Rotary brush cutter gnawing circular hole in deck

[Luke'sScreenName]

Looking at that tiny little gearbox... I think you're going to spend more in sheet metal and certainly in time then you will in finding another used machine out there. Are you sure you want to be rebuilding a Yugo?

At least around here, there's lots and lots of lightly-used 5 foot brush hogs on the market. A namebrand 罵ight or medium duty" will be considerably stronger then what you have in my opinion. Just something to think about.

Edit: is that BONDO on it?! :laughing: :laughing: If so, that is awesome and I can't believe it's held up!

 

[jb1390]

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I guess I should致e done this in the first place this is a picture of this thing I guess I should致e done this in the first place tiki this is a picture of this thing. Well used but still kicking

Yes, that is caused by hitting rocks and stumps, and flexing the blades upward into the deck. It happens more on the front because you run the front lower than the rear.

Some of the nicer cutters have more clearance than the cheaper ones, and framework underneath, which prevents contact of the blades with the deck.

My cutter has 1/4" steel around the outside 12-16" now, which fixed that problem for me. It's easy to buy from a local supplier, sheared to the dimensions you need. It also adds weight - which I didn't care about, but might matter for you.

This issue was compounded for me by running high-lift blades, which sit closer to the deck, and have a sharper upper edge - which caused some issues. Regular, flat blades don't seem to hit. The hybrid, partially curled blades sometimes hit but not as bad as the high-lift.

If you are not running flat blades already, that is probably the easiest solution.

 

[drizler]

Looking at that tiny little gearbox... I think you're going to spend more in sheet metal and certainly in time then you will in finding another used machine out there. Are you sure you want to be rebuilding a Yugo?

At least around here, there's lots and lots of lightly-used 5 foot brush hogs on the market. A namebrand 鄂ｵight or medium duty" will be considerably stronger then what you have in my opinion. Just something to think about.

Edit: is that BONDO on it?! :laughing: :laughing: If so, that is awesome and I can't believe it's held up!

No bondo just 6013 piled on about 7 years ago. Fugly as can be but it did the deed well enough. I should have plated that section over right then but didn稚 have anything suitable kicking around at the time. Around here when it comes to used cutters you may as well not bother. The few there are make mine look good . That痴 just the way it is around here.

 

[compact]

Blades hit the deck often, its normal in rocky northern New England. There is more flex in there than one might think, and the blades do get bent upwards. Gear box bolts loosen also. One thing I do is to round off the top of the trailing edge of the blades to about te shape of an egg. That reduces deck damage significantly, leaves a broad welt instead of cutting like a can opener. More surface area to spread out the force.

 

[Rmart30]

No bondo just 6013 piled on about 7 years ago. Fugly as can be but it did the deed well enough. I should have plated that section over right then but didn稚 have anything suitable kicking around at the time. Around here when it comes to used cutters you may as well not bother. The few there are make mine look good . That痴 just the way it is around here.

If used ones in your area are hard to come by as you say id have that one with a for sale sign on it and grab me another new one.
We have a ten thousand acre hunting club and we go thru cutters all the time due to all the reclaim rocks and stumps etc. . Id say every cpl of years we are buying one or two 5' cutters.
Unless you have the skills to do it yourself, and can get the metals very cheap to do it with its almost always cheaper to sale the old cutter as is and get another new cheap cutter. Along with the metalwork you will more than likely need at least a blade set and bolt set, and possibly a stump jumper. if all that is needed I for sure would grab a new cheap one rather than fix.

 

[DieselBound]

Guy I bought my Bush Hog 286 from used it commercially and beat the snot out of it mowing lots of rocks. He ended up welding 1/4" steel on the deck. I don't have a lot of rock, so no worry there (though I have lots of wood).

My Landpride 1860 that I bought used has a visible circle showing on the top side of the deck. Blades were extremely worn.

As others have mentioned, probably best to get a replacement cutter, a used one that's higher quality.

 

[BrokenTrack]

My bushog looked exactly like that and it was the bolt flanges on the cast iron gear box that had broken off.

Fortunately, there was enough steel to just turn down the casting, fabricate a new weld on flange, and give the bushhog a new lease on life.

 

[CADplans]

:cool2:

 

[Sksstumne]

View attachment 554205
I guess I should致e done this in the first place this is a picture of this thing I guess I should致e done this in the first place tiki this is a picture of this thing. Well used but still kicking

Your stump jumper is bent. Just replaced mine for the third time, I cut a lot of rocks. A new stump jumper was around $80.00.