A piece of advice I give people is do not walk up to someone operating a piece of equipment until you have made eye contact with them you may think they see you but they may not
I've known several kids killed from a bush hog. A couple slid under one and well it wasn't pretty. Then there was 3 or 4 can't remember but something flew out from under it and tht was all it took
Would add a couple of “thangs” 1) Walk you area BEFORE you cut - hopefully before the weeds get too high. It’s amazing what “grows” up between one season to the next. This will avoid brush hogging over the stumps and branches that electric company “helpfully” left for YOU to clean up. 2) Measure twice, cut once. After your initial walk through, do it again. There is bound to be tree limbs you missed the “first” time. 3) Wood chuck burrows: After giving his forecast, “Bill” likes to set traps. Don’t let him dig a hole you don’t want to fall in. 4) Don’t get obsessed with sharpening blades. It’s a Brush Hog, not a finish mower. They are made to cut rough. Over sharpening will cause problems, and overthinking is not always good. Love this video. Thanks for your advice P.S. When worse comes to worse, read the Manual.
On yellow jackets....they usually get stirred up when you mow over them and then you get stung when you come back around....so learn to keep looking ahead to see if you stirred up a nest on your previous pass. On thick grass....remember, you don't have to mow with the full width of the deck...mow your first lap high if you have to. On emergencies/loud noises/rear ups.....hit the clutch ASAP...then you can decide what to do.
Ear protection is a must, especially when cutting brush. Muff type like used when shooting are ok for cool days, but when it gets hot I switch to foam ear plugs.
I hit a stump with the bucket. My seat belt didn't work. I was mowing. I almost went over the top of the tractor. I got a seat belt right after that. Lucky I was in 1st gear. Scared the heck out of me. I was told you dont need a seat belt, your only in 1st gear. Famous last words. Safety first!
In the south we say "bush hog" regardless. If I said "brush hog" I would get funny looks. Good advice. I've taken an angle grinder to a chipped blade to clean it up. Too many of those and your blades aren't balanced which wears the bearing. One old bush hog I have leaked oil out the gearbox. Needed a new oil seal, but I couldn't get the nut off, and I tried all the tricks. Finally I replaced the oil with 00 grease. Problem solved. You didn't stress the rollover hazard enough. I installed a simple inclinometer. Anything over 15 deg. I'm real nervous. Just a personal comfort threshold. I live in Georgia piedmont, so its hilly. I have roll bar on the Kubota but not the '69 JD. I keep low limbs trimmed. Low limbs are extreme hazard. Oh, and on the scoop issue if you leave it on (low but edge up) you lower the center of gravity wrt rollover hazard. Just my two cents worth. thanks
Hey Mike, enjoy watching your videos. My Dad and I have always used a heavy chain as a top link on our rotary cutter to keep the cutter from binding up when crossing ditches etc.works great.
Good stuff Mike. An open station tractor can be dangerous in itself. I'm 57 years old and I've very blessed. But we had a friend that got in a Yellow Jacket bee's nest and he was killed by the brush hog. I especially liked your advice to alway wear your seatbelts when operating equipment. We were told our friend jumped from the tractor to get away from the bee stings and the tractor and brush hog ran over him. He made it to the Hospital but died on the operating table. This man had been around equipment tractors, log skidders, bulldozers, and log trucks his whole life. His Family owned a Sawmill and operated this Mill for 3 generations, so it wasn't like he was new to operating a farm tractor. This can happen to the most experienced person at anytime. Thanks Mike and be careful out there.
You hate to hear such news, in the heat of the moment you really don't know what your reaction will be. Never thought i'd be afraid of water till I nearly drowned.
