Rotary Cutter What 6-ft Rotary Cutter?

[Z-Michigan]

I would listen to FWJ - all four posts.

I have a Deere LX6. Not so impressed with it, and still waiting to see if they will warranty a tailwheel that completely failed after about 40 hours (one year) of light use. Ridiculous.

With 60hp you could easily run 8-10' of cutter if you wanted to. I have 47 PTO with a 6' and I wish I had more mower or less tractor.

IMHO, I would either go high end with the Bush Hog, or go low end with the TSC brands if you're only doing a little mowing. I'm usually all for paying for quality, but my TSC brand disk is the only trouble-free implement I have, compared to Deere, Frontier (ick), and Land Pride implements I also own. I add the "ick" for Frontier because they are 100% outsourced, and it seems to me that with Frontier you are often paying premium prices for TSC-level quality, or less, wrapped in green paint. (Disagree? Find me someone else who sells, or has even heard of, Tecnomec Agricola, the maker of my Frontier blade.)

 

[Glowplug]

I bought a model 286 mower near 3 years ago. My son bought one at the same time. Mine came equipped chains. His came without. He put a rubber flap on the front and back until the dealer got a set of chains for him. We put both mowers to the test, side-by-side. Mine left a MUCH cleaner cut. When the chains came in, we swapped them for the rubber flaps on Jonathons mower. Cutting quality matched mine at that point. Bush Hog rep explained the air flow issue to me at the National Farm Machinery Show. Not a doubt in my mind that it made a difference, on these 2 mowers anyway.

What would've REALLY been a controlled experiment would be to then switch your chains to rubber deflectors. Then if the quality of your cut worsened that would be irrefutable evidence that chains improve the quality of the cut! Yet another reason for me to want chains on my 297. . .if I ever save enough money to get it!

 

[1bush2hog]

The Brown mower line is a niche market product. Unless you NEED that super heavy duty mower, the weight is a liability for general use. They're especially popular with land clearing/extreme rough mowing conditions commercial mowing operators, but the average run-of-the-mill end user just doesn't need that sort of mower. On a "per foot width" basis, it takes a LOT more tractor to handle one of these mowers than say a Bush Hog 200 or 300 series. I have a Bush Hog 406, which is their answer to the Brown mowers. At 6', it takes an 8000 lb (+) tractor to handle it (safely) on rough ground. When you consider the cost vs. job requirements, 99.9% of the time, a mower of that duty rating wouldn't be the "right mower for the job".

All depends on what you'll be doing and which tractor you'll be hanging the mower on.

I grew up using Bush Hog mowers and their reputation is good and I don't have anythig bad to say about them. I did have some concerns about the squeler line after reading a bit.

When I was shopping for a 7ft mower, I needed heavy duty, but not super duty. I compared the Brown 484 with the Bush Hog 297 and ended up going with the Brown as I got it for about $5-600 cheaper.

I have been very pleased with the Brown 484 and would not hesitate to purchase again, especailly if the cost differential is still there. The 484 is a beast, I can only imagine what a 684 must be like

I did add chains to front and back of the mower for additional safety reasons

If there is a Brown dealer nearby - check them out.

 

[Glowplug]

I grew up using Bush Hog mowers and their reputation is good and I don't have anythig bad to say about them. I did have some concerns about the squeler line after reading a bit.

When I was shopping for a 7ft mower, I needed heavy duty, but not super duty. I compared the Brown 484 with the Bush Hog 297 and ended up going with the Brown as I got it for about $5-600 cheaper.

I have been very pleased with the Brown 484 and would not hesitate to purchase again, especailly if the cost differential is still there. The 484 is a beast, I can only imagine what a 684 must be like

I did add chains to front and back of the mower for additional safety reasons

If there is a Brown dealer nearby - check them out.

The Brown 484 is probably considered "heavy duty" by most peoples' standards. I don't know what you'd call the 684? "Extreme Super Duty"? It would be pretty good if you needed to mow down a forest I suppose.

 

[N80]

I have a Deere LX6. Not so impressed with it, and still waiting to see if they will warranty a tailwheel that completely failed after about 40 hours (one year) of light use. Ridiculous.

I think that most of us over think and probably over pay for rotary mowers given what most of us do with them. When I looked at my needs and determined that I did not need to spend the money on a medium duty mower, I decided to wait and see what I could find used. I was not too impressed with the 2nd tier stuff but figured if nothing good and used popped up I'd probably go that route.

I found a JD LX-6 in great condition and got it for $800. It had the heavy duty laminated tail wheel and chains all around. I really like the chains, they are very effective. It has a tiny little gear box but it does have the high lift blades. The cut is good. It has held up very well. I don't put tons of hours on it but it does get some pretty rough use. I've had no problems except for water in the gearbox, but I think it was in there when I bought it. I drained it, cleaned it and haven't had any troubles.

I mow this place, which you see less than half of in the picture:

And much of it looked like this or worse:

Never gives me a bit of trouble.

All that is just to say that I personally don't think us weekend warriors need to spend tons on rotary cutters. Of course these JD's have 10 ga decks and with the chains and HD tailwheel are pretty pricey for a light duty....but buying used was the key.

 

[Dargo]

I pretty well use my rotary cutter as a battering ram and cut anything I can run over with it. I built a complete frame, or cage, made of 3/8" wall thickness 2" square tubing around the cutter. The leading and tail edge also have a 3"X4" 3/8" thick angle with the leading edge of the angle pointed outwards to push over anything it hits. Where I cut I use my FEL bucket as a "feeler" about a foot or so off the ground and cut anything that I can go over. I did have the slip clutch before the gear box smoking one time when I was cutting trails through a bunch of heavy bushes and relatively small trees.

So, for what I do, I'd absolutely destroy a light or medium duty rotary cutter the first time out. As mentioned, buy the right cutter for your needs. However, I've always gone by the mind set of going a bit stronger than you think you need. That way I have a bit of a margin for error and I don't have to stop because an area looks too tough for my cutter. BTW, concrete blocks just explode under my cutter but hitting chunks of granite or other large stones result in broken cutter blades. It's sort of disconcerting when you raise your deck and see a 1" thick blade broken in half. It kinda causes a pretty bad vibration as well...

 

[Diamondpilot]

I had a Woods 5' cutter and traded it even for a older 5' Ford unit. I wan not impressed with the Woods at all. Yes its better than a King Kutter or something like that but get a heavy unit, good welds, thick steel, and a STUMP JUMPER like my old Ford has.

Chris

 

[N80]

BTW, concrete blocks just explode under my cutter.

I haven't mowed my cinder blocks in ages.

 

[Dargo]

I haven't mowed my cinder blocks in ages.

Yeah, well, it's best to keep them topped off at about 8" or so. You know, you don't want them to get away from you because then they're a real bugger to get back in line...

 

[Z-Michigan]

George, I'm glad your LX6 has held up well. The type of tailwheel probably made a big difference, but I wasn't told I was getting the cheapo, discontinued tailwheel when I bought mine. I blame the dealer for that. If JD was good they never would have made that tailwheel. Anyway, my use is super light - basically mowing grass and weeds, nothing over 1/2" thick, very few rocks, etc. I guess what I'm reading on here is that a lot of the medium priced brands can't be relied upon to hold up well, and people who own the super-cheapo brands like KK don't seem to report any more problems than people who go with mainstream mid-priced brands/models.