Brush Hog/Mower sizing

[FiremanKyle]

Got a 9N and a 2N(2N only with the Sherman transmission). Seeking to get a finish mower and Brush Hog. Was wondering what size I should go with. Got a 4' Brush Hog that's run behind the Farmall Super A, but thought I'd like to go a little bit bigger and wasn't sure if 6' is too big. I know the 4' Brush Hog Dad and I have taken down smaller trees (maybe 2" diameter) with a couple passes, since the A is offset and sits higher than the N's.
The one field we do is mostly grass (for the brush Hog once or twice a year), along with occasional branches that have fallen down. So granted with a 6', I am not looking to take down those sizeable trees, but what do other N users run for their mowing & Brush Hogging sizes?

 

[old]

Either one should handle a 6 foot brush hog. But be sure on the one with the Sherman that you don't have it in overdrive since that speeds up the PTO speed. You also want to have an ORC on the PTO so the brush hog doesn't push you 10 feet or so when you push the clutch down

 

[HarryVanderpool]

We have a 4' "MoHawk" brush hog and a 6' el-cheapo rotary mower.
Our 2N with a fresh, strong running motor will blaze through nasty brush and briars with little complaint with the Mohawk.
I bought the mower used in 1988 for $375.00 and have been happy since.
I suppose if one was merely cutting the grass on a ball field or keeping the airstrip tidy a much larger mower would work fine and save time.

 

[Ultradog MN]

This is a topic that has been discussed
here many times.
If there was a way to mine this site for
data and you could condense the several
hundred questions like yours and the
several thousand replies to it I am
guessing the advice would break down as
follows.
Buy a 4' 15%
Buy a 5' 78 %
Buy a 6' 7%

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley RIP]

A Rotary Mower is meant to cut heavy thick growth. It consists of a single blade, and most have the stump jumper function. That is that the blade will swing out of the way when/if an obstruction is encountered so the blade, and more importantly, gear box, arent damaged. A Finish Mower uses one or more fixed blades, and meant for lawn cutting.

The N Tractors will handle a 5' or 6' Rotary Mower (Brush Hog) and Finish Mower easily. When seeking a brand and model, be sure to get the 'stump jumper' feature on your brush hog. Not all hogs are created equal and not all retail outlets offer parts and service; you have to outsource to the manufacturer. FWIW & FYI, the name BUSH HOG is a registered brand name but today the term is used by many to describe every rotary mower/brush hog made. WOODS BROS has been around for decades and are a good reliable brand for a finishing mower choice. For use of both mowers I highly advise to also use a pair of STABILZER BRACKETS on the unit to the 3-PT. These will control mowing straight and prevent scalping on turns. Be sure you know how to set stabilizer brackets correctly. Mowing is best in 2nd Gear, at 7/8 Throttle. Use POSITION CONTROL to maintain your desired height setting. On the 9N/2N Models, since only DRAFT CONTROL is available, many use with a set of limiter check chains to maintain height setting. The aftermarket ZANE THANG and equivalent units that add Position Control to a 9N/2N work wonders. Id also advise to use an ORC when mowing. Forces are at work when mowing. You dont want to end up in a ditch or smashing into a fence, tree, or wifes car.
I'd also recommend getting a brush cutter that has the Stump-Jumper feature. Not all brands do. If a hidden object is obstructed, it will flip out of the way and not damage the blade. However, never just plunge into a field of tall overgrown grass that hasn't been mowed or plowed in years -you never know what may be hidden. Walk the area first to locate any hidden stumps, logs, rocks, boulders, car parts, stoves, refrigerators, or Jimmy Hoffa. ; > )

FORD 60 ROTARY CUTTER aka BUSH HOG:

FORD 8N w/STABILIZER BARS & WOODS FINISH MOWER:

Tim Daley(MI)

 

[zuhnc]

Wow! All this information from Tim The.... All to answer a simple question. Yes, the "search" function is somewhat flaky.
But, to answer your question, I have a 1951 8N and run a 5' Bush Hog (tm) rotary mower. It will cut most everything, including 3-4" unwanted trees, but it does not cut rock very well.
Lots of rock where I am. I can only take 1/2 pass through very heavy, dense pasture grass, but then the grass is 2' high.
I do need to sharpen the blades a little; hit quite a few rocks mowing the last few days.
Bush Hog (tm) is a REGISTERED TRADEMARK, and not a generic term. Use "slasher" or "rotary cutter" or something else, please. zuhnc

This post was edited by zuhnc on 07/03/2022 at 09:31 pm.

 

[Tim PloughNman Daley RIP]

Very thick, heavy fields you wish to hog down may require two or more trips. If possible do a walk thru of the area first to inspect for rocks, stumps, old cars, discarded refrigerators & stoves, Jimmy Hoffa, etc. prior to field work. You might have to run in 1st Gear at first and set your height half or more of your desired finish length. Ground speed will affect fuel consumption as well so more trips means more fuel. With oil & gas being at an unprecedented all-time high now due to gubment idiocy, it's your call.

