Mowing and Chipping

[englishlarry]

Hi All,

I'm about to purchase a BCS 853 with the 13hp honda engine primarily to use the power harrow for maintaining raised beds on a small scale.

At the same time I'm considering how efficient a 2-wheel tractor will be to mow and chip brush with. For context, I have approximately 0.75 acres of lawn which is fairly rough and undulating but doesn't have too many obstacles. We also have a pond with fairly steep banks and finally 3 acres of rough pasture. Currently we use a combination of a 3pt 60" woods finish mower on the 0.75 acres when dry enough and a push mower for the pond banks. Last year we barely ended up using the 3pt mower because it was so wet and we were wrecking the lawn with the tractor. The 3 acres of rough pasture we use a DR brush mower but have now cut it down enough where there aren't many saplings and it is primarily grass.

It sounds like a 2 wheel tractor mower with a 33" or 40" Zanon would be a good implement to cover all of the above jobs reasonably well. I hoped someone would be able to give me their opinion on the following:

i) Will I notice a substantial difference in maneuverability between the Zanon 33" and 40"? How do people find the general maneuverability of a 2 wheeler when mowing?
ii) Anyone have experience of using a 2 wheeler to mow on poorly drained soil? Am I barking up the wrong tree if I think this will be much better than a SCUT?
iii) Would the Zanon be fine to mow fairly rough pasture if all of the woody stuff has been cut down?
iv) Finally, I was thinking of picking up BIO-150 to shred and chip with. Any have any experience with that model?

Many Thanks!

Larry.

 

[JamesHW]

Haven’t purchased mine yet, but a friend working for the town speaks highly from experience of the flail mower for mowing grass. As to poorly drained ground, perhaps the sickle mower? Personally not leaning towards the sickle attachments, but rather a rotary plow, power harrow and the flail mower.

 

[RalphVa]

Hi All,

I'm about to purchase a BCS 853 with the 13hp honda engine primarily to use the power harrow for maintaining raised beds on a small scale.

At the same time I'm considering how efficient a 2-wheel tractor will be to mow and chip brush with. For context, I have approximately 0.75 acres of lawn which is fairly rough and undulating but doesn't have too many obstacles. We also have a pond with fairly steep banks and finally 3 acres of rough pasture. Currently we use a combination of a 3pt 60" woods finish mower on the 0.75 acres when dry enough and a push mower for the pond banks. Last year we barely ended up using the 3pt mower because it was so wet and we were wrecking the lawn with the tractor. The 3 acres of rough pasture we use a DR brush mower but have now cut it down enough where there aren't many saplings and it is primarily grass.

It sounds like a 2 wheel tractor mower with a 33" or 40" Zanon would be a good implement to cover all of the above jobs reasonably well. I hoped someone would be able to give me their opinion on the following:

i) Will I notice a substantial difference in maneuverability between the Zanon 33" and 40"? How do people find the general maneuverability of a 2 wheeler when mowing?
ii) Anyone have experience of using a 2 wheeler to mow on poorly drained soil? Am I barking up the wrong tree if I think this will be much better than a SCUT?
iii) Would the Zanon be fine to mow fairly rough pasture if all of the woody stuff has been cut down?
iv) Finally, I was thinking of picking up BIO-150 to shred and chip with. Any have any experience with that model?

Many Thanks!

Larry.

iesel.

I cannot answer your questions directly. I had a 12 hp Gravely with a 30" "bush hog" mower and a MacKissic shredder. I also had an 8 hp TroyBilt Tomahawk chipper/shredder before that and now have a MacKissic TPH-122 that I've had on 3 JD tractors: 2 CUTs and 1 SCUT. The smallest of the JDs was 18.5 hp diesel.

