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Got to play with a 5' Brush mower today

JimR

JimR

Charter Member
I borrowed the neighbors 5 foot Ford brush mower today to try it out on my Cub. I can honestly say that this piece of equipment should be stored indoors. The slip clutch was stuck, rusted and slipped like crazy. The swivel wheel in the back was frozen and wouldn't turn sideways. Lord only knows when this unit was used last. It took a few hours of soaking and beating to get it all apart and freed up. I also replaced the two u-joints on the PTO shaft. Then it was play time. I headed up into my 36 acre woodlot and had a blast with this unit for almost an hour before the bolt that holds the swingblades on snapped and dropped the cutters on the ground. My woods that I did manage to turn into brush free land looks wonderful now. I gotta find a way to swap this out from the neighbors. I didn't think my 27hp tractor was big enough for this size deck. I didn't have any problems at all running this over 2" trees and whatever else it could beat the daylights out of. Does anyone know how tight the adjustment nut is supposed to be on the slip clutch? It has a three plate design with two friction clutch discs. There are two cone typ spring washers and there is a big nut to tighten it all up. The slip clutch does slip when I hit something to big like a rock, hidden stump or a log. I just don't want to ruin this unit as it is not mine. Tomorrow will be more fun for me once I put the blades back on the shaft. :a1: :a1:
 
Jim,

I just sold my 5 ft Brush Hog only because I bought a 5 foot Flail Mower that I like better. My Mahindra 2615 (essentially the same tractor as yours) handled the 5 footer no problem. It would bog down a little in really tall thick stuff but in general it worked fine. I think the weight of the tractor is important with the big brush hogs and the Mitsubishi tractor is pretty heavy for its size.
 
I use a 4' Rhino brush mower with my TC18 which has about 15 PTO hosepower. It handles brush to 2" and most grass nwithout bogging, but some of the really fast growing, thick Florida field grass can bog it down almost to a stall, even when it's only a foot or so high.

I don't have a slip clutch. When we first got the unit, we broke so many shear bolts, so quickly, that my son-in-law got mad and stuck a grade 8 bolt in there without telling me. Surprisingly, it worked. We no longer break bolts when hitting something that will yield, but when we whang a rock or a stump, the Rhino drivetrain is stronger than the grade 8 bolt, and the bolt shears. It's just about perfect. We've used it that way for over 3 years and about 400 of the 1000 hours I have on the tractor.

When his garden tractor acts up, we even use the brush mower for a finish mower. It's never going to look like a golf course, but it looks groomed from the highway as folks go by about 70 mph...:whistle:
 
JimR said:
The slip clutch does slip when I hit something to big like a rock, hidden stump or a log. I just don't want to ruin this unit as it is not mine.
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After all the time and work you have put into it, it should be yours. Maybe your neighbor will sell it to you cheap.
Bonehead
 
Most slip clutches are set by the distance between the nut and the outer casing of the slip clutch. I may be off, but I think that for a 40hp setting there should be about 9 or 10mm between the nut and the case. In other words, there should be about 9 or 10mm of spring length on each stud. Most 5' rotary cutters have a 40 hp gearbox from what I've seen. I think 6mm is the setting for 50 hp, or somewhere close to that.
 
Dargo, This Brush cutter has two convex washers for springs and a large nut on the shaft to tighten up the pressure. Today I cranked it up another hal turn and it seems to be working fine now. I mowed about 2-3 acres of their property today with it without any problems other than sinking my tractor in mud twice. I had to dump the cutter and use the bucket to pull myself out. I used chains to pull the mower out of the mud afterwards. Damn rain we had has made everything like mush around here again.
 
Here's a before and after of part of our 36 acre woodlot. I love using a brush mower.
 

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PBinWA said:
Jim,

I just sold my 5 ft Brush Hog only because I bought a 5 foot Flail Mower that I like better. My Mahindra 2615 (essentially the same tractor as yours) handled the 5 footer no problem. It would bog down a little in really tall thick stuff but in general it worked fine. I think the weight of the tractor is important with the big brush hogs and the Mitsubishi tractor is pretty heavy for its size.
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PB, Can a Flail Mower take down small trees and brush?????
 
JimR said:
PB, Can a Flail Mower take down small trees and brush?????
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Heavy duty flail mowers with "axe" blades can mow down just about anything but they are expensive. They are used by the county around here to clean the sides of roads and I've seen them chip up small trees.

My flail is pretty light duty. I've already mowed down all the big stuff on my property so it is just maintenance mowing now. I have "finish" cut blades on mine so it can give a nice cut to the fields when I mow them and I can use it on my lawn if it gets too long and thick to mow with the regular mower.

Flail mowers seem to cost a lot more than a brush hog too.
 
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