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Equipment
B7510 & LA302 FEL & B2782 blower, B7510 & B2781 blower, B2410 & B2550 blower
Last winter I purchased a used Pioneer (John Deere) RC2048 rotary cutter (bush hog) to run behind the B7510s.
The circumstances surrounding the purchase (blinding snowstorm that arrived as I pulled into the vendor's lane) prevented a thorough pre-buy inspection. I know, caveat emptor. Nonetheless, I figured a rotary cutter that still had all its paint, including on its underside, had seen little use and should have many years of life left in it.
This particular unit has a slip clutch and is equipped with safety chains front and rear as well as the laminated solid rubber rear wheel, thus making it the "top of the line" for this model.
When I recently got around to preparing the rotary cutter for field work I got a bit of a surprise. The rear wheel was sloppy on its axle. Disassembly revealed that one of the two bushings that provide the bearing surface between the axle and wheel was gone. I mean completely GONE, like it had never been there. There was no trace of it whatsoever. Fortunately the wheel itself didn't appear to have taken any damage.
I ordered new axle bushings and at the same time asked whether the rear wheel pivot point had bushings since this also appeared to be a little loose. Sure enough, the dealer was able to order two bags of two bushings each, a pair for the axle and a pair for the pivot. A HUNDRED BUCKS LATER
I had them in hand (note: one bushing pair was made in China, the other in India). The new axle bushing pressed in quite nicely. A thorough examination of the pivot point revealed that this is just a piece of steel tube welded up with no bushings inside it and not enough wall thickness in the steel tube to ever permit bushings to be used. I have little hope this pivot will provide long-term durability. It takes a beating back there and should have bushings that can be replaced as wear items. I don't know where the J-D dealership found the part number for the bushings they sold me, because there clearly is no means to install them in this cutter. They'll be going back to the dealer later today.
That fairly thin tube wall in the pivot mount also means Pioneer has compromised the ability to install a grease fitting in the tube. They could have welded a short piece of pipe onto the tube in order to make a place to install a standard grease fitting. Instead they opted to tap the tube wall and thread in an incredibly short grease fitting. It pulled out the first time I greased it. I was not impressed.
Speaking of grease... the PTO shaft universal joints cannot be greased with the PTO shaft attached to the tractor. The plastic safety shields on the shaft and gearbox prevent getting a gun on the grease nipple. One has to disconnect the shaft and angle it fully to the left side of the machine in order to get a grease gun on the nipple through the factory-made hole in the plastic safety shield. Also note the large spring ball detent ring that holds the PTO shaft on the tractor end is quite large, making it a challenge to get the shaft installed within the confines of the PTO shaft guard on the Kubota B7510.
The blades on this rotary cutter are clearly designed and intended for use in grass (I don't know if other styles of blades are available). They are not hugely thick "brush busting clubs" but rather are relatively thin with up-turned rear edges to create "lift" to do a better job of cutting grass. They do indeed perform fairly well on grass which is likely how most folks will use this model of cutter. I would not use them for cutting up larger brush or in stony ground as they will not last. The deck has troubles clearing itself of grass cuttings if one is cutting hay-length material. So far I've cut about 1.5 acres of hay that was at full height - many times I had to back up to chop up a big wad of hay that had balled up under the machine. I've also cut about 1.5 acres of "second cut" hay, stuff that was in the 8-10" height range. The cutter did a much better job on this material. It will cut down very close to the ground, perhaps to 2" or so. The finish is quite good if one moves at a pace that allows the machine to actually cut rather than just push the grass down. It will never be a true "mowing deck" in terms of cut quality but it's cut quality is certainly better than any of the rotary cutters I've previously used.
The cutter runs very smoothly and is quiet. The rear wheel can be adjusted to support multiple cutting heights. The front and rear safety chains work well. The front skid shoes would be much more functional if they were twice as wide as they are; the front corner will dig into uneven soil quite readily. When this happens we get to see the "tip up" feature of the 3 pt hitch in action and it does work very well.
All in all, this is a decent cutter, but certainly not worthy of the John Deere name, especially at the premium price J-D wants for a new unit. For that kind of money one would be better off getting a truly heavy-duty unit from Buhler or similar. The Pioneer RC2048 cuts well enough and is a good size pairing for the B7510's 21 engine HP. It is not a heavy-duty machine suitable for cutting heavy brush.
