glennmac
Veteran Member
I think the Woods is the best designed cutter on the market in the standard to medium duty range (not the cheapest, however).
There are design aspects not yet discussed.
1. When you are cutting in the woods or anywhere there are lots of hard objects such as trees, bushes and rocks, you WILL be backing up a lot. You WILL unintentionally (and often deliberately) smash into LOTS of these hard objects with the back skirt of the cutter while backing up. You will also hit things with the side skirts of the cutter as you are turning or swinging around in tight quarters. Therefore the back and, to a lesser extent, the side skirts of an experienced cutter usually get all smashed and bent inward from these collisions. To help prevent this, Woods has molded in a tubular reinforcement arount the entire top edge of the deck-- a bumper, if you will. In addition, if you opt for the rear chain shielding, that is set up on a protruding flange that is like another bumper that protrudes out even further.
2. When you are cutting, big hard objects (logs, rocks, Jimmy Hoffa's femur) will recirculate around under the deck. These objects will dent the deck upward and outward from the inside. (Therefore, the thicker the deck and skirts the better for hard object cutting.) Eventually, you will even get a raised dent circle on the top deck. The paint will quickly flake off the deck wherever these dents are. Then these areas will rust. If you store your cutter outside, the rain and snow will pool on top of the deck and drastically accelerate this rusting process. Most cutters have flat top decks with cross braces that act as baffles, which prevent the water from flowing off the top of the deck and keep the water pooled on top. This type of deck design also traps and keeps debris all over the top of the deck. It's even hard to wash the debris off with a hose because of the flatness of the top deck and the baffling-blocking effect of the cross braces and welds. Woods has minimized this problem by shaping the top of the deck like a "hump" and getting most of the structure out of the way of shedding water. This design makes it easier to clean the deck, eliminates pooling of rain and other water, and hences slows rusting of the dented-flaked areas.
3. Woods has higher sidewalls on its decks. This gives more vertical airspace under the deck for the spinning blades to create upsuction.
4. The Woods "standard duty" line is heavier duty all around than Bushhog's or others.
The 3830 can lift something like 2700 lbs. 24" behind the 3ph pins. It should easily lift and handle even the 1200 lb. Woods medium duty 72" cutter. Whether you need that strong and heavy a cutter depends on what you are going to cut and how often. But the design elements above are on all the Woods cutters.
There are design aspects not yet discussed.
1. When you are cutting in the woods or anywhere there are lots of hard objects such as trees, bushes and rocks, you WILL be backing up a lot. You WILL unintentionally (and often deliberately) smash into LOTS of these hard objects with the back skirt of the cutter while backing up. You will also hit things with the side skirts of the cutter as you are turning or swinging around in tight quarters. Therefore the back and, to a lesser extent, the side skirts of an experienced cutter usually get all smashed and bent inward from these collisions. To help prevent this, Woods has molded in a tubular reinforcement arount the entire top edge of the deck-- a bumper, if you will. In addition, if you opt for the rear chain shielding, that is set up on a protruding flange that is like another bumper that protrudes out even further.
2. When you are cutting, big hard objects (logs, rocks, Jimmy Hoffa's femur) will recirculate around under the deck. These objects will dent the deck upward and outward from the inside. (Therefore, the thicker the deck and skirts the better for hard object cutting.) Eventually, you will even get a raised dent circle on the top deck. The paint will quickly flake off the deck wherever these dents are. Then these areas will rust. If you store your cutter outside, the rain and snow will pool on top of the deck and drastically accelerate this rusting process. Most cutters have flat top decks with cross braces that act as baffles, which prevent the water from flowing off the top of the deck and keep the water pooled on top. This type of deck design also traps and keeps debris all over the top of the deck. It's even hard to wash the debris off with a hose because of the flatness of the top deck and the baffling-blocking effect of the cross braces and welds. Woods has minimized this problem by shaping the top of the deck like a "hump" and getting most of the structure out of the way of shedding water. This design makes it easier to clean the deck, eliminates pooling of rain and other water, and hences slows rusting of the dented-flaked areas.
3. Woods has higher sidewalls on its decks. This gives more vertical airspace under the deck for the spinning blades to create upsuction.
4. The Woods "standard duty" line is heavier duty all around than Bushhog's or others.
The 3830 can lift something like 2700 lbs. 24" behind the 3ph pins. It should easily lift and handle even the 1200 lb. Woods medium duty 72" cutter. Whether you need that strong and heavy a cutter depends on what you are going to cut and how often. But the design elements above are on all the Woods cutters.