Great tips. I've been mowing for quite a few years now and you are spot on with the warnings. I do however leave the bucket on when mowing and it serves as a rock/stump finder.With the bucket curled the edge doesn't hit so it tends to ride up and over whatever it hits. It makes a heck of a racket but saves the blades. You are right though, it makes maneuvering in tight spots more difficult. Not only is there something sticking way out in the back, the mower, but the bucket sticks way out in the front too. It also helps counterbalance the mower deck.The draw back to having the ROPS up or a cab for that matter is you can't get under low hanging branches so the woods tends to creep into the fields over time. Speaking about projectiles, I was mowing a field one time and there were some people walking around in it, (buyers maybe?) I was going to take down some Sumac and as the mower came down on it a chunk of it came flying out and only fell about ten feet from them, they were probably about 40-50 feet away. I moved to the other end of the lot until they left. Great video as always.
When I was working, we had more trouble on our boom mounted mowers with telephone wires that the repair men would just drop off the poles when they were replacing the wire. I've spent more time than I care to remember cutting the wire from around the spindle, and more often than not, replacing the spindle bearings and seals if the operator didn't see the wire. It gets expensive to replace bearings, seals, and sometimes spindles. Be sure to carry a good pair of wire pliers when you mow, it can save you a lot of frustration and money.
Safety first, read your manual and look for good information like this. There sure is a lot more too it than meets the eye. Just purchased a new tractor and a few implements to help around my 5 acres.
Just bought a Kioti nx4510 and purchased a brush hog, grapple, rototiller and forks. Total novice starting to farm 32 hilly acres in Southern Illinois. Videos like yours are a big help.
I leave my loader on and leave it low so I hit any stumps with it rather than them ripping out everything under my tractor. It's scary to mow when things get over your waist. Great tips Mike.
One thing that nailed me from above was running my ROPS into and old poison ivy vine, which then brushed off on me as it went by. I felt the vine, didn't think much of it, and then that evening the itching began and I was off to the races. All that to say your comment about look up too was spot on.
Thanks for the videos Mike, my father recently bought a kioti and watching your videos have helped me better understand how to safely use this peice of equipment.
Mike, I respectfully disagree with removing the bucket when brush cutting! Especially for folks new to brush cutting and if cutting unfamiliar property. Yes it sticks out in front if the tractor but only about 2 feet at the most from the loader frame. Why I recommend leaving it on is it can help detect things you do not want to run through your cutter-stumps, balls of wire, rocks and all kinds of stuff. I like to run with my bucket curled up as far as it will go and run it about 6- 8 inches above the ground. I find that it pushes those seed heads down in front of the tractor and they are less prone to plug the radiator than the front of the tractor beating them down. Yes when turning it is another thing to watch, but we all know it is going to happen so just learn at the start.
Running the bucket 6 to 8in off the ground, was one of the first things I was taught about bush hogging. Especially areas you not familiar with. I thought i was doing it wrong, thanks for the comment. My old man passed away a few weeks ago, so he will never answer another question.
Coy Patton I agree with everyone here. Plus you can use your bucket if needed. Mine has aftermarket teeth on it that grips and pulls up bushes with no trouble. I had one yesterday too close to the round corral to mow down, so I just pulled it up with the bucket. Plus if you do find something big (or trash) in your field you can just put it in your bucket and keep going. Great advice from everyone - thanks!
I do the same, plus the first time I did the field every rock I hit I jumped off and put in the bucket (if small enough). A few years latter all the rocks are gone.
Don't forget to mention that you will need to overlap the mower 6 to 10 inches over your last pass. If you are in wet grassy type material then overlap your hole tire track from your last pass going in the opposite direction. Do this so you won't have rows of material standing back up in two days. It takes just as long to go back and mow the little rows as it did to do the hole field. Mike eluded to this. "Slower is Faster."
Good advice. I leave my bucket on. It’s great for moving any obstacles you come across to a mowed row. Then remove from field at your convenience. If I cross a draw on perpendicular, I simply raise the cutter whatever amount I need to stop any binding. On level fields, I like to make a continuous advancing loop the width of the tractors turning radius. Then there is very little, if any reversing needed.
