Brush Cutters
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Forum Name: Shops, Barns, Varmints, and Trucks
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URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=196576
Printed Date: 24 Apr 2025 at 2:10am
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Topic: Brush Cutters
Posted By: Tbone95
Subject: Brush Cutters
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 12:06pm
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Hey all. Looking for something that does a good job of maintaining fence rows and ditches and stuff. Needs to handle brush, like 2 inch or so. Do the flail mowers hold up to this? Been doing a lot of looking, some say they handle 2 inch brush and have hammer flails and grass flails. But the 3 minute video only shows mowing ditch grass. How exciting. I want something built decent, don’t mind paying some extra for durability. MUST tow offset to the tractor, brush hog type or belly mower won’t do. Doesn’t have to be real wide as long as it sticks out offset. Just looking for suggestions hopefully something you have a few good years experience with. |
Replies:
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 6:06pm
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Once you get to 2" diameter, flails fail to cut them off, leave a sharp splinter sticking straight up... You'd be better off with an off-set 10' bush hog, if you have the tractor to pull it... Image below is for reference...  https://www.gavelroads.com/auctions/6948/lot/4948-brush-hog-10-offset-brush-mower-attachment" rel="nofollow - https://www.gavelroads.com/auctions/6948/lot/4948-brush-hog-10-offset-brush-mower-attachment ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |
Posted By: Codger
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 6:23pm
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Those offset rotary cutters are very hard on the back end of the tractor from the twist they impart. We've seen two busted off requiring rear housing replacement on the tractor(s). I would seriously look at a "Batwing" style mower myself. They can be had and operated with only one wing attached, or operated depending on how it's set up.
------------- That's All Folks! |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 7:26pm
I thought of that, but can a bat wing handle brush? 2 inch is just a guess/ example. How big does a flail type do a decent job on? I’ll be using at least 70 Hp. Have bigger choices available if necessary. |
Codger wrote:Posted By: Codger
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 8:09pm
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A "good" batwing mower will really have no problems. Woods, Rhino, Schultz, and a couple others, (names escape me) build very robust units. They are heavy, and cost a lot, but you get what you pay for in these. Woods is one they sell and they really give little problems if kept up on maintenance meaning greased pto shafts, spindles, and universal joints, along with the gearbox lubricant maintained. I've seen these ordered with a six foot wing on one side, and a four foot wing on the other, and a wing on one side and a blanking plate on the other also. ------------- That's All Folks! |
Posted By: DaveKamp
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2023 at 10:24pm
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I agree with Dave on the flail's effectiveness. IF you have a horizontal drum type flail, and come up on that 2" brush, you basically hafta park the drum against the trunk, let it chew on it 'till it bends over, then creep atop it, and let it grind some more. I have a bush-hog with swinging blades, and it'll whack 2" brush if I ease in, but like anything else, if the trunk is against the deck in such a way that the blade can't reach out and touch it, it's just gonna hang you up. It isn't the FASTEST solution, but I made a rack for the side of my D17, it has 2 chainsaw scabbards, pocket for gas can and bar oil... and a securing saddle for my old Stihl FS80 brushcutter... and the brushcutter has about a 10" carbide-tooth circular saw brush blade on it. Finally, the rack has a spot for a bottle of Tordon RTU. What I'll do, is use the bushhog to mow a pass along the fenceline to make it easy walking, then walk the path with either the brushcutter or chainsaw, and cut out the crap low to the ground, and put a few drops of Tordon on each stump. Then I toss the brush out towards the mowed path, make a close pass along the fenceline and come back over it with the bushhog, shred it up a bit. It's crude, but works.
