PT425 48" Brush Hog Report

[MossRoad]

PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

I used my 48" brush hog on my property this afternoon. This is only the 2nd time that I've used it. The first was back in Febuary when everything was dry. Tall, but dry. Well, today everything was BIG, GREEN AND NASTY!!!

I started off by mowing a small 1/2 acre field with patches of very thick grass about 18 inches high. It did pretty good, but I had to slow down a little. I also mowed down a few 1 inch trees up to about 8 feet in height. Very easy. The weeds were no problem.

Next, I moved to a lower field that I mowed trails around in February. I couldn't find the trails so I made new ones. The weeds were a combination of black rasperry, trumpet vine and grasses. Started off about 18 inches high. Is I worked towards the lowlands, the weeds turned to golden rod, about 3 to 4 feet high and thick. I still had no problems. Then it started turning into rag weed about a foot or two over the canopy, probably about 7 to 8 feet high. It was a wall of green but I kept going. I actuallly got lost and came within 3 feet of the creek bank, which was kind of scary as it is a 6 foot drop. I finally got into some 2inch diameter 10 to 15 foot trees that shaded out the grasses, but blocked my path. But not for long /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif I just pushed them over and chopped them into little sticks. All of them broke up without a problem until I hit a 2 inch oak. Stopped the blades instantly so I slapped off the PTO, backed up and it came out from under the deck. Turned on the PTO and ran it over again and it was chopped up quickly.

Really, the only time I had a problem was when thehanging vines would grab the loader arms and hold the tractor back, making the wheels spin. I would back up and take another path around the hanging vines and that was that.

Now the bad news. Both front tires on the brush hog are worthless. They fell off the rims and disintegrated. They are not slavageable as the wires came out of the bead. I've had nothing but trouble with these inflatable tires. They are the same tires o the brush hog, 60" mower and snow plow. They lose their seal often and I don't like them. I'll look for solid replacements or see if I can get them foam filled as I am tired of messing with them.

And finally, more bad news. My battery in my video camera died between my house and the property, so I couldn't make a video of it /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif. I would have loved to shown the wall of green that this little mower was chewing up. It was awsome! I'd highly recommend this brush hog to anyone considering a PT425. Except they need to make a change on these tires IMHO /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[duane]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

MR,

I echo your experience. With my brush cutter on the PT422, if you can bend it over, the blades will cut it.

Duane

 

[pajoube]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

MossRoad,
Thanks for the great review of the Brush Hog. For the most part your experience was very favorable. Your comments regarding the wheels are interesting. I remember your trouble last winter with the seal problem. Keep everyone informed on your progress to change them out.
PJ

 

[bubenberg]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

mr. m.r. sorry you had a bad experience. my elderly mechanic has toyed with the problem of tires, and all the problems you encountered. we went to solid tires on the kunz mowers. this was before elvis's celebration week. these wing mowers started to "shake rattle and role". the bolts loosened up and the mowing quality was not to great either.

in view of our experience with solid tires, for this season we started for all our mowers front wheels to inflate the tires more than recommended and added slime just in case we encountered multiflora thorns. we had very few flats and or seal problems compared to last season.

on the kunz mowers i went to the rough cut mower (increase in with and substance) size (kunz) tires. no more problems with the tires disappearing into gopher holes and bending the flexible axles of the original acrease construction. i hear from matt kunz, the son of the inventor of those mowers and also a ag. mech. engineer that they are going to modify the the commercial mower wheels, but he did not give me too many details.

better luck in your next mowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!

hrl

 

[Sedgewood]

Re: PT425 48

MossRoad:
<font color=green>They lose their seal often and I don't like them. I'll look for solid replacements or see if I can get them foam filled as I am tired of messing with them.</font color=green>

FWIW, I just demolished a rear foam filled tire on the roughcut mower. Besides not being robust enough, perhaps because of a too soft foam compound, its not a standard Gemplers / Northern Tool size either. Mine is 4.10 x 4, 10 inch dia, 3/4 axle and 4 inch hub. I see Gemplers foam filled jobbies in roughly that size range are rated for 200 pounds which is just not enough for bouncing over rough terrain. I'm thinking that unless there are some heavy duty industrial alternatives that Bubenberg's overinflation and sealant might be a better solution.

 

[Charlie_Iliff]

Re: PT425 48

<font color=blue>. I'll look for solid replacements</font color=blue><font color=red> or see if I can get them foam filled</font color=red>

I vote with Sedgewood in recommending against foam filling. Some time ago, I managed to park the rough cut with one of the rear foam filled tires against something or other. It took a permanent set, and now rubs the frame. It isn't likely to last very long. Either over inflation & slime or complete replacement with a solid tire is my vote.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

Thanks for the support everybody! I'll look into solid tires first. There is a pretty complete caster and bearing place here in town and I'll see if they can help me out.

