I need a bush hog and I will be lucky of I can get $600 for mine. I would rather get a new one that is medium priced, than to get someone else’s rusted old thing.
Do you all have opinions on low - mid priced brands?
The Tractor Supply Brand works well for us - I think it’s the King Kutter or something like that. Mid priced.
Don’t cheap out. A bushog takes a serious beating… never mean to but it happens. A broken gearbox is great at purchase, but expensive to replace. Clutch or shear bolt is a personal choice. Shear bolts are irritating but sure. A clutch can get frozen and worse than useless.
Look closely at the HP rating of the gearbox. higher is better Make sure it has a “stump jumper” a beveled disk under the blades that helps them ride over stuff that won’t cut.
Tough laminated tail wheels & Replaceable skids are also a must have for me.
Hosspuller - can you recommend brand names? I need to get a new one as well. I’ve never heard of a stump jumper. Currently waiting on new clutch plates so I can use mine John Deere rotary cutter 613) until I decided on a new one.
Bush Hog Squealer. Not the best Bush Hog, but damned good.
IMO and experience the average small horse farm owner really doesn’t need to spend a lot of money on these. I have never bought a new 6-8 footer, just used. There are not a lot of moving parts to worry about breaking and or wearing out. Other than obvious rust issues there are only basically 2 “moving parts” the PTO shaft and the gear box. I would bet the majority of companies that make and or put their name on them buy the gear box and PTO shafts “off the shelf” from a “generic” manufacture. So just about all have the same parts on them regardless of name and “color”.
When checking a used one out for my use and or friends the inspection if pretty simple. Check for rust issues on the deck, and more importantly around “structural supports”. Hook it up to a tractor lift and look/inspect everything under it. Make sure the swing arms aren’t bent and or are loose from wear. Pull, manipulate the shaft that the swing arms attach to making sure it has no “wobble” which may indicate the shaft baring is worn. Check the oil level and quality in the gear box. Run it up to speed and listen for any “noise” coming from the gear box and excess vibration. Unusual/excessive vibration may be coming from the swing arms/blades being out of balance to each other from uneven sharpening. These are cheap and easy to replace.
Check the PTO shaft to make sure it is not bent a little bit which makes it a real PITA to extent and hook to the tractor output shaft. When hook to the tractor grab the “collar” that the U-joint is in and twist checking for excess play which may indicate a worn U-joint. If it has a C-V type PTO this should be inspected carefully they are really expensive to fix and or replace with a new one. A regular “single jointed” PTO shaft can be bought “off the shelf” at very reasonable prices depending on the size at any farm supply like Tractor Supply. PTO shafts that have a “slip clutch” on them the "clutch can “freeze” from lack of use. Easily repaired/freed with basic hand tools.
So IMO if it is “priced right” and only has easily replaced issues I buy it. The majority that I have seen on the market have been used for general mowing so are not subjected to things that would “tear them up”. Mowing grass doesn’t put a lot of wear and tear on them. I just look around the farm and see what it was being used for. Most heavy duty “bush hogging” only has to be done once and then most people just maintain the “bushed hogged” area with regular mowing so heavy duty bushes, saplings etc never get a chance to re-establish big enough to “strain” the mower.
I don’t have a Caroni cutter, but do have a tractor tiller, and spreader. It’s the Agri-Supply store brand that’s made in Italy. I’ve used that 67" tiller behind a larger tractor than it was designed for, and way more than it probably ever was intended to be used ( did the whole cross country course), and I’ve never done anything to it other than replace worn out tines. Check to see if they have a cutter in the size you want.
I used to have a Caroni finish mower, but sold it. When I went to a 70hp tractor, I upsized the rotary cutter to a 7’. The seven footer is a little wider than the rear tires on the tractor, so it’s good for keeping the trails clipped.
I bought one with two tailwheels. I fabricated a door on the top at the back, so I can sharpen the blades with a nine inch side grinder. With sharp blades, and the dual tailwheels, it will cut just as pretty as the finish mower did, so I no longer had any need for the finish mower
It’s a heavy duty Hardee, and is robust enough to cut anything you can push over with it. The two tailwheels help a LOT on not scalping humps in the ground. I still tell people I do final grading with a bushog though.
I welded an ATV sprayer boom on the back. It’s only about five feet wide, but will spray a thirty foot wide swath. I mounted a forty gallon tank and pump permanently on the mower deck. Up beside the seat, I have a spray wand that I can flip a switch on, and spot spray a poke weed if I want to. I change a valve manually near the tank to use the boom.
It stays on that tractor the majority of the growing season, and will cut anything from a lawn to small saplings sprouting on the trails.
Mine is a Hardee 1084W. New they are 3600 now. I think I paid 28 for mine, but it’s been long enough ago that I don’t remember when that was. I was going to get the extra heavy duty 1184W,but there was too long of a lead time with none in stock. They did upgrade the gear head to the heaviest one, and it doesn’t even get warm.
I would like one with a domed deck. The only complaint about mine with a flat top is that it holds a LOT of weed seeds when I’m off cutting something off the farm. It might take me ten minutes to clean it enough to bring it back to our land.
[QUOTE=Nancy!;8100270]
Hosspuller - can you recommend brand names? I need to get a new one as well. I’ve never heard of a stump jumper. Currently waiting on new clutch plates so I can use mine John Deere rotary cutter 613) until I decided on a new one.[/QUOTE]
Like Tom King I have a Hardee bushog. It’s been used hard for 19 years. I noticed the 72 inch model I have is considered a 1100 series.
When I bought it, it was light duty. don’t recommend Hardee’s “economy & light duty” for long use.
A stump jumper is the round part, blades of your 613 cutter attach to. Deere calls it a “pan” It purpose is to allow the cutter to ride over a fixed object (like a stump) without damage. Without it, when the blade holder hits a stump, the whole works comes to a stop… kinda like putting a stick through a bicycle’s wheel. Bad things happen quickly.