I hope this info proves useful to forum members who might be shopping for a rotary cutter.
The circumstances surrounding the purchase (blinding snowstorm that arrived as I pulled into the vendor's lane) prevented a thorough pre-buy inspection. I know, caveat emptor. Nonetheless, I figured a rotary cutter that still had all its paint, including on its underside, had seen little use and should have many years of life left in it.
This particular unit has a slip clutch and is equipped with safety chains front and rear as well as the laminated solid rubber rear wheel, thus making it the "top of the line" for this model.
When I recently got around to preparing the rotary cutter for field work I got a bit of a surprise. The rear wheel was sloppy on its axle. Disassembly revealed that one of the two bushings that provide the bearing surface between the axle and wheel was gone. I mean completely GONE, like it had never been there. There was no trace of it whatsoever. Fortunately the wheel itself didn't appear to have taken any damage.
I ordered new axle bushings and at the same time asked whether the rear wheel pivot point had bushings since this also appeared to be a little loose. Sure enough, the dealer was able to order two bags of two bushings each, a pair for the axle and a pair for the pivot. A HUNDRED BUCKS LATER
I had them in hand (note: one bushing pair was made in China, the other in India). The new axle bushing pressed in quite nicely. A thorough examination of the pivot point revealed that this is just a piece of steel tube welded up with no bushings inside it and not enough wall thickness in the steel tube to ever permit bushings to be used. I have little hope this pivot will provide long-term durability. It takes a beating back there and should have bushings that can be replaced as wear items. I don't know where the J-D dealership found the part number for the bushings they sold me, because there clearly is no means to install them in this cutter. They'll be going back to the dealer later today. That fairly thin tube wall in the pivot mount also means Pioneer has compromised the ability to install a grease fitting in the tube. They could have welded a short piece of pipe onto the tube in order to make a place to install a standard grease fitting. Instead they opted to tap the tube wall and thread in an incredibly short grease fitting. It pulled out the first time I greased it. I was not impressed.
Speaking of grease... the PTO shaft universal joints cannot be greased with the PTO shaft attached to the tractor. The plastic safety shields on the shaft and gearbox prevent getting a gun on the grease nipple. One has to disconnect the shaft and angle it fully to the left side of the machine in order to get a grease gun on the nipple through the factory-made hole in the plastic safety shield. Also note the large spring ball detent ring that holds the PTO shaft on the tractor end is quite large, making it a challenge to get the shaft installed within the confines of the PTO shaft guard on the Kubota B7510.
The blades on this rotary cutter are clearly designed and intended for use in grass (I don't know if other styles of blades are available). They are not hugely thick "brush busting clubs" but rather are relatively thin with up-turned rear edges to create "lift" to do a better job of cutting grass. They do indeed perform fairly well on grass which is likely how most folks will use this model of cutter. I would not use them for cutting up larger brush or in stony ground as they will not last. The deck has troubles clearing itself of grass cuttings if one is cutting hay-length material. So far I've cut about 1.5 acres of hay that was at full height - many times I had to back up to chop up a big wad of hay that had balled up under the machine. I've also cut about 1.5 acres of "second cut" hay, stuff that was in the 8-10" height range. The cutter did a much better job on this material. It will cut down very close to the ground, perhaps to 2" or so. The finish is quite good if one moves at a pace that allows the machine to actually cut rather than just push the grass down. It will never be a true "mowing deck" in terms of cut quality but it's cut quality is certainly better than any of the rotary cutters I've previously used.
The cutter runs very smoothly and is quiet. The rear wheel can be adjusted to support multiple cutting heights. The front and rear safety chains work well. The front skid shoes would be much more functional if they were twice as wide as they are; the front corner will dig into uneven soil quite readily. When this happens we get to see the "tip up" feature of the 3 pt hitch in action and it does work very well.
All in all, this is a decent cutter, but certainly not worthy of the John Deere name, especially at the premium price J-D wants for a new unit. For that kind of money one would be better off getting a truly heavy-duty unit from Buhler or similar. The Pioneer RC2048 cuts well enough and is a good size pairing for the B7510's 21 engine HP. It is not a heavy-duty machine suitable for cutting heavy brush.
I hope this info proves useful to forum members who might be shopping for a rotary cutter.
