TSC County Line brush cutters

[Tornado]

Good morning all!

Im trying to see if anyone has experience with the county line rotary cutters sold at most Tractor Supply stores. Im looking at probably the 5ft option (Seen here) This is my situation:

Brand new Kubota L2501 will be the tractor. I will not be using this mower super often or for large acreage cuts. Mostly 3-5 acre small pasture areas and some light woods clearing here and there. So, you can consider this to be a light to maybe medium duty need. This is partly why I am considering going with county line over land pride on this particular attachment. My only concern is quality. I have read a few reviews of these cutters on tractor supplies website of a poor gear box - you never know who leaves these reviews though, it could be someone who flat forgot to put oil in the gear box or to grease the unit. If The gear box is suspect or I can identify it is perhaps cheaply made then I will just abandon the idea and plan to just spend more money. I may still go with land pride anyways - im just shopping around at this point and considering my options. I just know that brush hogging will not be a primary task for me, so I didnt want to invest a big amount in a rotary cutter that I will use sparingly.

Would love to know if anyone here has experience with this cutter and could speak to the quality of the product, particularly the gear box construction.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Had one years ago, worked fine but the deck got rusty real quick, I have a Land Pride now (bat wing). Much better construction, you get what you pay for. Instead of buying new, why not get a used one. Plenty of used ones on Craigs List.

 

[Tornado]

I don't like buying used typically. I don't like buying something I don't know how its been used or maintained, and I hate having to deal with strangers and arranging meeting them. Then if you find out something once u get whatever it is home ur kinda stuck with it. Id rather buy new, even if I pay more. That said, Ive tried to price a similar land pride and the best I can come up with online is that the RCR1260 is about $1700 or $1800. So the county line would be about $600 to $700 cheaper. If I knew it would serve my needs and that the gearbox wasnt crap Id prolly just do it, but some of the reviews gave me pause. Some people talking about the gear box going out within 10 hours of use and stuff like that.

 

[Creature Meadow]

I have had the 4' model for about 15 years now and pull it with my L4600.

Little small for the tractor but it was free and I only use it 15 to 20 hours a year.

No problems with it, 0 rust on it and it lives outside no shelter.

I would buy another one as it has served me well in a limited capacity.

IMHO no need to go top of the line if your use does not dictate it.

Save some money by buying the TSC county Line and put it toward another implement.

Jay

 

[Creature Meadow]

I'll add after my dad passed and we were deciding what to do with the old tractor and implements we decided to keep the CL brush cutter. It was sitting along the wood line covered in straw and leaves.

I drug it out and carried it to the barn. Pressure washed it, checked the blades, replaced the gear box oil had water in it with synthetic gear oil and hooked it to tractor and off to hogging. To date no issues.

Thought the above might be useful, she was not well looked after and still reliable years later.

I understand if it was used more frequently under more harsh conditions the results may differ. She will chop trees 2" to 3" in diameter fine and weeds and brush tall as the hood just fine.

 

[Eray]

I used a 5 ft County Line from Tractor Supply with my L2501 to mow 34 acres for a couple of years. No problems. Got a Landpride 1260 with my tractor. The tailwheel fell off due to a weak weld. The deck skirt bent in and got cut off by the blades. The County Line was a better tool to me than the Landpride.

 

[Tornado]

I appreciate these posts guys thanks for taking the time to share your information. It seems maybe the county line isnt as bad as some people make it seem. A few of the reviews really made me scratch my head, espeically ones where the gear box some how was just destroyed with its first use. I really wonder if some of those folks ran the thing with zero oil in it. Ill make a decision on this soon. I may get a new zero turn mower instead, as mine is several years old now and has some issues. I cant justify a new zero turn and a new rotary cutter on my small 13 acres. I can mow my horse pasture with a zero turn mower, I just prefered to try and use the tractor for it. Decisions decisions...

 

[Dave_eng]

One issue that can serious shorten gearbox life is a too long pto shaft.

Many buy an implement and give little thought to the pto shaft length.

Check availability of gearbox parts before buying any cutter. The internal parts (except bearings and seals) will be unique to a specific model.

Dave

 

[D2Cat]

Tornado, around here I can find 3 pt brush mowers used for roughly $100 per cutting foot for 5 and 6 footers. I've bought many of them over the years and never had one that was a problem cutting. Might have not been the prettiest, but no mechanical problems.

I'd suggest checking Craig's List and try to find something used that is local and clean. Then you may still have enough in the Kitty for the zero turn!!

