Rotary Cutter Rotary cutters, medium duty vs HD?

[jrchafin]

I'm looking to get a 15' batwing rotary cutter for pasture maintenance. I will probably cut once per year to get the small cedar saplings and whatever weeds my cows and goats don't eat. However, I don't want to get something that I have to worry about breaking all the time. I will no doubt hit a rock or two with it, run over a fallen limb, etc. So the question is, can I get by with a medium duty cutter like the rhino sd series, or the deere MX series, or Woods BW180. These have 1/4" side walls and 10 gauge decks (deere slightly less on the deck). My tractor is 75 hp, and they all are plenty strong in the gear boxes. They are rated to cut 2-2.5" material.

The HD units of the same size have the same or slightly larger gauge on the decks, still 1/4" on the side walls, and heavier gear boxes. They are rated to cut 4" material, which I would probably never do, except maybe a fallen limb laying flat in the field. Price difference is about 12k vs 15,500.

So the question is, for all you guys out there with medium duty cutters: Do you wish you had heavy duty? Do they hold up well? Do you find you have to be careful about rocks, etc, or can they take a little bit of a beating?

I don't want to drop the xtra 3,500 if I don't need to.

While we're at it, I'll give you the price quotes I've received.
Woods BW180 - 11985
Woods BW1800 - 15499
Rhino SD180 - 12400
Rhino FR180 - 16380
JD MX15 - 11499
JD HX15 - 15499

The JD is the lowest price, but they also have thinner decks and less weight overall. I wonder if the JD cutters hold up as well as the Woods and Rhino?

 

[nybirdman]

There used to be a guy on here"farmwithjunk" that was a commercial mower and swore by Bush-Hog branded mowers of this size.He had several tractors and mowers doing thousands of acres per year.You may find the JD branded mowers are built by others,not saying they are good/bad,I just don't think they build them.

 

[bigbull338]

with what your going tobe shredding id get a bushhog $2615 HD batwing shredder an be done with it.i have an old mowhawk cheif shredder.that thing was junk from the start.blew out a gearbox with less than 50acs on it.made dealer change all 3 after the war.then shatter the U-joints,fixed them.then it blew them to the point of no repairing.then i bought the 6ft HD bushhog.then last year bought a 3414 bushhog shredder.

 

[idaho2]

jrlogan,

I have the 10' twin spindle Mahindra/Kodiak. Here is the web site for Kodiak and scroll to the last page of this site for the specs of the 15' batwing. Just another unit to add to your list of HD units to compare. My 10'er has seen it's share of pine trees up to 4" some times even 6".

http://www.kodiakmfg.com/products/Kodiak_Rotary_Cutters.pdf

idaho2

 

[jrchafin]

Thanks idaho. That kodiak is the heaviest built of the bunch and costs 12900. Looks like a better deal to me.

 

[greg_g]

I like Kodiak too, but it's still possible to bulge out the sides on the medium duty. For anybody that's interested: the red implements at most US Mahindra dealers are Kodiak, many of the green ones at John Deere are Frontier. Kodiak manufactures in Tennessee. Frontier equipment however is not single-sourced. Stuff made by Rome, Maschio, J&M, Woods and MacDon all gets painted green and branded Frontier.

//greg//

 

[Ken45101]

For what you are doing, I think the medium duty would be perfectly fine. I have a Bush Hog medium duty (2015 IIRC) for several years now and it hasn't had a problem. For a 6', I've had a Woods medium duty for 13 years now that has seen some fairly rough use.

 

[jrchafin]

So I've looked into it in depth at this point, and I am convinced that the kodiak cutter is the best deal out there. It's built heavier by far than it's competitors for the money. It has a 3/16" deck, 1/4" sidebands, chains, heavy duty gear boxes and slip clutches, and I've been quoted 12,500. That's 3,000 cheaper than the heavy duty models quoted above, most of which still aren't built as heavy. I agree that medium duty would probably suit my purposes, and maybe if kodiak made this in a medium duty for 9k I would get that, but since they don't, I think I've got to get their heavy duty model. Thanks Idaho2 for the tip!

 

[Ken45101]

For what you are doing, I think the medium duty would be perfectly fine. I have a Bush Hog medium duty (2015 IIRC) for several years now and it hasn't had a problem. For a 6', I've had a Woods medium duty for 13 years now that has seen some fairly rough use.

Correction to my post, mine is a Bush Hog 2515.

 

[jenkinsph]

So I've looked into it in depth at this point, and I am convinced that the kodiak cutter is the best deal out there. It's built heavier by far than it's competitors for the money. It has a 3/16" deck, 1/4" sidebands, chains, heavy duty gear boxes and slip clutches, and I've been quoted 12,500. That's 3,000 cheaper than the heavy duty models quoted above, most of which still aren't built as heavy. I agree that medium duty would probably suit my purposes, and maybe if kodiak made this in a medium duty for 9k I would get that, but since they don't, I think I've got to get their heavy duty model. Thanks Idaho2 for the tip!

I have had Bush Hog, Mohawk, Deere branded cutters and would say that they have all been decent. Hard for me to recommend one over the other as I don't use them often enough the last few years to know. I would say that I don't think it is wise to buy by weight alone, simply being heavier is cheaper and easier to obtain than well engineered. I would buy a RC that has a proven track record if I could figure out which one wins that debate that is the brand model I would go with.

 

[Ken45101]

Properly designed lighter gage steel is more effective than less well designed heavier steel. Also, major cost components are the gear boxes, rotary joints, etc. Some joints limit your turning radius. My Bush Hog is spec'd operate with the wings vertical, which is great for mowing the driveway or trails.

The other issue, if you have hills, is controlling the weight of the cutter. I have 700# of front bumper weights and my M9540 is still a bit light on the front end on turns at the bottom of hills.

 

[Gary Fowler]

1/4" side walls is needed for protection when hitting rocks, other than that, any thickness on the side would do. I had a Howse light weight model that I rounded out the sides from slinging rocks into it. Didn't hurt the cutting performance though. If IIRC there was no difference in components between the light weight and HD models as far as gear box rating, just had to pay more for the heavy gauge metal. I think that if you will just be mowing pasture and no rocks or other hard debris the Kodiak would suit you fine.

THE ONE thing that you do get with heavier metal is a longer time before corrosion rust thru happens. You can keep the top painted, but eventually you will get some rust thru from the bottom of any rotary cutter. Thicker metal prolongs the time of usefulness for the cutter.