New to 2 wheel tractor question, BCS 732 vs 853

[farmerboybill]

I agree with sagebrush and think the BIO-90 is the best option when it comes to the four available chippers. The problem with these small chippers is the fact that they have such small throats. Sure, it'll chip 3" for the BIO-100 and 3.5" for the BIO-150. But, unless you're chipping very straight, limbless branches, you can't physically GET the material into the chipper. I took on a job with my BIO-100 a couple years ago, cutting and chipping up some buckthorn. It was brutal. I ended up taking three times as long as I thought I would. Every limb had to be cut at any hard bend, any branches over 1 inch need to be trimmed - the prep work took up an immense amount of time. Once I prepped the material, I had to feed every bit in, one at a time. The hopper doesn't allow you to drop a stick in and let it self-feed. I sold the BIO-100 this past spring for $500 and I repeatedly warned the buyer of my issues with it. Frankly, the BIO-100 is the oldest design. You'll notice the other three units have a very different, better design.

With the BIO-90, there is very little need for prep time - if it's under 2.5 inches, just toss it in. The throat is 8 inches at it's bottom and is so big you can just drop the branches in and grab the next one - no manual feeding. You need to be sensible about it, though. You can definitely push too much in or put too big of branches in. Its limit is 2.5 inches. It also calls for 13 hp, but I think Joel is being too cautious with it. 11 hp is fine if you don't jam the material in too fast. It also will not take any wet material, green leaves on just-cut branches are fine, but any garden waste won't go through.

I think the best lot clearing combo would be a Berta Flail mower and a Caravaggi BIO-90 on either a Grillo 107d or a BCS 853. The flail mower will shred on-site all green vegetation (including your leaves in the fall), and the chipper will chip any woody material under 2.5 inches. Anything over 2.5 inches gets lumped up and used to heat the house or for family campfires

 

[montesa_vr]

I have researched 2-wheel tractors extensively for more than ten years, and I agree that the big advantage of the BCS 853 is the higher speed, which makes it more versatile. I also agree that a flail mower would be better than a sickle mower for a variety of reasons, including durability and the way it reduces the cut material to smaller bits. A sickle mower's biggest advantage is for cutting tall grass and leaving the cut material intact, for making hay.

I really think for the OP's purpose a DR brush mower would be a better buy. I have the 17 hp brush mower, and it has a top speed of 4 mph, which is very handy when mowing ditches and pastures that are fairly smooth. I have used the machine extensively for mowing heavy brush, steep hillsides, and overgrown pastures. In four years of heavy use I have replaced the blade once; no other parts required. The original belt is still going strong. DR makes a very good chipper which will digest large material.

BCS makes a wonderful machine, but unless you need the excellent tilling ability I don't think it makes sense for just brush mowing and chipping. The DR really is a well engineered brush mower.

 

[josiahgarber]

Is the additional cost of the double action sickle mower worth it?

 

[Gale Hawkins]

I have researched 2-wheel tractors extensively for more than ten years, and I agree that the big advantage of the BCS 853 is the higher speed, which makes it more versatile. I also agree that a flail mower would be better than a sickle mower for a variety of reasons, including durability and the way it reduces the cut material to smaller bits. A sickle mower's biggest advantage is for cutting tall grass and leaving the cut material intact, for making hay.

I really think for the OP's purpose a DR brush mower would be a better buy. I have the 17 hp brush mower, and it has a top speed of 4 mph, which is very handy when mowing ditches and pastures that are fairly smooth. I have used the machine extensively for mowing heavy brush, steep hillsides, and overgrown pastures. In four years of heavy use I have replaced the blade once; no other parts required. The original belt is still going strong. DR makes a very good chipper which will digest large material.

BCS makes a wonderful machine, but unless you need the excellent tilling ability I don't think it makes sense for just brush mowing and chipping. The DR really is a well engineered brush mower.

Since we are traveling back in time I will state our 17 HP DR brush mower is awesome but would love for the heck of it to have a BCS and all possible attachments if I had a place to store it.

 

[rickyd79]

I have owned a DR brush mower in the past. Although I think its a decent machine, it is unfair to the DR machine to compare it to the BCS or Grillo walk-behind tractors. Yes, the DR will cut tall brush well and so will a BCS or Grillo tractor. However the build quality of DR is no where near that of BCS or Grillo. The DR has a clunky junk transmission, the differential is clunky. Price wise, you don't have to spend that much more to get BCS or Grillo. DR can only do about 3 or 4 things, can only run front mount implements. BCS/Grillo has 40+ implement options, all super high quality. Try and get a lifetime warranty on a DR transmission, I don't think you will because its junk and they would lose money like crazy. BCS has lifetime warranty on transmission and Grillo has 10 years. All that being said, I did actually like the DR I had about 6 or 7 years ago. But until I owned BCS/Grillo I never knew what I was missing.

 

[rickyd79]

Is the additional cost of the double action sickle mower worth it?

My opinion is that depends upon how much or how little you like dealing with the vibration on a single action sickle. If you don't want vibration get a dual action. But they are recommended for cutting pasture/grass/weeds, not for cutting rough brush areas. If you need to cut in rough areas, get the single action laser sickle. I love the dual action, whether or not its worth it is really a matter of personal opinion.

 

[NibbanaFarm]

I have both the bush hog and the sickle bar for my BCS 739. I think the BCS mower video illustrates them pretty well. For high weeds and lighter brush the bush hog works well. Although it doesn't chop it up like a flail. But if you have thick saplings, the sickle bar is amazing. It will gobble right through two inch maple saplings. And it's remarkably indestructible. I guess a rock could conceivably get in there and hurt it, but I haven't had any problems with rocks or stumps. It just either pushes them out of the way or gets stopped and the wheels spin on the tractor. It will eventually chew though some bigger stuff too. The only thing that ever hurt it was when I hit a piece of rebar and chipped a tooth. Not bad enough to replace, but chipped. If you have heavy saplings, I can recommend the sickle bar mower. That's my experience.

 

[NibbanaFarm]

I'll add that the bush hog is excellent for wild rose bushes. I have just chopped up a number of these dangerous things. In the past I have done battle with these using hand tools and come out bleeding many times. The bush hog is pretty long so you can stay a relatively safe distance from them as you mow them down. I've cut them with the sickle bar but then you still have the dead bush sitting in the same spot and it will regrow from the roots.