Seatbelts 🤔..... roll bar 🤔...shade/cover. what's this black magic of which you speak 🙂🙂... says all of us who grew up on old tractors like farmall H/M, Ford 8n.... John Deere G.. etc etc 😂😂..... sometimes I wonder how we survive 😩😁
This is a really helpful video. I just bought small property, little over an acre and half of it gone to meadow. While I'm an avid gardener and an aspiring arborist, I don't know anything about machinery. Watching your video and reading the comments (also very helpful) has convinced me that some tasks I can do (pruning and zero-turn mowing) and other tasks are much better left to professionals or those with experience (brush hogging). Lot of great safety advice here, so thanks for educating me. Also, as a high school public speaking teacher, I have to say, the organization/pace/enunciation/eye contact in your presentation was excellent! 😄Thanks again!
I might add that you should walk any areas with drain tiles using a probe prior to mowing every year. My wife grew up on the farm we own and I have been involved with the dirt for 40-some years. I know every square foot for whatever surface obstructions there may be but never gave any thought to the drains. And then I learned all about drain blowouts. I was lucky as a rear tire dropped down and the tractor frame rested on the edge of the hole. Others have lost a tractor or their lives in these blowouts, some of which are not exposed on the surface but can be just a few inches of sod hiding a 10 foot deep hole that will swallow a tractor. Another caution is the use of seat belts. Every technical paper I have read promotes the use of seat belts only when your tractor is equipped with ROPS. No ROPS, no seat belt. Reasoning is that with ROPS the belt will keep you attached to the tractor within the safety zone when the tractor rolls over. Without ROPS it is thought that a seat belt keeping you in the seat will put you directly under the tractor when it rolls over, they felt that no belt in this scenario you would either be thrown clear or be able to jump off the tractor. As for taking the bucket off, I mow both ways. I have no concerns about tree stumps appearing between mowings. Then again I only mow our farm and am not too worried about mattresses or bales of wire being somewhere I did not leave them. Although I did run over the top of a deer fawn several years back with a sickle bar mower. When I saw the freshly uncovered little guy he just gave me one of those WTH looks, got up and trotted off to find mom. That was in CRP land and I was mowing about a foot high just to get the tops of the thistles.
I disagree with taking the bucket off. Keep it on, keep the cutting edge up, maybe 30° angle and keep it 8" / 10" or so of the ground to feel for stumps or rocks. This also pushes the seed heads forward and out of the radiator. You will have seeds in the bucket. Also, pick the bush hog up when turning tight. Just a whole lot easier on the whole rig.
Yep and don't take it your hand off until you get off the tractor at night. I constantly move the mower height with changing terrain. When, not if, you hit that rock or stump the deck can be quickly lifted off the object.
One thing that hasn't been talked about is hauling a passenger on a open station tractor. No matter how tempting it is to take your child or grandchild out on the tractor with you it can end up in a nightmare. There was a man that had his young grandchild riding on the fender with him while he was brush hogging in my county a few years back, he hit a ground hog hole and threw the child off the back. I don't think I need to finish the story. I live in a large agricultural county and even though the story was heavily known I still see people hauling passengers with them. WHY?
Had to share this tip. Build a cart to set the rotary cutter on when it is unhitched. Makes hitching and unhitching a breeze. 4 swivel casters, old lumber and some fasteners. Best advice I ever got.
And I thought I was the only one who does this. Every piece of equipment we have is on a custom rack on casters, even the finish mowers as the 5" casters are much easier to move than the hard rubber tires on the mowers. Also allows us to roll equipment around so we do not have to have 60 feet of open space to get the tractor lined up. One guy can roll whatever he needs to the tractor, hook up and go to work. The loaders do have specific parking areas that allows a straight shot for hooking up and keeps them from sliding when re-attaching.
Flying stinging bugs, especially yellow jackets (closer to fall). Keep water with you and also keep a sweat rag - salt in the eyes hurts after awhile. Good sound post.
Save your hearing! Long term exposure to the running tractor can damage your hearing. I wear shooters earmuffs when bushoggin and lawn mowing, if I don't, temporary hearing loss is evident and it aggravates my tinitus. As to engine speed, most modern tractors have a symbol on the tach where ideal engine speed for the PTO should be set. My John Deere is 2500rpm for a PTO of 540 to the bush hog. Same for my old Ford 841d.
