QUICK ROTARY CUTTER ADVICE NEEDED

[Travis_R]

Ok here it goes,

I posted a while back on which brand to buy out of a Rhino 172 and Bush Hog Squealer SQ172. I ended up choosing the Bush Hog brand but still have not made a purchase.
And am glad I haven't.....I have found another brand that is well known that I am interested in.....The Woods Brush Bull Extreme model BB72X. I really like the looks of this cutter. BUT....In my 'area' it is $200 more than the Bush Hog Squealer and the sides and top of deck are both 11 gauge, where as the Squealer's sides and top are 10 gauge. But the Woods has a 6 year gearbox warranty and the Squealer has a 5 year gearbox warranty.

Its kinda like six one way and a half a dozen another!

So the question is: Bush Hog or Woods??
And as the title of this thread states, "QUICK ROTARY CUTTER ADVICE NEEDED", it means what it says.

I AM GOING TO PURCHASE THIS FRIDAY. 3 DAYS LEFT!

Thanks for the patience and replies,
Travis R

 

[EastTnFarmboy]

For what it's worth...

A year ago I compared cutters and intended to buy the Bush Hog brand. However, I decided to put my tractor/implement purchase off for a year and just recently pulled the trigger. This time around, after researching several brands, I decided on the new Woods BB 72X. It is an upgrade to their standard duty Brush Bull series that I had looked at last year. In my opinion, it is extremely well built. I recently spent several days bushhogging on our property in Missouri, and I couldn't be happier with the way it performed. It is rated for saplings up to 1.5" if my memory serves, but in my opinion that is a very conservative rating by Woods. I was basically able to cut anything that I could ride down with the tractor. I got into something once that was a bit large for it, but the slip clutch did its job and I trucked on down the road. I know that I cut some things that were at least 3" at the bottom without any trouble. (My tractor has 45 hp at the pto.) You mentioned the gearbox warranty, which is pretty strong. I don't think you will go wrong with this cutter, but that is just my opinion of course. Good luck.

 

[mikim]

Take a look at how the blades come off. My woods has a large pin held with a "keeper" wedge that is held with a bolt. I can use a 3/8 ratchet with a 5/8 socket to remove the blades. My neighbor was commenting last week how he needed to change his but hated the job because of the great big nut that holds the blades on and the tools he needs to get it off. Including a cheater bar and lots of grunt.

 

[EastTnFarmboy]

The BB72X should have the quickchange blade pins. The regular BB72 does not. Another poster mentioned this in a thread recently:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/109616-new-woods-bb60-aack-no.html

 

[Soundguy]

It's your money.. 200$ is a big premium to pay for a hair thicker deck and quick change blades.

If putting a big breaker bar and socket on a blade bolt every decade makes ya sqeamish.. then spend the extra 200$

I've got a 9.5y old mower, a 8yr old mower, and a 4yr old mower.

None of em are anywhere near needing blades. I've cut my share of ant mounts.. rocks, and hidden wood as well as occasional 2" woodm material, and the 1-2 odd accidental 3" green material. ( knocked out quite a few fence posts too! )

Soundguy

 

[Robert_in_NY]

From my experience you will need the warranty on the Woods gearbox. I will never buy another Woods cutter again.

 

[scott_vt]

Afternoon Travis,
Ive used the Bush Hog Squealer for the past few years with absolutely no problems. I have the 5ft model behind my Massey, probablly could have gone with the 6 ft but its not that big of a deal. I agree with you in the fact that the Brush Bull is a heavier duty unit but is it worth another $200 ? For the type of cutting Im doing its not, mostly open meadow, although I have occassionally cut some small saplings. Im still on my first set of blades and I do occassionally touch them up with a angle grinder, that mower just keeps cuttin along !

BTW the stump jumper is a nice feature when finding rocks and stumps !

 

[rbargeron]

Ok here it goes,

.....The Woods Brush Bull Extreme model BB72X. I really like the looks of this cutter. BUT....it is $200 more than the Bush Hog Squealer..........

You are comparing a model Woods calls their heavy duty cutter to a model that Bush Hog lists as their "light duty" cutter. Not exactly a fair contest. Have you considered the BH medium duty 290 or their heavier 300 or 406 series units? Apples to apples, Bush Hog's heavy duty is much more machine.

 

[sandman2234]

Remember, 10 guage metal is thicker than 11 guage metal, so that makes it worse, not better.
Decks usually rust out around here faster than gearboxes break, but in five years, will it matter, verus 6 years? A warranty is only as good as the company that is standing behind it, but better than a warranty, is a gearbox that will last that long, versus the down time you will have if it doesn't.
David from jax

 

[mikim]

I guess I must use mine different from others. I cut a LOT of brush and need to sharpen my blades fairly regularly. (twice a season - maybe) With the easy change blades, I just take them off and sharpen them on the bench grinder. I actually have 2 sets of blades and swap 'em - takes maybe 10 minutes. I find that's even easier than crawling under it to use an angle grinder - which I've done several times as well.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I think it all depends on what type of cut people expect from a rotary cutter. I am very hard on my cutter as I am clearing back 12-15' tall red brush. I will go from cutting brush to cutting field and not worry about how the cut looks as all I need to do is knock the stuff down. I do know some people want their cutters to mow like a finish mower and they sharpen blades a lot. I sharpen the blades on my woods when it needs it which is about once every couple years and that is because of the rocks that I keep finding.