 Tordon does a good job at keeping the crud from sprouting.------------- Ten Amendments, Ten Commandments, and one Golden Rule solve most every problem. Citrus hand-cleaner with Pumice does the rest. |
Posted By: Dakota Dave
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 12:03am
| I mow with a 15’ woods it has one wing and is offset to the right the left edge is between the rear tire tracks and the right edge sticks out 8’ past the right tire. It will mow 3 to 4” Russian olive. 2” anything is easy. The swinging blades are just shy of 3/4” thick. I can mow 10’ tall cattails in one pass. You do need a large tractor. CIH 8910 works the best at 170 horse it works great. When I,be down sized to 130 horse 1086 I need to slow considerably or cut it twice. |
Posted By: shameless dude
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 1:06am
| I bought a rotary swing blade cutter from a farm impl dealer years ago, ws a real heavy duty on and had new blades (about 3/4 inch thick) and I used it like you want to. it did a good job for many years and lots of miles, but prepare for alot of jumping and jerking, pulled with my 190XT, and have had to have the frame re-welded a few times. but the rest held together. there is no visable name on it anywhere, and the dealer had no idea what brand it was either. best way is to precut the trees then go in and mow down the rest. maybe there is something on a forrestry site? |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 7:21am
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Just for reference, I currently use either the biggest or second biggest DR Field and Brush mower they make. Not a “trimmer”, the walk behind brush hog. It’s rated for 3 inch diameter and it’ll do it. The thing is an amazing beast. The diameter rating basically boils down if you can lean it over it’ll cut it. I only have 1 complaint about the DR. There is basically no offset or at least very little between the edge of the deck and your hands. So if you’re walking close to the fence, the whole point of it, and the left wheel goes into a hole or the right wheel goes over a bump it throws your left hand and arm into the fence. With barb wire that kinda hurts. To complicate things, your left hand is what is on the operator presence switch and the wheel drive clutch. The clutch works “backwards” so to speak, you squeeze it to go. So it happens from time to time if your hand goes into the fence just right, it traps your hand and you can’t let go so it keeps driving into the fence escalating the issue rather quickly. The only option at that point is to reach over and turn the switch off with your right hand. Which I’ve gotten pretty fast at! The current method is mow sort of close to both sides of the fence with the DR. Then I use a weed whacker with a steel grass blade , then pruners and chainsaw to get the stuff that’s a little bigger or weaved into the fence or really close to posts or whatever. I figure whatever I buy to run with a tractor is still going to require a trip on foot to clean up. It also seems it wouldn’t take much of a tractor implement to equal my DR. I don’t want to cut very wide, often one side of the fence is a hay or crop field. If I make this trimming trip annually, there’s not going to be much big stuff. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 7:26am
| I’ve thought and designed in my head a way to move the handle bars and controls over to the right some. Looks reasonably doable. Just takes the precious commodity of time. |
Posted By: plummerscarin
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 12:05pm
| I pull a Swisher 4ft rough cut mower behind my ATV. Has a double jointed swinging tongue to offset for fence rows. There is a guard in front of the tires to push the mower over when it runs in to fence posts. You’d still have to follow up with a string trimmer depending on how clean you want it to be. I go along the edge of a corn field with it also. I’ve had it some 10 years or so and it has never given me trouble short of replacing a belt now and then |
Posted By: Coke-in-MN
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 4:00pm
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Flail type doesn't do as good of a job as rotary swing blade . Seems a lot of the brush cutter designs have the blade tips outside the deck cover so end of blade contacts brush before its under deck . Looking at a lot of units used on skid loaders one sees where front mount works well for many jobs , in fact they now have them that tilt and can be used at 90 Deg to land for trimming tree branches ------------- Faith isn't a jump in the dark. It is a walk in the light. Faith is not guessing; it is knowing something. "Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 5:03pm
DR also makes a fenceline mower, self powered, pull with an ATV. Or 3 point mounted PTO From what I've heard, don't waste your time/ money! However, it might be a good starting point/pattern to make one! https://youtu.be/EePQH8oMga4" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/EePQH8oMga4 ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |
Posted By: plummerscarin
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 7:36pm
| Well it might be fine all you're doing is cutting tall grass. |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2023 at 8:45pm
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We used to use an old gravely 30" walk behind, with a sulky, on the fences, but then there's that whole squarshed nuts thing... ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |
Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 6:02am
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This just popped up in my YT feed... https://youtu.be/qmeCNvQ8f5Q" rel="nofollow - https://youtu.be/qmeCNvQ8f5Q ------------- Source: Babylon Bee. Sponsored by BRAWNDO, its got what you need! |
Posted By: Codger
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 6:56am
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I don't mow fence rows but I can see that being a problem first time it snaps off a soft post and wraps the fencing up in the tractor or operator. ------------- That's All Folks! |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 8:03am
We had something like that. As I recall it was more of a string trimmer than a mower. But I’m pretty sure it was made by Swisher. It needed some sort of better contour following, seems it was either digging or too high all the time the way it pivoted over the ground. We put a 6x6 between the axle and mower to keep it from digging all the time. The fence post guide / slide part was good. I foresee the same problem with the DR that you tow with a ATV. Too bad to hear DR sucks now. Mine is like 17 or 18 years old and it’s been great and used a lot. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 8:06am
NOT just cutting grass! Autumn Olives, vines, box elder saplings, whatever else pops up. Lots of grass, but not only grass. |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 8:11am
It’s a hard job no doubt. Usually plenty hot and humid when I get around to doing it. The DR is self propelled but still requires a lot of effort to control. To do a good job on all of it is over 2 miles. A tank of gas won’t last, so have to either stage gas cans or walk even more. Then walk it again with the weed trimmer and different gas! Fun times |
Posted By: Tbone95
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 8:17am
That looks pretty good! |
Posted By: plummerscarin
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2023 at 9:17am
| I might abandon the Swisher for that |