Would a John Deere 606 at about $600 be better than a newer brush hog?

[Farmwithjunk]

I'm going to go see it on Friday. Any simple way for a rookie to tell what is "fixed right" and what ain't?

I'm glad to hear from someone that's dealt with multiflora. I spent $65 early this spring to rent a billy goat with a 30" deck. I spent a weekend and barely made a dent in my front pastures which are almost completely free of the stuff! The back, where an individual bush might be 12' wide by 8' high AND, I don't think I've mentioned this before, on pretty hilly ground, is going to take a while to clear. (Of course, I don't have to have it done in any hurry. I'll get some time in each weekend and have it done in 3 or 4 years! ;-)

Hook it to a tractor and spin it up to speed. Does it run with minimal vibration? Does the gearbox sound "smooth"? Will it coast back to a stop without seeming to bind up? Does it LOOK like it was repaired correctly?

After a year of clearing multiflora rose off my farm, I finally relented and rented a 'dozer. Prior to that, I was using a VERY heavy duty 6' Bush Hog mower on a 67hp tractor. It was ALL that tractor wanted.

 

[IslandTractor]

I could, I guess, add a tooth bar (great idea!), but this FEL doesn't have hydraulics to tilt the bucket. It has an old, mechanical drop handle. Because of that I don't think I could use a grapple.

But with a tooth bar, I could see it catching on the bottem stems much better. Thanks.

What is the size/power of your tractor and FEL? I was somehow assuming a tractor with a modern fairly powerful FEL when I suggested using the FEL to dig them out. I can get a bush the size that you describe out of the ground pretty quickly with my tractor but the tractor/FEL weighs about 5000lbs and has a breakout capacity of over 3000lbs. It would not be worthwhile trying to dig out a big bush with an FEL that had less than 1500lbs of breakout IMO. Also, I am not dealing with multiflora rose so I don't know exactly what sort of root structure they have. I don't have any trouble with thirty foot tall, six inch diameter choke cherry and as long as the FEL is strong enough a root grapple or even tooth bar can tear up the root system pretty quickly so you can knock the bush/tree over then push/lift it out of the ground.

 

[BarryinMN]

I cleared my place with a trailer style cutter and used a chain saw and woodchipper for the +3" stuff.

With steep slopes a heavy 3pt cutter needs a heavy tractor, mine weighs in at 10K lbs.

 

[scuvnut]

That is alot of mowing. I'd go with a heavy duty flail. You can knock down alot with that and it really pulverizes it. Heavy duty will help avoid many repairs. JMO