 

[EddieWalker]

Before I bought my finish mower, I used my 6ft medium duty Land Pride cutter to do all my mowing with. Most of the heavy, rough stuff was cut down the first year I had it, so since then, it's mostly maintenance.

That first year was really rough on it, and I burned out the gear box. I had a three year warrentee on it, so I told my dealer that it was making a gawd aweful noise. He said to keep using it since I was getting a new gear box, and when it came in, he'd change it for me. Which is what I did.

Since then, I used it for mowing bahia and bermuda grass. Sometimes it was a foot tall or taller and that would really bog down my 35hp tractor if I went too fast. It also wears out the blades.

I re-sharpened them one year and had to replace them the other year. In four years, I've put two sets of new blades on it. I don't know if the metal is just softer then other blades, or if my grass is just more abrassive, but the blades on my mower wear out. They come new at about 3 inches wide, but after two years, there's barely an inch of metal left on them.

Now that I have a finish mower, I just used my rotary mower one time this year to mow the really thick stuff that grew on my spillway. It was too wet to mow when it was flowing, and it got pretty bad. I cut it down real easy with the rotary cutter, and have maintained it with the finish mower.

My blades require a 1 11/16 socket and 450ft pounds to remove and tighten them. I bought a bigger impact wrench and paid $45 for the socket just to change my blades. The first time was a real nightmare, but after that I can do it in under an hour pretty easily.

If it was me, I'd buy the cheaper one considering they are so similar.

Eddie

 

[beersngars]

I have the Woods BB60X and am very happy. As stated above, the 1 1/2 inch rated capacity seems conservative. If I can run it over, the RC will do it's job. This is my first and only cutter, but I do have a little seat time on a friends MF with a el-cheapo cutter of some sort and the Woods just blows it away. It would be my choice if I had to buy it over.

 

[jonbravado]

in my opinion - the woods is a step above the rest. it's build like an army tank and worth the extra 200 bucks.

J

 

[kbiddle]

I second the Wodds I have the BB60 and as stated that thing is a TANK...
I have cut 4 AC of 3"+ popular saplings down with that thing and while is slow going it is a BEAST...
Good luck

 

[sandman2234]

Something about this I don't understand...
Pros:
The Woods mower has a 6 year warranty, versus a 5 year.
Cons:
The Woods mower has thinner deck sheet metal.
The Woods mowers have had historical gearbox problems.
The Woods mower is $200 more than the Bush Hog.

The $200 is cheap compared to what down time and repair cost are going to be if your dealer decides that you are tearing up the gearboxes instead of them failing under warranty.By the end of the 5th year, it isn't going to matter much, unless you baby that gearbox and keep records of all the oil changes, then they pretty much have plenty of reasons to say it was user abuse, and just how do you prove that you never hit a rock with it, never cut over 1.5" material, and if you got close to something like that, you got off the tractor and measured it before you cut it with the Woods. I can just hear the service guy saying that it didn't fail due to manufacturer defect, but due to user abuse, or how about it just wore out. Hard to make a company spend their money on a 5+ year old gearbox.
I prefer to purchase a tried and proven item, that the manufacturer put the time in to make sure their product was top notch before they put them on the market, instead of a company that has had problems and simply adds another year to the warranty to make it appear that they stand behind their mowers longer. The $200 extra your paying would probably purchase an extended warranty thru some "Extended Warranty Company". I have seen them warranty other things like computers, and why would anybody want to replace a 5 year old computer when it croaked, with an exact duplicate?

I am on the Bush Hog version side of this, and I haven't even looked at either models your talking about. My opinion of these two are derived from what I have read on this forum and my observations of what they look like after 3-5 years in the commercial arena.

 

[Travis_R]

I think that I am gonna go ahead and get the Bush Hog brand. I bought a new 5' Squealer (SQ600-shearpin) alittle over 2 years ago and put it through he**. It is still as strong as it was when it was new (my uncle has it now). Only things I had to do were weld the tail wheel frame shaft a couple times and put a new input shaft seal in it. It got a VERY good workout when I had it. I traded him for a 5' King Kutter because the tractor I had at the time did NOT like the Squealer. But the tractor I have now, my 231 Massey Ferguson, ain't goin' no where!

I Know first hand how good the quality of Bush Hog is. So, Why should I Change?

I'm going to get the SQ172 Shear pin model (I don't like a slip clutch). It will cost me $1395 loaded on the trailer. SOUND OK??
BUT.........depending on price, I just MAY come home with a Bush Hog model 296 !!

We'll see how it goes.

THANKS to ALL OF YA',
Travis R

 

[rbargeron]

........depending on price, I just MAY come home with a Bush Hog model 296 !!

Now your talking...

 

[Travis_R]

I got the SQ172 Squealer. $1395 loaded on the trailer. I used it for about 45 minutes this evening. I am very happy with it. I am glad that I didn't get the 296. My tractor definitely would not like it.

Thanks to all,
Travis R

 

[Glowplug]

I got the SQ172 Squealer. $1395 loaded on the trailer. I used it for about 45 minutes this evening. I am very happy with it. I am glad that I didn't get the 296. My tractor definitely would not like it.

Thanks to all,
Travis R

The 296 is a huge chunk of steel!!