Rotary cutter options

[mcmxi]

MCMXI your scenery is beautiful.

Thanks ... but not really. The problem with living up here is having friends with backyards like this. I'll be cutting his field next weekend.

 

[Whatscooking]

Couple years ago i flew into Missoula with my sons. Went directly across the road from the airport to the Harley dealer and got on a bike and headed up to Glacier National Park. Drove into the park then exited out the west. Took the new 3000 mile Harley up a gravel road ten miles to Polebridge for a Bearclaw then back out and up another 10 miles of gravel to a half million doller cabin we had rented for a week, was just a few more miles to Canada. Drove through the park a couple of times, the road in the beginning of the movie the Shining. Beautiful amazing beautiful. Whitefish so nice.
I would be glad to trade my tractor driving skills for a stay there.

 

[mcmxi]

Couple years ago i flew into Missoula with my sons. Went directly across the road from the airport to the Harley dealer and got on a bike and headed up to Glacier National Park. Drove into the park then exited out the west. Took the new 3000 mile Harley up a gravel road ten miles to Polebridge for a Bearclaw then back out and up another 10 miles of gravel to a half million doller cabin we had rented for a week, was just a few more miles to Canada. Drove through the park a couple of times, the road in the beginning of the movie the Shining. Beautiful amazing beautiful. Whitefish so nice.
I would be glad to trade my tractor driving skills for a stay there.

Did you get up to Bowman Lake? I can get from my house to Polebridge in about an hour and Bowman is simply gorgeous.

I was supposed to cut a big field in Bigfork on another friend's 70 acre property but he accepted an offer from someone to have it cut for hay. His place is just as, if not more, stunning than the photos I show here. By the way, that's the Flathead River that runs into Flathead Lake.

 

[mcmxi]

As with anything, I tend to over think. YouTube doesn’t help that either. Any of the cutters I’m looking at, is better than the one I currently have now. Which is none.

Matt, I didn't mean to hijack your thread and I don't think you're overthinking your choice. Rotary cutters are expensive implements and you're simply doing your homework. I am interested to hear your thoughts on whatever model you end up with. I might end up buying a smaller rotary cutter to run behind the MX to get into and around some of the more awkward areas. Probably not this year, and not to replace the 1884, but to use with the 1884.

My immediate challenge is figuring out how to load the MX and 1884 on my 22' utility trailer so that I can cut my friend's field next weekend. I hope it all fits!!

 

[SDT]

Thanks ... but not really. The problem with living up here is having friends with backyards like this. I'll be cutting his field next weekend.

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What a view, but a lot of work to keep things looking that way.

SDT

 

[MOOTS]

Got the BH316 down to $3450. Front chains/rear metal band. Rear chains would add $700. Told my dealer to get one off the pallet and prepped.

Never heard back from other Woods dealer or Rhino.

 

[mcmxi]

Got the BH316 down to $3450. Front chains/rear metal band. Rear chains would add $700. Told my dealer to get one off the pallet and prepped.

Never heard back from other Woods dealer or Rhino.

That looks like a really nice cutter. The price seems inline with what I paid for the RCR1884 since I have chains front and rear as well as two wheels. I like that the outer edge of the deck of the BH316 is radiused like my RCR. I bet you're excited about this, I know I would be.

I'm going to attempt to cut down a bunch of Canadian thistle that always grows along the driveway. My cutter is 7' wide so hopefully I can hang it over the edge as I back down.

I wonder if Woods and Rhino are so busy that they don't care about returning calls.

 

[MOOTS]

That looks like a really nice cutter. The price seems inline with what I paid for the RCR1884 since I have chains front and rear as well as two wheels. I like that the outer edge of the deck of the BH316 is radiused like my RCR. I bet you're excited about this, I know I would be.

I'm going to attempt to cut down a bunch of Canadian thistle that always grows along the driveway. My cutter is 7' wide so hopefully I can hang it over the edge as I back down.

I wonder if Woods and Rhino are so busy that they don't care about returning calls.

I am excited. Can hopefully pickup Wednesday or Thursday. Had a guy with forestry mulcher come out and clean out the woods some, mostly 6” trees that would bind me up trying to navigate around. Gonna run over all the little under growth that is left. Then start on the two fields I take care of, and make them a bit bigger each mowing.

Probably could have went with the 216, but why not splurge a bit and have no worries expanding the fields in the future.

 

[MOOTS]

Overthinking now. Totally forgot I still need to widen my wheels. That would put me about 85” outside. Gonna ask salesman about 317 tomorrow. They have one next to the 316 still on the pallet.

Oopsie.

 

[mcmxi]

Overthinking now. Totally forgot I still need to widen my wheels. That would put me about 85” outside. Gonna ask salesman about 317 tomorrow. They have one next to the 316 still on the pallet.

Oopsie.

Wait, you're adding wheel spacers on the MX?

 

[MOOTS]

Wait, you're adding wheel spacers on the MX?

No. Moving the wheel on the dish for wider stance.

 

[mcmxi]

No. Moving the wheel on the dish for wider stance.

Oh ... cool. Could you take a before and after photo and post here, with dimensions too?

 

[MOOTS]

Oh ... cool. Could you take a before and after photo and post here, with dimensions too?

Got ya one better, found these on TBN. Poster says about 78” center. That would be 85” to outside. If the tire is 17” wide.

This is on his MX5800.

 

[ehenry]

I"ve pulled both BushHog brand and Woods cutters over the years and both performed equally well. Cutting grass, cutovers, cotton stalks, shredding corn and milo stalks. Where I live BH, Rhino and Woods are the dominate brands.

 

[mcmxi]

Got ya one better, found these on TBN. Poster says about 78” center. That would be 85” to outside. If the tire is 17” wide.
This is on his MX5800.

OK ... so flipping the rim around on the center hub putting the valve stem on the outside. Not sure if I'll be doing that but it certainly makes the rear way wider and more stable ... not that the MX is unstable. I'll have to think about this.

 

[MOOTS]

OK ... so flipping the rim around on the center hub putting the valve stem on the outside. Not sure if I'll be doing that but it certainly makes the rear way wider and more stable ... not that the MX is unstable. I'll have to think about this.

I misread. The sidewalls are 78”.

 

[mcmxi]

I misread. The sidewalls are 78”.

I've got 82" between the fenders on my utility trailer so 85" outside to outside of the tires would be a problem. But are you saying that it's 78" outside to outside? That would still be very tight trying to get the tractor on the trailer, particularly since the tires squeeze out near the contact patches.

 

[mcmxi]

@Matt Ellerbee, I looked at the manual and found the section on adjusting the rear track width. I added the numbers in the top right corner of each box in the screenshot below for clarity. Looks like my wheels came set up as shown in #2 giving 55.9" center to center and approximately 72" outside to outside. Changing to #3 or #4 would result in an outside to outside measurement of 73" and 77" respectively. I think I'll leave them where they are.

 

[MOOTS]

317 is over 5k. Told salesman to prep the 316. Will still be moving wheels out.

 

[MOOTS]

@Matt Ellerbee, I looked at the manual and found the section on adjusting the rear track width. I added the numbers in the top right corner of each box in the screenshot below for clarity. Looks like my wheels came set up as shown in #2 giving 55.9" center to center and approximately 72" outside to outside. Changing to #3 or #4 would result in an outside to outside measurement of 73" and 77" respectively. I think I'll leave them where they are.

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Mine are set same as yours. Am still going to go wider with the 6’ cutter.