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Brush Hog

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TomJackson
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2003-09-19          64349

I have a JD 4500 with a JD 613 brush hog. With over 325 hours on it, the deck is pretty banged up from hitting rocks. I am thinking of upgrading to a heavier duty MX 5 or 6. Question: My tractor is 6 feet wide. Will the quality of mowing go down if I get a 5 foot deck instead of a 6 foot deck? That is, I will running over part of the field to be mowed.

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AC5ZO
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 928 Rio Rancho, NM 87144
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2003-09-19          64352

It should not matter much. With a rear mounted brush hog, you are running over brush/weeds before the cutter hits them anyway. That can leave lines in the brush the width of the wheels that pop back up in a couple of days, but generally the brush hog will even it out somewhat.

The main difference with the smaller width is that you are going to have to make 20% more passes to mow the same area and so you will also increase the amount of brush that you knock down rather than cleanly shear. If you find the quality of cut acceptable, now, you will probably find the quality acceptable with a slightly narrower brush hog also. ....

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2003-09-19          64358

Tom, no matter what size bush hog you have your tractor will run over the grass before you cut it, now with a smaller cutting deck you run over a portion of it twice before it gets cut, but in the greater scheme of things thats sort of moot, after all it is 'rough cutting' not a finished lawn where the appearance is quite so critical.

As for the beaten up deck ytou already have, I would talk to a local metal fabricating or welding shop and just have a new, much heavier, deck fabricated and swap over all the mechanicals and hitch mechanism.

Best of luck. ....

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F350Lawman
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 411 Goshen, NY
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2003-09-19          64368

I agree, I would just pound the deck back into shape and then weld some steel plates over it. You can see where the problem areas are so reinforce them. ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-09-20          64407

I guess it's field mowing rather than finish mowing and 'quality of cut' is from that perspective. A rotary mower tends to pull up grass the tires pack down as it goes over it. For a mower that's narrower than the wheels, there's always going to be a tire track outside the mower on the cut part but it shouldn't be much of an issue for field mowing. A mower narrower than the wheels would mean that you can't cut very close to things such as fences, which might be an issue.

Getting the old one banged into shape seems like a good idea. Stump-jumpers might keep cut down the number of times it gets banged in the future if it doesn't already have them. Just knowing a field real well also helps.
....

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Art White
Join Date: Jan 2000
Posts: 6898 Waterville New York
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2003-09-20          64408

Tom, unless the rocks are gone why ruin another deck? I would also spend a minute or two with the drive train before you start welding to make sure it is in good condition or easily repairable to not throw money away. It's not a matter of driving over it once before cutting with a five foot mower it's twice! You won't get it to stand up for the second time to cut. Go the width of the tractor or more. ....

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Peters
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 3034 Northern AL
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2003-09-20          64413

My experience is that it makes a difference in the cut. I had a 4 ft with a 750 JD and it certainly left uncut area even with turf tires. I leave no area uncut with the larger mower and ag tires. I am not sure I would go with a JD mower. You can easily get a heavier mower 5ft for 500-600. ....

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TomG
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 5406 Upper Ottawa Valley
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2003-09-21          64459

We're all saying about the same. As far as I know about the only reason for buying a cutter that doesn't cover the tire tracks is heavy-duty cutting. Most compacts don't have the HP to run heavy-duty cutters that are as wide as the tires in heavy brush. Certainly a narrow one is going to leave some grass that's not cut well even with overlaps. That may not be a problem if the idea is to just knock down weeds in a field.

I don't think I thought through how the deck was getting dented. I was thinking it's probably be big rocks that somehow are bashing the deck during turns or something. Doesn't seem too likely and I think it's small loose rocks that are flung by the blades. Art's point is well taken. If it's loose rocks banging the deck back to shape doesn't seem like a long-term solution, and something in the operation needs to change. Maybe less concern with appearance and just not cutting as close; different cutter setup; less float on the 3ph; removing the rocks--something. Maybe the problem is having a pasture and thinking of it as a lawn. It's not good to continue to operate in a way that's going to beat up any implement in a short time.
....

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austros
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 4 ON Canada
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2003-10-01          65207

I just bought a MX5 and I must say it is really great, does the heavy stuff no problem and still does a nice even cut. My MX5 works way better than my neighbors Woods and was a bit less to boot. ....

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2003-10-01          65220

Yeah, the MX5 is great. Mine impresses the heck out of me and the neighbors. ....

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