Puncturing tires after bush hogging

JDRandyC · Jan 10, 2015

I need to use my bush hog to cut some overgrowth but it has a lot of 1 to 1 1/2 inch saplings. On subsequent cuts, do I have to worry about the Stubbs puncturing my tires. I assume not but I have heard about people puncturing their tires on Stubbs. Thanks.

Parkanzky · Jan 10, 2015

I bought a flail mower recently and have been mulching a lot of 1-2" saplings. I have the mower set high right now because it's the first cleanup of some very overgrown areas and this is leaving a lot of stubs that are 3-5" high and I had the same worries you do. However, I've been driving around in the areas I've cleared and I haven't noticed any damage to my tires yet.

That either means that I've been very lucky or that it's nothing to worry about. Let me know if you learn a hard lesson so that I know to be more careful!

I'm on R4's. It seems to me that R1's and R4's would be the most resilient and turfs would be more vulnerable, but someone here might set me straight on that.

namesray · Jan 10, 2015

JDRandyC said:
I need to use my bush hog to cut some overgrowth but it has a lot of 1 to 1 1/2 inch saplings. On subsequent cuts, do I have to worry about the Stubbs puncturing my tires. I assume not but I have heard about people puncturing their tires on Stubbs. Thanks.

If most of the brush in your field in only 1" - 1.5" diameter then here is a trick I have used before. Set the height of the bush hog high. That way the stubblings have more flex in them and tend to bend under the tires instead of stay rigid and stiff and puncture the tires. Do it this way for the first couple years. After that the stubs will rot up and when you mow it short they break up and wont hurt the tires.

the old grind · Jan 10, 2015

Guy I got my Bush-Hog from hadn't used it for quite some time. His JD had R-1s, and one puncture was enough to relegate it to field vs brush mowing. Once the house was built and everything flat being mowed it was retired. Further occasional brush clearing went to the backhoe (uprooting) and a landscape rake modded to attach to a CUT's FEL bucket.

R-4s are less likely to puncture, and while they're tops for snow work R-3s (turf) are easily as vulnerable to puncture as R-1s. Nastiest stuff may be what's ~1" diameter give or take as it can lay over a bit when a blade strikes, and whether those are sharp or dull you often get a very 'pointy' stub just stiff enough to pierce.

kebo · Jan 10, 2015

One thing to consider here is how sharp or how dull are the blades on the mower? If they are really sharp, then they will leave the tree stubs sort of "sharp" where they were cut off at. If the blades are dull (like mine), they cut the tree mostly by shattering them off. This leaves the top of the stub looking pretty "frayed" so that it's not firm and won't have a "sharp" top on it. These are less likely to puncture a tire.

Another aspect is how low or how high the mower deck is set, when you cut. If you run with the deck pretty low, then the stubs will be shorter. If you cut with the deck set higher, it will obviously leave longer stubs, which you would think would be more likely to puncture a tire.

It's not entirely about what kind of tires you have on your tractor.

Marveltone · Jan 10, 2015

kebo said:
One thing to consider here is how sharp or how dull are the blades on the mower? If they are really sharp, then they will leave the tree stubs sort of "sharp" where they were cut off at. If the blades are dull (like mine), they cut the tree mostly by shattering them off. This leaves the top of the stub looking pretty "frayed" so that it's not firm and won't have a "sharp" top on it. These are less likely to puncture a tire.

This is exactly why I never sharpen my blades. The dull, rounded, nasty looking edges leave relatively soft, paintbrush-like tops on the stubs, which I'd imagine this also helps the offending stubble to rot quicker. Sure, it takes more power to mow grass, but to me, time and fuel are cheaper than tires.