Brushhog Not Cutting Right

[Anonymous-0]

I bought this used brush hog from a guy over next to me. Actually bought a few implements from him, and he threw in the brush hog. Anyways, I tried it out yesterday, and one side cuts very nice, the other side, looks like its just laying it over and whacking it off, not a clean cut at all. Its hard to describe really. I have looked at the blades and they appear to be in in good conidition, not the greatest but good enough, not warped or bent.I have also checked for side to side level, and its tilted up in the back like I have done before on my other brushhog, in fact the blades on my other one are in worse shape than these and it cuts better. Ground speed doesnt seem to matter, but it does help.(Im pulling it with my old Farmall M with 3pt hitch)Any ideas as to why it does this? By the way, this is a 3pt hitch cutter, not sure who made it, 6ft cut. (So is my other one.)I know I wont get a lawnmower cut with it, just thought it should do better than it is, maybe I missed something??

 

[Doug in Illinois]

I assume it must be at least 2 sets of blades.

The first thing I would check is blade rotation. Sounds like you are possibly trying to cut with the back side of the blade. He may have replaced with 1 set going the wrong way, instead of one RH and one LH.

It might have a shaft slipping, but not likely.

 

[Deere Scotty]

I have a few Questions?
1) Which way do the blades rotate? CCW (counter Clockwise), or CW (clockwise).
2) Is the cutting edge of the blades facing the right direction depending on CCW, or CW?
3) Do You have suction blades on both mowers, one, or neither of them?

The material the rear tire ran over on the last pass should cut going the same direction as the last pass. If You have a good suction blade to pull downed material up, that really helps. If You have a double edged flat blade... Those are the worst available! They pull air up on the front of the blade, & pull it back down on the backside of the blade. It drops cut material to the ground flat like You say without really mulching it. This has been my experience.

ABOUT THE CCW, CW! I have a JD 709 that has CCW cut. About 15 years ago , some bored engineers decided to take the best cutter in the industry , & change it to CW. It apparently didn't work out; because 3 years later they went back to CCW. If You don't know or realize this. Someone could have put a replacement blade on the mower with the cutting edge backwards. Only You know which way the blades spin. Also the design of the rear will determine how the material is cut. A tapered back is going to throw out material faster than one with sidewall near the ground all the way around since the material cant be discharged as easy!

Hope this helps at least narrow down the problems!

 

[souNdguy]

is this a finish mower with 2 independent blade sets. or a regular 5' rough mower with a stump jumper and blade stickeing out 180' apart. if the latter.. there is soemthing weird going on as it should cut all the way around as the blade makes the entire circut.

if 2 blades. check to see if 1 hub is not stripped and free wheeling.. or even belted up wrong and running backwards.

 

[T.C. in Tx]

You may want to verify that the blades are the same height from the underside of the deck on each side. The reason I say that is my shredder had a break on the support near the gearbox and it let one side sag down. Result--uneven cut like you are describing.

 

[Hay hay hay]

Please tell us when and how you solve this puzzle.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Thanks for the replies so far. This is not a finish mower. There is just the one long blade with the ends that can be replaced. (Sorry for not being technical!) Its a 6ft, brand unknown 3pt hitch CCW rotation. Its not that one side is higher than the other making a slanted cut. Its almost like waht gets cut on one side is slung over to the other side, and because that side is now loaded up with extra cuttings, its not cutting as clean as the other side. In fact, on that side, in thicker material, you can almost see how the blade has just pushed the grass down in the direction of cut. I am almost wanting to say the previous owner, or someone else, put the wrong gear box on it at one time, and its not spinning ast enough or something. The gear box on this one is smaller than my other brushhog. I wish I could post pics from my work computer to show you guys what Im talking about, but company restrictions wont let me upload them to the computer. Mine at home is in the shop. Either way, if I/we cant fiqure this out, its no loss to me, as I said he threw it in, and I was hoping to resell it.

 

[ben there]

i bought a Continental back in the early 90's i had a similar problem with...there wasn't much of a exhaust opening for cuttings to get out of,just a little slant on back plate...it was loading up with cuttings so i cut out a larger opening similar to the older Sabre i had replaced...cuts like a dream now.

 

[Longmeadow farm]

If you have lift blades and they have an "edge" on them then it should cut Ok. A CCW machine requires you to cut left to right. By doing so your blades rotate against/opposite the direction of travel. Grass that has been pushed down buy the tractor's rear wheels cannot be cut cleanly unless your bushhog blades are traveling opposite to the direction of travel. Some tips I have learned over the years clipping my pastures ( I rotational graze and have to clip the waste at least once per year on 100+ acres of pasture). make sure your blades have an "edge" on them. tilt the rear of the bushhog up a couple of inches or more to "clear" the cut debris. Cut left to right. And make sure you run the machine at 540 pto speed and keep the tractor ground speed between 3 & 3.5 MPH. My friends and neighbors think I cut my pastures with a sickle and often ask where is the debris... ????

 

[Russ from MN]

Is the slip clutch slipping? Sounds like it's not turning fast enough.