Tim Daley(MI)

 

[Ultradog MN]

Lol,
Tim is thourough if nothing else. Gotta
give him credit for that as there are some
folks that you wonder if they should even
be on a tractor...
As for calling a rinky dink rotary mower a
Bush Hog I agree with you and have pointed
that out for years.
Of course if we're gonna be Bush Hog Snobs
then the cheaper BH Squealer or Razorback
lines likely won't 'cut it' either.
Here's a screen cap of the spec sheet from
an older 6' Bush Hog model 406.
At 1500 lbs, most of us couldn't lift the
thing. The 405 5' one is only a couple
hundred lbs less.

 

[Abbby]

If you are only mowing grass without rock or stump hazards I would recommend a 6' finish mower. I do not have one yet but I have a 5' Howse rotary mower. I have used this very hard for 15 years without issue. I think a 6' foot rotary in tall grass is a little too much for it. Now that my trails and fields are cleared of hazards I am looking to switch to a finish mower. The 5' brush hog will make the front end very light when lifted off the ground. Not an issue if all flat ground but something to keep in mind if you have hills.

 

[zuhnc]

Not a Bush Hog (tm) snob at all; just what I have, and it does a good job. Model 502. 40 acres. Parts are still available.
Became the owner of both the 8N and mower when I bought the house and property.
Any reputable brand would do just as well.
Yes, the front end of the 8N does get a little light when I lift the mower, I try to keep it on the ground .
I have too many rocks for a finish mower, I set the cut height about 7-8" for the horse pastures, and miss most of the rocks! zuhnc

 

[Ultradog MN]

I intended to write that tongue in cheek
but it didn't come out right.
I AM kind of a BH snob and always glad to
neet a fellow owner.
I had to add a couple hundred lbs to the
front of my tractor in order to steer it.
My BH 406.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

Here is some pictures of the 4' Mohawk:

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listing/auction-results/196155171/mohawk-407-rotary-mowers-hay-and-forage-equipment

One design feature that is a MUST on a rotary mower is good solid bracing for the gear box.
Both the Brush Hog and our old Mohawk have a solid framework for the gearbox with radial members to all four corners.
Compare that to the picture of the Ford mower Tim posted.
The gear box is just bolted through a hole on sheet metal as it is often in el-cheapo, farm store brands.
The first time you hit something really solid, the gearbox will twist and your mower deck is sprung, never to mow level again.

 

[Mad Farmer]

(quoted from post at 15:36:29 07/02/22) Got a 9N and a 2N(2N only with the Sherman transmission). Seeking to get a finish mower and Brush Hog. Was wondering what size I should go with. Got a 4' Brush Hog that's run behind the Farmall Super A, but thought I'd like to go a little bit bigger and wasn't sure if 6' is too big. I know the 4' Brush Hog Dad and I have taken down smaller trees (maybe 2" diameter) with a couple passes, since the A is offset and sits higher than the N's.
The one field we do is mostly grass (for the brush Hog once or twice a year), along with occasional branches that have fallen down. So granted with a 6', I am not looking to take down those sizeable trees, but what do other N users run for their mowing & Brush Hogging sizes?

Been really happy with a 5' Howse for 40 years now.

Get a ORC and grease that and the drive shaft every time you run it. Whole drive is original on mine. I do ~15 acres 3X a year. I've had to weld a few spots but it's still cutting.

 

[Ultradog MN]

Harry,
In defense of Ford and their early rotary
cutters...
I read some years ago that Ford was a
pioneer in building stalk choppers. They
were used to chop down corn stalks after a
corn picker harvested the dry ear corn and
left the plants mostly still standing.
Grinding up the stalks made them rot down
quicker and helped a lot to prevent long
stalks from plugging up plows. Early rotary
mowers did not have a stump jumper as we
know them today. That innovation came later
as more people began using their stalk
choppers to cut brush and mow rough areas.
I had an early Red Ford rotary mower that
just had a T bar with two swinging blades
at the ends.
I bought it just for the 3 point frame. The
rest went to scrap. And I believe CaryC has
an early Woods? rotary mower that did not
have the stump jumper though he was able to
find one and add it to his mower. Maybe he
will weigh in on that.
Anyway, with just a T bar the stalk
choppers did not have nearly the inertia of
a modern rotary cutter with its heavy round
stump jumper. But if you hit a stump or
rock with one it would wreak a lot of havoc
on the mower. For normal field use however
you were less likely to hit a heavy
obstacle and the entire machine did not
need to be so stoutly built.
The mower Tim Daley showed was likely a
stalk chopper with no stump jumper so was
was not very heavily built.