The Gravely mower would do pretty much what a Zanon would do; it's pretty much a "bush hog" mower with an open front area. The MacKissic on the Gravely would have been like the BIO-150 IF it had a chipper blade like my TPH-122 has. Cannot understand why MacKissic did not include the chipper on the 2 wheel model. The hammer internals were identical to those on the Tomahawk and the TPH-122. Yes, 12 hp would chip above 2" stock because the 8 hp Tomahawk would do 2". I'd often bog or stop the Tomahawk though and have only ever stopped the TPH-122 on 18.5 hp diesel ONCE. It'll do up to 3" without any significant bogging. Think the hp required for chipping up by the square root (could be the square; don't recall) of the diameter ratio. If you can get the BCS in a diesel, I think you'd be happier but perhaps poorer.

Cannot say anything about maintenance of a BIO-150, but it's dirt easy on a MacKissic. Don't know whether MacKissic would make a chipper/shredder for a BCS. I'd look into it. They're really a great machine because they're so easy to maintain. That was the really bad thing about the Tomahawk. For instance, hammer rotation (which you can do 3 times, as each hammer has 4 sides) on a Mac is about a 15-20 minute job, well less than an hour, vs. up to many hours on a Tomahawk. Plus, you'll end up having to replace the spacers between the hammers at every rotation because they are the trouble area that causes the shafts to get stuck to require hammering out.

I found my Gravely unusable until I found some steering brakes for it. The BCS comes with steering brakes. Still 2 wheelers are a handful, and they don't have near the traction of a 4wd tractor. I went with the JDs because the Gravely had trouble going both up or down my back hill down to the creek. It's a MUCH safer proposition on my 4wd JDs (long as I don't forget to keep them in 4wd; without 4wd, you do not have 4 wheel brakes). I'd even gotten an extra pair of rims for the Gravely and had dual wheels on it at the end. Still not as good as a 4wd tractor. I'd definitely want dual wheels on a 2 wheeler in those not-well-drained grass areas or just don't mow it when wet. See below.

I mow my lawn (only about 1/2 acre) with walk behind mowers. The Gravely wasn't bad for this either, particularly with the sulky, but tricky on slopes. I'm not sure I'd want to try doing grass around a pond with anything other than a push mower that I could swing back and forth towards the water. I'd also consider why I'd want to do this. Leaving some unmown grass around a pond discourages the Canada geese who can poop 1 kg/day into the water. Just mow any paths where you want to get in and out of the water.

For any larger mown areas, I'd not regularly mow it. Just bush hog it once/yr or every 2nd year to keep briars or unwanted saplings from growing. Just cut some paths if you want to enjoy it, unless you need a large area for a playing field.

Ralph

 

[freedomlives]

iv) I don't have experience with this, but when I just googled it, I saw the price is not exactly cheap. As you have a SCUT, I would consider what the price of a 3pt chipper for that is, especially given as they may be likely available used.

Otherwise, I can't advise much in this area. I use a two wheel tractor with a sickle bar to cut hay, but usually its decently dry. I would be inclined to suppose it will do a lot less damage to the lawn than a SCUT, but it still may leave wheel ruts if the ground is soggy.

One thing to note (I was just looking at specs on the BCS website) is the difference between the 852 and 853. The 853 has its 8MPH transport speed in the orientation for tiller mode, while the 852 does that speed in mower mode. If you aren't planning to get a trailer to ride around on with it, and depending on how far from your house the pasture you want to mow is, it might be advantageous to get the 852 so you can travel faster with it while set up for mowing.

 

[cmyoung2]

Larry,
I have a an 850, use a 38" BCS mower and a 26" flail. I don't have any issues with maneuverability with either, thanks to the steering brakes. For the yard, the finish mower is ok, would like to see the Zanon in use. A finish mower could handle pasture if you set the mowing height as high as possible, but the flail does great. Depending on how soft the soil, the BCS will track a lot less than a tractor, and if you use duals, even less. Mowing steep banks is doable with the BCS, again, steering brakes, but if I were mowing a pond bank I would pre-attach a recovery strap. I've got the BIO-100, works, I just don't use it much. Flail takes care of everything in the garden.