Here's an example,

5' Howse brush hog and 7' Farm King finish mower - $500 (Stilwell KS)

 

[troverman]

Tornado, I bought a County Line 5-foot rotary cutter (brush hog) a few months ago. I've probably mowed 30 acres with it now - grass, brush, small saplings. The cut quality is pretty good. I'm actually using it behind my new L2501 tractor as well! This tractor and implement pair up well. I've had no problems with the brush hog or gear box, and I've already hit big rocks and logs, misc other things. The housing is made in the USA by Tarter, and is somewhat flimsy. It's adequate but not heavy duty. The top deck on mine now has a tear all the way through, perhaps from the blade coming into contact with it? I don't know. It doesn't impact the mowing quality, and is an easy fix, so I'm still satisfied.

The gearbox is made in China but by an American company from Texas. Driveshaft is China as well.

There was a giant "fill with oil before using" tag on my gearbox. I filled with 80-90W gear oil.

Here's my 5-foot County Line behind my L2501 (my MX4800 is also in the picture with a flail mower)

I'd buy it again.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: ... I can mow my horse pasture with a zero turn mower,
..um, aren't the horses supposed to do that by eating the grasses ???

 

[troverman]

...I may get a new zero turn mower instead, as mine is several years old now and has some issues. I cant justify a new zero turn and a new rotary cutter on my small 13 acres. I can mow my horse pasture with a zero turn mower, I just prefered to try and use the tractor for it. Decisions decisions...

I think using a zero turn mower in a horse pasture is a good way to destroy it. They are not made to mow tall grass, they don't sidehill well, don't go downhill well, and can get stuck quite easily. Unless your pasture is just about finished lawn, the tractor / hog route is a much better choice.

 

[Tornado]

thanks for all the replies guys enjoy reading all the input.

@GreensvilleJay: You arent wrong. However, to keep a pasture in good condition and help the grass grow you need to mow it occasionally as weeds inevitably sprout up. You could also spray for weeds but mowing works well. Also, not sure if youve ever owned horses but they will pick certain areas they like to go to the bathroom, and those areas will grow up with tall thick grass and the horses will not eat those areas, so you get patches all over the pasture that turn into jungles of grass and manure clumps. Mowing helps level this all back out and breaks up and spreads that manure out some. A freshly mowed pasture also looks really nice, and its directly behind our house. I typically like to mow it as the horses are pulled off of it, so you arent really cutting much grassh just weeds, manure, and uneaten jungle areas as mentioned.

@Troverman: I understand where you are coming from, but my pasture is completely flat, not even 6 inches elevation change across the whole thing. Its very doable with a zero turn mower and That is how I have been mowing it the past 2 years. There have been a few occasions where I let parts of it get high and thick and the belt slipped a little when mowing those areas, but it managed. This is with a small 46" Husqvarna zero turn. If I get a new zero turn it will be a heavy duty grasshopper.

This is my delimma. I need a new lawn mower soon. The husqvarna Im using now is a $2800 basic model mower, and is many years old now. I cant mow my yard with my tractor, so Im going to have to get a new lawn mower soon. If Im going to get a new one, I planned to get a nice grasshopper mower with a fully welded deck and commercial grade engine. This would easily mow the pasture and my yard. If my husqvarna would hold up another 5 years Id go for a brush hog for the tractor for sure. What I cant really justify however is a new grasshoper mower, plus a new brush hog. I simply do not have enough mowing to justify that. I will have to decide by years end likely how I wanna go. Try to stick with the ol husqvarna for the yard and get a brushhog, or just get a new grasshopper to do it all.

 

[D2Cat]

Find a 5' flail for your tractor and mow the yard and the horse pasture. It's do a nice job on both!

 

[Tornado]

Find a 5' flail for your tractor and mow the yard and the horse pasture. It's do a nice job on both!

Its not a bad recommendation D2Cat but it wouldn't work for my yard unfortunately. Trying to maneuver that L2501 all around the trees in my yard would be a nightmare. I have a fairly wooded yard with a lot of big pine tree's that I have to weave in and out of and around. If I had an open yard with no trees it would work fine and I might would seriously consider it. I think I'm going to put the mower decision off for now, at least for a few months. I was thinking of doing something soon but I think now I will just put it off. Im really wanting to clear a new garden spot this winter now that I have the tractor and will want a tiller of some kind for that. So many idea's and things I want to do now I have to prioritize implements I think by next year though, just getting a new zero turn is likely the best solution for me. I can mow our small horse pasture areas with a zero turn if I have to, but I cant really mow my yard with a tractor if I had to, so it just makes the most sense to get a new zero turn.