 

[HarryVanderpool]

I wasn't running Ford down and certainly not picking on brother Daley. I was just pointing to his picture as an example of what is commonly found on some of today's budget mowers.
A gearbox bolted to a lasered out hole on 11-gauge sheet steel.
As you said; not all mowers are Brush Hogs. If someone buys a flimsy mower and uses it for it's intended use, no problem.
But if they are thinking it's a Brush Hog.......... :shock:
Our Mohawk 407 has been in regular, heavy-duty use and abuse for 34 years and was used when we got it.
Couldn't be happier!

 

[zuhnc]

I have no idea how old mine is. I had to replace most of the deck, use a rosebud torch and a BFH (14#) to straighten the sides and front edge. I have mowed 4-5" cedar logs and trunks, and got it stuck in the pond. Keeps on working, as does the 8N. Probably more abuse at times than care. I do keep everything lubricated.

[/img]

#1 - stuck in the pond, #2 - After repair and painting, #3 - 8N and mower. zuhnc


This post was edited by zuhnc on 07/04/2022 at 08:41 pm.

 

[Eman85]

my 2 cents worth. I bought a King Cutter that was very lightly used when I bought it for a couple of hundred dollars. I worked it like a rented mule and broke it pretty good a few times, threw the stump jumper and blades completely off of it once. Only lasted about 30 years of abuse. KK are common so I found another for a hundred that needed some work and a rear wheel. Took my parts and made a good cutter and sold my old stump jumper with blades and then the gearbox for more than I have for the original cutter.
5ft. works good for me and buy what's in your price range and available in your area for parts. TSC and Rural King carry KK parts as well as countless suppliers online and at ebay. Bush Hog brand is top shelf and one of the factories was near me but you don't see many around due to cost.

 

[ajhbike]

I use a 6ft Corsicana tow behind and the truck tires on it and set so there isn't much tongue weight and I ALWAYS us an ORC. I use it on the 8N, TO35 and Super C without problem.

 

[ajhbike]

BTW, I paid $200 for it and $400 for a Woods Cadet 72 tow behind. Look for a decent deck (you won't find perfect), a solid non leaking gearbox. If it is jumping around there is something wrong with it.

Up here in the NE I have seen used rotary cutters double in price in the last 2 years

 

[FiremanKyle]

Wow, Not running that, that is a Cat II & III.
Bush Hog 406 spec page

 

[lastcowboy32]

We run a 2N.

We have a 5' finish mower (Befco C50-RD5) It is a nice, heavy built finish mower. It has three blade turrets and lets the clippings flow out the back through a chain curtain. This design is about as easy as any finish mower to run, since sweeping all of the clippings out to the side tends to ball the clippings up under the deck.

With the finish mower, it's not the width of the deck... it's the height and thickness of what you're cutting. If the grass is thick, wet, cloggy and about a foot tall... the 2N will strain and run hot.

If you are doing your weekly trim, the tractor doesn't even feel it.

You could easily run a 6' finish mower to do light trimming. If you let your grass go for a month or so and then try to drop that 6' finish mower into it, especially if it's a side discharge... you will experience problems, either with the mower or tractor or both.

You will have to think about the weight of the finish mower... especially if it's a heavy built one, like the Befco. Our five foot Befco makes the front of the 2N light when you lift it.

Bush hogs? One time... and one time only... I ran a 7' Bush Hog with our 2N... but that was through clover that was maybe a foot tall and dry. It strained to lift it. The front tires teetered on the ground. It strained to start it up. Once that big old 7' flail blade (previous posters call this the "stump jumper" got spinning? No problem. When I shut the PTO off, it coasted for darn near 15 seconds...just think about what that would do if you didn't have an over-running clutch... you would need about 15seconds of "runaway tractor escape path" to drive the tractor into while that seven foot blade gives up its momentum. Unless you drop it into a nice thick patch of weeds.

When you talk about sizing the bush hog, you mix two different metrics.

You talk about cutting 2" scrubby saplings and such. I'm here to tell you that a Ford 2N has enough power to cut one 2" sapling going under a bush hog all day long. Even a few of them. A couple of saplings are nothing to a big old flailing blade under a bush hog, once it's up to speed.

The diameter of a sapling that you cut with a bush hog has very, very little to do with the width of bush hog that a tractor will handle.

It's the mass of the material under the bush hog that matters.

If you hook a six foot bush hog up to a Ford 2N and drive over a couple of 2" saplings, it won't even know it.

If you take that same six foot brush hog and drop it into a field of shoulder tall, dense, hay? Forget it. Oh...maybe it will run it for a while, but a 2N is a 20horsepower driveline... something will give... the engine will heat, you'll put excess wear on the PTO drivetrain... the clutch... something.

A four foot bush hog has less than 1/2 of the material under the deck at any given time, compared to a six foot. It has about 2/3 of the material under the deck at any given time compared to a five foot.

So... what size bush hog? 4 foot, if you expect to cut dense, tall weeds or hay. 5 foot, if you expect to cut something less dense and tall.

I think that 6 or 7 foot bush hogs, especially heavy duty ones... are just plain too big and heavy for a 2N to safely handle...