used bush hog, what to look for?

[eddie]

Greetings all of you OTT folks...I'm going to take a second look at a used 4ft Walco bush hog. Could any of you with bush hog experiece recommend what to look for on this implement so I don't get hosed? Does anyone know what a new one is worth? Thanks for any feedback.

eddie

 

[Bulldog]

I would look at the blade tip speed and the general weight of the cutter. The blade tip speed will be the difference between a nice clean cut or a cut that will make you think that you cut the field with your eyes closed.
The weight will simply let you know how heavy the construction is on the cutter you are looking at. Here is some information to compair the numbers on the brand that you are interested in.

This info is on a regular duty Bush Hog brand SQ 480 rotary cutter;
Weight 440 lbs
Blade tip speed 13,029 ft/min

Most of the cheap brand cutters seem to have a lower tip speed and the quality of your cut will suffer in a big way. Not only that but they are usually made from much thinner material and just simply won't hold up under normal use.

 

[eddie]

Thanks for that Bulldog, I haven't heard anybody else mention tip speed. I have heard that the gear boxes can get water in them and start to corrode bearing surfaces, but that would be difficult to detect without listening carefully, and not knowing what a new one should sound like makes it next to impossible for a newbie like me. I believe that this unit weighs in at 425# and will look up the tip speed info on google. Cheers.

 

[Mountaindoc]

One other thing and this is more of a personal preference for me. I definitely prefer a cutter that has a clutch over a shear pin on the drive shaft. If you get into some rough stuff with small saplings, rocks, etc., you'll have the pleasure of replacing a lot of shear pins. That gets irritating over time.

 

[Orange Tractors]

Since this is a used unit, I would check the following: Is the deck beat up? Check for cracks and reapirs on the deck and gearbox. Check that there is actually fluid in the gearbox, the input seal isn't hard to change, but the output shaft seal on the bottom can be a royal pain to get to. Make sure you can turn the input shaft by hand to rotate the blades.Condition of the paint doesn't really matter, as long as the deck isn't too beat up. All safety shields need to be in place.

Hope this helps,

Robert

 

[small&mighty99]

very good suggestions so far, I would also look at how much lateral movement the blades have on there pivot pins/Bolts....too much can cause bad vibration or the blades may scalp the ground by dropping to low, also would be a bonus if you find one with a stump jumper disc, these help to protect if run over a solid stump or hidden bolder in the tall grass this disc will spin off of the stump, to coin the term " Stump Jumper" check the drive shaft so's not to have been bent or bad U-joints, Be sure the tail wheel has the bearing in and not too much slop in where it pivots, good luck on finding the cutter you need...

 

[eddie]

thanks for all the help gentlemen. I bought a used 4 ft Walco unit, I haven't cut anything with it yet but am almost done tinkering with it. I'm just going to change the gearbox fluid and put an edge on the blades and give it a whirl tomorrow morning.

 

[Bulldog]

So, how did the new cutter do for you?

 

[ipz2222]

He can't talk right now, bulldog, he's out whacking weeds....

 

[Bulldog]

Now that is a new twist that I have not thought of yet. I get to be outside on my Kubota having fun and have a answering service for OTT. I know who has it going on now and he lives in chickamauga.

 

[eddie]

i only own 4 acres and have only mowed about an acre and a quarter for the last 6 years. You can probably imagine what the rest of it looks like. My initial trip out with bush hog went well, and did more or less what I expected it would do. I will probably cut the rough stuff with the bush hog a couple of times per year until I manage to landscape it a little. At that point the bush hog will probably be for sale if it holds together that long. It certainly ain't gonna be abused around here, which is the main reason for just getting a used one rather than something brand new.

Anyway thanks for being curious about what I'm doin'. I'm gonna try and put the dock in the river today so there won't be much bush hoggin' goin' on.

ed

 

[Orange Tractors]

Glad it is working out for you eddie. Used brush hogs usually are a pretty good deal; unless they have been used to launch rocks a lot.

As long as the gearbox is good there really isn't much to go wrong with them.


Robert