 

[js5020]

I have a 2 wheel Gravely with a 30" and 40" deck and right about the same size mowing area as you. I don't think you will see a substantial difference between the two deck sizes, steeper ground might be better with a smaller deck just depends on the weight difference of the decks and that might not be an issue as the BCS will have steer brakes where as my Gravely does not, I don't find either size objectionable. Mowing with the 2 wheeler,, well it all depends on how much walking you like to do, how much time you have to do it, 3 mph or less and 40" takes a bit of time and effort especially if you need to do it on a weekly basis, I have riders and sulkies and walk only where/when necessary. Wet ground,,, slap on the duals, triples or a set of w i d e singles for floatation, 350lbs or so machine weight and wide tires should leave you with a very low psi of ground pressure and adequate traction as long as its not steep up hill. The 2 wheeler will be better on soft ground, my compact just ruts things up due to the shear weight of the thing

 

[englishlarry]

Larry,
I have a an 850, use a 38" BCS mower and a 26" flail. I don't have any issues with maneuverability with either, thanks to the steering brakes. For the yard, the finish mower is ok, would like to see the Zanon in use. A finish mower could handle pasture if you set the mowing height as high as possible, but the flail does great. Depending on how soft the soil, the BCS will track a lot less than a tractor, and if you use duals, even less. Mowing steep banks is doable with the BCS, again, steering brakes, but if I were mowing a pond bank I would pre-attach a recovery strap. I've got the BIO-100, works, I just don't use it much. Flail takes care of everything in the garden.

Thanks everyone for the detailed responses - very helpful.

Cmyoung2 - on the flail mower, I've seen some threads on here where people mention they mow their lawn with them. Aside from the loss in mowing width (I'd probably be looking at a 30" flail mower if I went with that vs. a minimum 33" zanon), is there really much difference in finish quality or mowing speed? We like to keep the lawn area we have mowed down but we aren't too bother about it looking like a picture perfect lawn.

 

[cmyoung2]

Larry,
the flail does have a fairly even cut, would probably want it set as high as possible for a yard, not a difficult adjustment. The only issue may be the flail is a real good mulcher, and will leave a fine layer of mulch on top. Not a big deal unless you let the grass get tall. And for me that is not a real big deal. For yard mowing, the speed limit will be how fast you can walk. Third gear should be no problem in yard grass, I usually have the engine speed/RPM's as high as possible.
As I've mentioned before, my favorite implement is the power barrow , mine is homebuilt.

 

[ottawarob]

Hi All,

I'm about to purchase a BCS 853 with the 13hp honda engine primarily to use the power harrow for maintaining raised beds on a small scale.

At the same time I'm considering how efficient a 2-wheel tractor will be to mow and chip brush with. For context, I have approximately 0.75 acres of lawn which is fairly rough and undulating but doesn't have too many obstacles. We also have a pond with fairly steep banks and finally 3 acres of rough pasture. Currently we use a combination of a 3pt 60" woods finish mower on the 0.75 acres when dry enough and a push mower for the pond banks. Last year we barely ended up using the 3pt mower because it was so wet and we were wrecking the lawn with the tractor. The 3 acres of rough pasture we use a DR brush mower but have now cut it down enough where there aren't many saplings and it is primarily grass.

It sounds like a 2 wheel tractor mower with a 33" or 40" Zanon would be a good implement to cover all of the above jobs reasonably well. I hoped someone would be able to give me their opinion on the following:

i) Will I notice a substantial difference in maneuverability between the Zanon 33" and 40"? How do people find the general maneuverability of a 2 wheeler when mowing?
ii) Anyone have experience of using a 2 wheeler to mow on poorly drained soil? Am I barking up the wrong tree if I think this will be much better than a SCUT?
iii) Would the Zanon be fine to mow fairly rough pasture if all of the woody stuff has been cut down?
iv) Finally, I was thinking of picking up BIO-150 to shred and chip with. Any have any experience with that model?

Many Thanks!

Larry.

If it's too wet for a tractor, the 853 definitely could put some pretty good ruts in the ground too.

I have an 853, it would be great for 0.75 of an acre. If things are wet, I'd suggest the sickle mower. I have the 32" BCS bush mower and it feels like an abuse of the tool to go under water with it, where the sickle is built for this. That said, I like the bush mower a lot, it gets overshadowed by the other mowers but it's a great work horse. Chops the heck out of everything, I tamed a lot of pasture last year with it, and will do more this year. Nice bonus is that it will take out small trees no problem.