WHAT???? I couldn't hear ya 😁.. seriously though ear protection is a good idea, I just never bother because.... well it wasn't a habit anybody had when I was a kid. Same for shooting guns 😑
Thank you for the video. I'm about to purchase my first tractor and cutter and your tips are really a great help to a new tractor owner. I have used a bush hog some but not enough to say I'm good at it. I have 15 acres that need cutting and about 5 acres that need some underbrush clearing before the grass will grow.
Good info Mike. I bought a used rotary cutter from the previous owner of my property. The only slope on the property is to the main road. Sure enough when I got the cutter ready to go, I noticed the pto shaft was bent. He must have driven it up the slope to the road.
I just wanted to take a moment and say thank you. I have been watching your channel for years now. I have learned a lot of quick tips and tricks from you. Most importantly I have learned a lot of safety advice from you. That was some that was not tough to me. I can now pass down to my son and family. So in some ways you have helped saved me and others from getting hurt or killed by equipment. I have about 10 acre pasture. Then about 20 acres of land managed around some old grain bens. I was just Bush hogging everything. So I have been watching and learning from you and others about making hay. Next year our family is going to purchase hay equipment for our land. I do have a very large barn to store all of the hay in, only about a mile from my pasture. 75 %. Bermuda grass. I have 3 small tractors. A T30-T35 and a 135. All are. Massey Ferguson's 1950 through 1960 models. But now my 4 year old son is starting to learn from me as I have from my grandfather and others like yourself. So thank you, for taking the time to sharing your vast knowledge and experience with me and others. Your doing a wonderful job on your videos and helping others learn how to use and maintain their equipment in a safe manner. Time for me and my son to get to work this morning. So have a blessed day and thank you. Keep up the good work your doing.
Speaking of canopies, I would use C clamps and clamp a piece of plywood to the rollbar of a mower to keep rain off me while I was mowing. I did get laughed at, but I was dryer then anyone else😂
That's a good idea and cheaper than buying an expensive canopy. Plus if you run into something you're out a piece of plywood not a high dollar piece of fiberglass or plastic.
I got my new 8n finally running strong and tried to mow with it Friday evening after work.. stalled it about 3 times in a minute and went in the house to familiarize myself with the manual before wearing out my ignition system or flooding the poor old girl. Apparently the cutter was getting bogged down in the grass before I could get everything in motion because of it being a live PTO was the problem.. my father in-law (a 67 yo black dude who grew up on of those 8ns) happened to be here on the following Saturday and before I could get it started asked if he could give it a whack... needless to say yards mowed real good now and he told me just about everything I needed to know about how to operate it. He was like a fish in water on that tractor though! He never hit the clutch and he had to stay on a swivel the whole time because of all the trees.
Get an overrunning clutch for that 8N! The inertia from the blades can propel you places you don't want to go without it. By the way, as a Chiefs fan, I don't much care for you :).
Don't discount the small branches hanging out along the edges. I ducked to let some go over my head only to have the ROPS push them back into the backside of my head. Saw stars for a few minutes after that. Only did it once.
To amplify on a point you made, this is coming out in June when does are dropping their fawns. Exercise care not to run over a critter bedded down in the tall grass. Also, if you've never mowed a particular patch of land before, a walk-through might save you from running over stumps, holes, or debris that might cause damage to you or your equipment. Excellent material!
I go make a few exploratory trips around the field looking for fawns, then I cut the outer edge go to the middle of field and cut a pass lengthwise with a few cuts to edge , , these little buggers will hit that mowed path and get out of there, one thing I do is mow at a slow rate of speed to give them time to move. In the tall grass they can’t get away quickly, I have seen the grass moving and jumped off and caught them then put them in a safe place,
Great video! Been mowing with one of these mowers (Woods Brush Bull 720) for a few seasons at work. I’m glad I watched. I learned most of this stuff the hard way. Lucky for me I have a cab on my JD5075E, but I can’t tell you how much it freaks me out when people come right up to me when I’m mowing. It’s really bad now that all of our residents are home all the time fo Covid-19. Every week I have to wave someone off and shut down so I can get out and tell them how dangerous it is to be near my mower! Our boom mower is even worse because you pick it up. I’ve been told that thing threw a manhole cover 90 ft through somebody’s windshield!
