Rotary Cutters, Medium Duty, Heavy Duty, Gearbox Sizing, etc.

[sweettractors]

Who says you need to drive over it
That's what reverse is for! (And a sore neck at the end of the day)

I routinely take down 3-4" trees with half the tractor and half the cutter. I just need to take it really slow.

2" trees are barely a hiccup for my Brown 472 (built in 2001 so no show queen anymore)


Shredding small trees with 6' mower and CUT - YouTube

Kubota Tractor Reclaiming Fields With Brown 472 Rotary Cutter - YouTube

Using reverse will indeed do the job on the tree and the rear of any cutter. This is just my observation after 50 yrs of selling them, repairing and using them on our farm. Ken Sweet

 

[JRobyn]

Be very careful backing up into heavy resistance like a 4" tree (or a bank). This is exactly when your cutter will rise up in the back and TEST if you have factored in a short enough compressed length in your PTO shaft or NOT!

 

[novasbc]

Would you be content cutting with RCF2072, a 48" to 60" grass swathe under some conditions, while operating at full throttle?

In the grand scheme of things, 1' doesn't make that much of a difference anyways, I'm sure you'll be very happy with that LP cutter, it's a nice one! Congrats!

If you think of it, after using it a bit, let us know how you like it.

I picked up the shredder today, and am thus far pleased with the decision to go 5' vs 6'.

I found that with the high grass, I could max out at 2 HI (could get away with 3 HI maybe, but the land isn't straight enough). When I did go up to 3 HI I found it was fairly easy to bog down.

I didn't really understand what "bogging down" with a tractor was all about beforehand, until I actually experienced it. Ig basically acted like it went past a point in which it could cut, and the clippings must have built up, as all of a sudden the RPMs would just start dropping until I slowed down, it felt very odd.

My conclusion is indeed that the 6' would have "worked" for some definition of work. With the gear driven L3400, I would recommend you do your best to do a try run. I had no personal reference to know how the combo would have worked.

Jeff9366' post was spot on, I don't think I would have been pleased to have to max this thing out to maybe cut its full width. At least I can go fast with even the initial cut.

I'm glad for the 10ga deck, compared to some other models.

 

[sawtooth]

Using reverse will indeed do the job on the tree and the rear of any cutter. This is just my observation after 50 yrs of selling them, repairing and using them on our farm. Ken Sweet

Cool videos thanks.

 

[Turbys_1700]

View attachment 507211

This is a mans shredder. Just picked it up this week. Cuts up to 4" material. . I would call it a heavy duty shredder. Lol

Nice cutter sawtooth. Did you get that unit off Craigslist? It's almost impossible to find a cutter like that used. To say you did good is the understatement of the year.

I spent more time looking at your trailer than the cutter. Can you give me the specs of it?

 

[sawtooth]

I picked up the shredder today, and am thus far pleased with the decision to go 5' vs 6'.

I found that with the high grass, I could max out at 2 HI (could get away with 3 HI maybe, but the land isn't straight enough). When I did go up to 3 HI I found it was fairly easy to bog down.

I didn't really understand what "bogging down" with a tractor was all about beforehand, until I actually experienced it. Ig basically acted like it went past a point in which it could cut, and the clippings must have built up, as all of a sudden the RPMs would just start dropping until I slowed down, it felt very odd.

My conclusion is indeed that the 6' would have "worked" for some definition of work. With the gear driven L3400, I would recommend you do your best to do a try run. I had no personal reference to know how the combo would have worked.

Jeff9366' post was spot on, I don't think I would have been pleased to have to max this thing out to maybe cut its full width. At least I can go fast with even the initial cut.

I'm glad for the 10ga deck, compared to some other models.
View attachment 507300

Nice cutter. I have a 15 year old BH squealer 72" and I think it's similar build to your land pride. 10ga deck etc. it's been great and I would call them a med-light design as they make a lighter version as do a lot of companies. I cut some 2" material and have for years. Key is to go slow and only cut one at a time. Also to your question on a earlier post I will add that buying too much gearbox has its downside. Reason being is they are harder to turn as they are less efficient in transferring energy through them. On a positive note they can reduce more of the impact energy from transferring back to your tractor pto during high energy impacts etc.

 

[DieselBound]

Regarding the size of material that a cutter is spec'd to handle, not all material is standing up and is live! I was out running my NX with my BH 286 for the first time the other day and I ran over some big chunks of cedar and the mower sliced then right up. These chunks were far larger than a few inches. But, in general, I agree that one really doesn't want to be running over live, standing, larger saplings. I'm happy that the NX's cab buffers a lot of noise: I've got hundreds of hours running through brush on my B7800 and I've had ample occasions to cringe! Regarding my BH 286, PO welded on an additional 1/4" plate steel to its top. This puts the BH firmly in the "medium to heavy duty" range, plenty good enough for my needs: gearbox is at least 80hp or so; will see if the drive shaft can hold up!

Recently got a 5' "regular duty" Land Pride cutter for my B7800. Put on new blades and got the thing adjusted really well: I have it operating better than my old light duty Rankin 5-footer had in the 6 years that I owned it.

A key point here is that if you're cutting mostly grass (as long as it isn't really super thick, nasty stuff) a larger cutter is fine. Throw in some brush and now you're probably going to need the extra deck thickness that a heavier duty cutter offers (to absorb the heavier, flying material, and likely one that's not maximum width. Pretty sure my NX will run an 8-footer on grass just fine; for heavy brush no, which is why I went with a 6-footer (I have lots of clearing yet to do).

Oh, both my cutters were obtained via CL. And both types don't pop up very often: I'd have to say that in the many years I scan CL I have seen less than 6 medium to heavy duty 6' cutters; a good 5' cutter like the Land Pride I got (can't recall what model- it's quick attach ready, which is why I got it, why I wanted to replace my old Rankin) is also pretty rare.

 

[Rmart30]

I think you made the right call to go with the 5 ftr for your size machine. I had the same decision when I bought my L4600 and looked at all kinds of cutters.
I went with a used 2660 LP which has a huge gearbox on it and one heck of a thick deck. Chose it because I knew it would last for what I wanted to do.

I like the way LP rates their cutters for what size material it will cut.