I don't know if I'd run a 40" mower on the BCS, I sort of feel like 32" at least with a bush hog is the most you really want to ask of the honda 390 engine.

Edit: I'd highly recommend spacing the wheels out a bit. I got the 4.5" spacers, and it made a big difference on uneven ground, the unit doesn't want to pitch side to side as easily.

 

[Ford850]

I like the suggestion for dual wheels for better traction and fewer ruts. There are also turf and balloon tires that would help with that.

 

[ottawarob]

After I made my post, I was thinking turf tires would be really helpful for this kind of situation.

I have similar wet spots in our paddock, I'm considering getting the sickle mower. It would also be helpful if I left things too long and I want to knock things back. While the bush mower can definitely chew through 4 foot tall grass, I have to believe that the sickle would have an easier job of it.

 

[cmyoung2]

There is a big difference in the bush hog and mower. 40" mower in 3-5" grass is no issue for the Honda 390. Sometimes in heavy tall brush my 30" combo mower is in 1st gear. Anytime you put a spinning blade in water it will take all the hp you have, but it does do a good job cleaning under the deck. I do try not to mow water, just doesn't seem to accomplish much . The sickle bar doesn't even know it is in water. The problem I have with a sickle bar is it does great at cutting tall stuff, not so good with short, flexible grass, and it leaves all the debris laying. Best for cutting briars or hay. They work well, just not for me. The comment about wide tire spacing is correct. For stability, mine are out to the edge of the mower, sometimes wider on real steep areas.
The combo mower has a big, heavy single blade, does an ok job mowing, good job bush hogging. Chops residue better than the sickle bar, but does leave a little bit of a windrow. It is for sale, I just find the flail works better for what I need.

 

[saxnbees]

I don't have a BCS but I do have a Grillo G110 that is approximately the same size and weight. It will sink into soft ground with ag tires. It is possible that turf or balloon tires would be better on soft ground. I don't have a finish mower but have a 28" Bellon brush mower that I really like. My old Craftsman riding mower is getting old and I may just try the Bellon on my yard instead to see if it would be adequate vs. a finish mower. Like you, I don't care if my lawn looks pristine.

I am not sure how well the BIO-150 works, but I do have a BIO-90 chipper. The BIO-90 is designed to be a chipper but I have an old Tomahawk shredder I can use for what little shredding I do. For small branches and brush, the BIO-90 is a beast. It will generally handle small stuff with ease. Anything that get towards 2" or more I generally try to slow down by holding it back. But you have to be careful because the chipper will try to pull you in. There is no real feeding mechanism, but somehow the design of the chipper/blades will pull material in as long as the blades are reasonably sharp. They don't feed as well when they start getting dull and that is how you know it is time to sharpen them. We use the chipper for cleaning up the smaller stuff when we trim bushes or cut a tree for wood. The BIO-90 has impressed us from the day we bought it. Most stuff can just be tossed in and it feeds itself. By the time we have more to throw in, it is ready. But if you have shredding to do, then the BIO-90 is probably not for you. The BIO-150 is probably a fine machine but my understanding is that it is not anywhere near as fast as the 90.

 

[englishlarry]

Thanks all for the advice on this thread.

In the end I elected for BCS 853 with the BCS 38" finish mower. Also got the adjustable axle extensions from earth tools and a pair of turf tires.

So far the setup has been great. Changing the turf tires to regular ag tires with the extensions only takes a couple of minutes with the help of a floor jack. The mower gives a great cut and I was surprised by the maneuverability of the tractor even with the turf tires set fairly far out on the extensions for stability. It is possible to do a fairly tight 180 turn at the end of the row. The turf tires have worked as intended for mowing on slightly wetter areas with our heavy clay soil.

The only thing I was disappointed about with the setup was that the BCS 38" doesn't mulch. My fault for not reading it properly. The side discharge works well enough that it isn't a huge loss and I don't think the normal Zanon mowers mulch either.

Larry.