I never heard the term brushhog until about 2012 at age 47. Our plant manager was raised in Virginia and transferred down here to Arkansas. I thought it was so funny when he used the term and that he didnt know it was bushogging. Then I found out I had been saying it wrong my whole life.
Yep! I thought that the world was coming to an end alright when I encountered a huge rock. I was paralyzed by a fear response while my brain worked overtime when I remembered the stump jumper and just floored the tractor to get off the rock. It was one of the loudest noises I had ever heard. The blades were damaged and had to be replaced ultimately. I had been reclaiming a 100yr old orchard and was using the bucket to locate windfall of which there was plenty. I'll tell ya, I was slow as molasses in Jan on that job.
keep an eye out for telephone/dsl boxes that are green lol guy up the road ran over one of those phone line boxes wanna talk about a fuster cluck, they sent one repairman out to fix it he was there for 3 days lol
what is the rule of thumb on using the size of deck? If I recall, it has to do with the hp or you tractor right? I have a S650G mid size tractor. I think a 4 foot deck is right.
It needs to be wider than the back wheels of the tractor, otherwise you're running over material twice (on the edge) before cutting it. You still have to be in the range of the lift capacity of the tractor and that can vary widely depending on whether you have front weights/ballast and/or a front loader. You don't want to lose traction in the front wheels when picking it up. Cutters are rated by horsepower, and that's important, but if they mount on the three point the tractor still has to be able to lift them safely.
I like to mow my grass at about 3 inches high and do have to get some new sheer bolts since I put the last one on my tractor last year and they usually last me one season before having to replace them. I ran over some wire which was laying in my yard and had been moved to where I ran over it by a cat. It wasn't easy to get the wire out from under my brush hog so I am even more careful about where I mow and how I handle wire now.
I mow with a pull behind (no 3 point) and the Bush hog lifted up all the way... probably 6-10 inches idk, never measured it tbh. I just want weeds, briars, tree seedlings, seed heads clipped and as much "good grass" left as possible. It also helps to keep rocks, wire, etc hits to a minimum. Jmo
Hello, I looked at a CT 1025 Bobcat today it has a SHIBAURA 3cylender diesel, I thought tat was Dae Dong in the Bob Cat? Definitely a random question. Thank you!!
I bought. a bush hog sq 720 My stump pan was completely rusted out. The old pan has been removed but a new one is 500 dollars if I can find one which has been an issue so far. The blade bar is solid and I have installed new blades. Will it hurt to run the mower without a stump pan? I don’t mow in the woods
You need to address a driveline PTO like on the ever popular N series Fords, especially when talking brush mowers. If you hook a brush mower to one of these without an overrun clutch in the PTO shaft, you can wind up causing some serious damage or injuries if you don't know what to expect. A driveline PTO has ne declutching device and, and the momentum of a brush mower through the PTO shaft will cause a tractor to continue moving after the clutch is depressed unless you have an overrun clutch.
I can't tell you how many times I mowed over a high spot in high grass in that gravely, SW Arkansas soil and my 10' mower with 40 pound bladed would propel gravel at the speed of a bullet in all directions. My immediate reaction was to bend over and hug the tractor steering wheel out of the trajectory of flying gravel. After the second time this happened, I fabricated a heavy steel screen behind the tractor seat to protect my entire backside.
Great video! One more thing to mention is bees! Yellow jackets are bad here in ga. Always look or scan the ground over your last row. I've avoided a very painful fate several times by doing this. Thanks and keep up the great videos!
