New L3130 - What size mower/brush hog?

[zettajoe]

Well, we got our L3130 last week. 6' FEL and a 65" Scrapper. I had the guy who delivered it give the "new tractor" orientation to my thirteen year old son, who has since built a motocross track with it. Pretty cool I must say.

Anyway, I am looking for a mower. I am thinking a brush hog type would be best. We have a hilly 24 acres that is pretty overgrown. I have seen a couple of used 5'ers pretty cheap, but am thinking that a 6'er would be better.

Thoughts?

 

[rossibob]

You want it to be as wide as the outside of your rear tires. This makes the overlap work well. It will also ensure that you can mow up along a fence or other objects.

 

[HammerFour]

5hp per foot of width is a good ratio for medium cutting on a rotary cutter.

So a 6 footer would be just right on your Kubota.

( Some folks will swear you need a lot more power per foot, but in my experience 5 hp per foot is reasonable. )

 

[Freds]

I'm not sure how thick your brush is or how often you plan on keeping it hogged down..., but I have an L3130 with a 5' brush hog and when I saw the word "hilly" in your post, I immediately thought you will be happier with the 5' cutter.
I have a gentle roll to my field and the rpms drop off noticably when I hog going uphill. I have to back way off on the HST pedal. I would hate to have anything larger, but that's me. I would rather have a smaller implement and travel faster than something larger and have to creep along.

 

[tcb]

go with the 6 foot. you have enough hp and the wider cutter will work well with the FEL on fence lines and hedge rows. also will errase you tire tracks and quite frankly get it done quicker.

tim

 

[cisco]

You may wish to try a "heavy duty" 5' used cutter, with new blades, to get the initial thick brush, saplings and the like cut. If it's truly "heavy duty" (the Woods medium duty 5' cutter weighs about 1100 lbs) and you're cutting through dense stuff, your tractor will be marginal, especially if an HST. Anyhow, once you've got things under control, with mostly weeds and "field grass", you can upgrade to the 6' unit of your choice, and light duty should work (Woods 6' light duty is about 700 lbs). Your tractor will be challenged if the grass/weeds are tall and dense - check the actual pto horsepower and the manufacturers web site on the better 6' units. I've a 3410 GST, and went the route described above. When I've let things go for a month in the summer, and the grass/weeds are thick, my 29.5hp at pto is strained re. keeping the rpms high when I'm going uphill, despite keeping the blades sharp - sure, I could raise the brush cutter to a height that would not strain the diesel, but I want a 4-5" grass height result, and such is a long ways to go from the 9-12" I usually start with.
Yup, some folks claim they can work with wide brush cutters on BX units - but - must be magic, or they're adding nitro to the diesel, or it's a lawn with thin grass trimmed weekly, or -- whatever.

 

[chrisjbell]

Just thought I'd jump in. I have a B7300 HST, which is about half the HP as the tractors you guys have (yes, I'm jealous /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif). I cut some pretty nasty weeds and grass (6' tall isn't uncommon for my first pass each year) on some pretty steep hills with a 4' cutter. Back in the day when the property was less tame I used same to clear areas with trees that were at least 2".

I know that I'm speculating here /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif, but I watch my neighbors with larger tractors and they handle 5' and 6' decks quite nicely.

So if it were me, I'd go with a good 6' cutter. The idea of getting a 5' heavy duty then a lesser 6' is great from an equipment standpoint but more costly. A good cutter can stand up to heavier duty work than it is made for as long as you don't require it to do it over and over again.

The wider the cut you make the fewer passes it takes and if you have a lot of area to cover even a few inches makes a big difference in how long it takes to mow. I have a few areas that are tame enough that I can mow them with my 42" JD, but when the 48" slasher is on the tractor I use it because it takes a lot less time - with only a 6" width advantage.

As far as having to go more slowly on hills, I kind of like that for two reasons. First, on a hill slow is good. It is amazing what interesting things like a new hole or bumps can pop up as the land changes and my place can be scary steep /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif. Second, the "slasher" works better when it can spend a bit of time whacking the brush. When I go too fast I get a much sloppier cut than when I move more slowly.

Anyway, I'm of the wider is better school of thought. Like I said, I don't have the direct experience with the larger tractors and I could be dead wrong /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif. If I had your tractor I'd definately go 6'.

 

[zettajoe]

Thanks everyone,

I am tending to think the the 5'er is the way to go based upon the various comments. I have very little Meadow area and a lot more undergrowth under my oaks (berries, poison oak, pompus grass, coyote brush) that I think will require more power at the blades.

 

[willywildes]

I have a 3130 Gst. The dealer recommended the 66" which ends up being a 60" cut hence the model Bush Hog SQ60. It works great, but does bog the tractor pretty good sometimes. Cutting mostly wet 2'6" oat hay no saplings. I think if you go bigger, you will have to slow down so much, that wider is not better. Good Luck.

P.S I sent you a PM

 

[HammerFour]

I think part of the reason everybody responds with different advise on width is that everyone uses their tractors and rotary cutters differently...obviously, right?

I will cut our pasture several times during the growing season and can therefore run a 5 foot woods rotary cutter on my 25 hp tractor with no problems at all. I know some folks will be mowing some areas they have once a year possibly, so they will be cutting much thicker, taller material ( to include brush and saplings ) so they have a much higher hp requirement.

So maybe the formula is 5 hp per foot of rotary cutter for light use up to 7.5 hp per foot ( aproximately ) for heavy use....

Since everyone uses the equipment differently, there are lots of right answers.