The rear tires are solid plastic and are not a problem(except when you run over huge metal things that the blades fling against them and then they explode).

 

[Brent_Griffith]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

We also ran into the same problem on the brush hog mower. I reseated and twice filled them with slime. Same result — they didn't make it through one mowing without being spun off the rims. We did have ours filled. So far, so good. A couple of mowings with no damage. In some places, my wife advises she has to raise the deck (take it out of float) briefly to allow the wheels to traverse without catching — there's no "give" with the filled tires. I would suspect solid tires to do the same. (I have no first-hand experience on this as my wife does all the mowing — except for an initial trial-run to see how it worked!)

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

That's good to know. I don't care if the front tires tear anything up as the areas that I mow are extremely rugged; just trails and fields. Thanks!

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

Here's some pictures of the stuff that I brush hogged several weeks ago. As you will see, it was big stuff.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

This path is after two passes. It is now about 7 feet wide.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

Hey, there's some grass plants under that brush! If I keep mowing it might come back.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48

This photo is kind of washed out because I lightened quite a bit, but you can see lots of small stumps from one to two inch trees.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48\" Brush Hog Report

This last picture shows some other things that are growing like weeds. /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif The green weeds are over my head and I'm 6 feet tall. They were very thick and I had no troubles at all with the 48" hog! And the great thing was it was all out in front of me where I could see it. No strained neck. No backing up all day. No driving over the stuff first to get to it. No clogged radiator.

 

[bryce]

Re: PT425 48

Mossy, That looks like the kind of tire killer you see in big city parking lots at the exits. Back up and you have very flat tires. What does that thing do- eat everything as it goes? Bob

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48

<font color=blue>What does that thing do- eat everything as it goes? </font color=blue>

YES! /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

And it is a tire killer, but it is the front inflatable tires on the brush hog that get killed. I've ripped them off of the rims twice. I just bought some solid tires and will put them on the next time I go brush hogging to test them out. I'll photo document them and let everyone know if they work.

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 48

Put the solid tires on the brush hog today. Man, the axles (bolts) were hard to get out. The yolk that stradles the wheels seems to be a little wider than the wheels, so it spreads when you take the nut off the axle bolt. This puts pressure on the bolt. I ended up using a deep well socket and air powered wrench to get them out. Had to put two spacer washers on each side of the wheel, as the originals were about 1/4 inch wider than the replacements. Put the axles back in with the air wrench and it went just fine. Greased them up and test drove them around the yard and they seemed OK. The real test will be the next time I get to take it out to the property to cut brush.

 

[MossRoad]

PT425 Brush Hog Video

OK. You asked for it (at least a couple of your did) so here it is... I took the PT425 out to the property with the 48" brush hog. Here's a link to a video of DEEP weeds, over my head. I cut a straight path 100 yards deep and two passes wide in about 2 minutes. I was holding the camera while driving, so you'll get my view from the operator's seat. I edited the video for about 30 seconds. It is about 400K in size and took me about a minute to download at 28.8. It is in Windows Media Format. Enjoy /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://users.beanstalk.net/godollei/pt425/PT425Videos/PT425DeepWeeds1.WMV> Click here to test drive the PT425 Brush Hog!! </A>

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 Brush Hog Video

Here's a link to another one. It is about 20 seconds long.
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://users.beanstalk.net/godollei/pt425/PT425Videos/PT425DeepWeeds2.WMV> Somethins in the bushes!!! </A>

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

 

[MossRoad]

Re: PT425 Brush Hog Video

I also put solid tires on the brush hog. They held up really well for now. I broke a bolt off that held one of the blades onto the brush hog when I hit a hidden rock. I found my blade, so now I have to figure out how to get the stub of the bolt out. All in all, a good day. I'm tired, its late, but I have one more video to post. It is of a multiflor rose bush being consumed /w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif This is where a front mounted brush hog really shines. You never get near the stuff and your neck is not stiff after a day of eating bushes. Note how the bush just snaps off at the ground as soon as the blade touches it. Also note the stuff flying. Make sure no one is around when you brush hog. I'm lucky I didn't blast my camera with chips. The video is very long, about a minute and 23 seconds and is 1Megabyte in size. It took me about 5 minutes to download at 28.8, but is worth it if you hate Multi Flora Rose as much as I do! /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://users.beanstalk.net/godollei/pt425/PT425Videos/PT425MultiFloraRose.WMV> Click here to see the PT425 prune a rose bush </A>