Mike, I just got a mew 2605 hd MF , and I love hogging with the bucket on keeps a lot of briers off me,. We are reclaiming all our pasture and fence lines
Great video Mike as always!! I do hit stuff with my bucket from time to time have a Mahindra 1626 the bucket has little wings on sides of bucket that stick out I've gotten use to it now but have hit things. But I keep it on especially if I mow a place I've never been got in a really swampy area couple years ago luckily had bucket on pushed myself out. I hate mowin where someone fed hay and left the bail twine hit that stuff all hell brakes loose sometimes. I do have a Mahindra canopy on my tractor won't get on one without it lol. Had a rhino hide on my Branson last year they are tough. Thanks for sharing be safe have fun
Oh, and one more comment: I place a length of screening between the grill and the radiator to stop seeds, bugs and various junk. Make sure you got good air flow, but it’s amazing how many bugs and seeds don’t get sucked into the radiator
The big issue I have is my land has lots of uneven terrain so seems my tractor works best with the front cutter to be up higher than the back so the front cutter doesn't tear up the land. What do you suggest I do different with this type of terrain? I'm using a JD 3032E with quick hitch 60in cutter.
I hit a stump or log with a 1950 Ford 8n. It was like slow motion. The tractor shook and the log shot out rolling across the field. My dad would never use it again. Even though I was the one driving it. My son and I want to buy it from him for sentimental reasons and to use.
I know not everbody can afford to do what i did, but start out with a small tractor and brush hog then work up to a larger machine. First i bought a 1025R John Deere subcompact with a 4 foot rotary cutter and learned how to drive and mow with it. Then later i bought a 3020 John Deere and a 7 ft cutter. It was learning how to operate the smaller machine first thst made transitioning to the bigger one much easier.
I really need the video on the add-ons for the old 9N tractors. That's what I have for my brush hog. Thanks to you I have added the slip clutch and over run clutch and the Pat's Easy Change. You have made my tractor life SO much easier and safer. Thank you very much and keep up the videos.
Tip 11: Get a flail mower so you don't have to worry about half of those concerns AND get a better end result because they don't windrow, don't turn debris into bullets, or stick out as much so are more maneuverable.
I only have a little walk behind brush hog (1974 Gravely L-8 with a 30 inch front mount), and this is still quite pertinent with some common sense adaptations.
There’s a good video by Northwest Sawyer that Mike should get permission to repost and discuss. That guy flipped his tractor on a steep hill and was lucky to not be injured.
Mike after using mowers for over 60 years I found removing the oil in the trans mission and adding solid grease , the water and seal problems were solved I used 4 machines over time also I do not recommend removing the bucket. Tight turns out it up. Here in the north rocks grow, frost pushes them up.
Another point is using a cutter with something without "live" PTO, if you don't install an overrunning clutch, the cutter will push the tractor when you push the clutch in.
Those are nice tips for anyone operating a tractor and bush hog. I try to be safe all the time and have had wire tangled up under my unit and had to cut it out and I have hit large stones and rocks as well and that isn't good for the unit or the operator.
not going to kill the tractor at idle not going to plug the radiator with grass, engage at any time just raise the mower a little if your trying to start in the weeds. A mower like that is nearly no load on a decent tractor makes no difference at all those things you are saying could have mowed the whole thing while you were explaining double clutch, which is irrelevant weather your moving or not most modern tractors the clutch does not stop the pto at all. 20 years experince never overheated pulling a mower lol, maybe a full sized disk or a big mower with batwings. i wasnt even aware a rotary mower is suppose to have shear pins the blade swing freely that way when you hit a stump the blades can shop on it until it get thru swinging freely is part of the design or rotary mower the blades are not fixed, you are doing lawn mowing or something.
I was hoping you would mention things like stumps that you can't see, or iron fence posts and other things that can do serious damage more than rocks can. I know more about professional mowing, but I would assume these things are bad for a brush hog as well.
I love this he thinks you bushhog grass, I am running a 7ft sidewinder going over 6inch Diamiteer trees, i have to watch out and not shove one into the power line. But he did say this was for beginners.
