there they are for sale in the US though.

It the only type of mowers for over here, along with the flail mowers. It's available with chains and blades but 80 to 90% of the mowers sold are fitted with chains. It's just more versatile for our brush and terrains. The other 10 to 20% are people that usually mow pastures.

One thing to keep in mind is that chains will require more HP from the tractor and usually a slower ground speed than blades. The finish is not as good as with the blades but it still does a very decent job.

It's very effective and with a relative low cost versus a flail mower. Mine is a 4 ft and cost me around €650 ($710). There is also the possibility of adding another 2 chains and making 4 total, but for my use, I don't feel the need for that.

mcfarmall · Apr 9, 2020

For the U.S. users, why couldn't you take a junk pair of brush cutter blades, cut the end off, keeping the attachment hole. Weld on an appropriate length of chain and you got a set of chain blades! Shoot, you could weld another chunk of blade on the outer end and have a wicked brush chopping weapon!

ptsg · Apr 9, 2020

mcfarmall said:
For the U.S. users, why couldn't you take a junk pair of brush cutter blades, cut the end off, keeping the attachment hole. Weld on an appropriate length of chain and you got a set of chain blades! Shoot, you could weld another chunk of blade on the outer end and have a wicked brush chopping weapon!

Yes it can be done but I'm afraid the weld can create an hard spot which will make it brittle/weak and you don't really want a 3/4" (diameter of the wire of the chain) chain flying around.