Home made heavy weed/brush cutter

[Pumper54]

Hey all, before anyone says it Yes I know it is dangerous but I am the only one around when it gets used and I know I am not getting in front of it while it is running. Got the mower for $20s and found out that it ran. :smile: Then I cut the front up a bit so that the blade could meet the heavy weeds and brush first before the deck pushed them over. So far I have used it to trim down a bunch of over grown weeds and heavy grass on my farm. The area I used it is too rough and step for the rider to get into so I built this. Added the extra paint as additional warning incase someone else was near by but I keep a sharp eye out when I am using it. It has cut down 1 to 1 1/2 inch diameter saplings and thick stalked bull nettles. Needs a bit more work on the carb but I am happy with it.


Tom

 

[exotion]

Effective. The only thing is you took quite a bit of the structural integrity out to so be careful going over big bumps and running into things that metal could easily warp and bend.

And honestly it is not really that dangerous looking

 

[Pumper54]

When I cut off the front of the deck I left in the circular ring inside but cut away part in the front and then pushed the rest towards the side by the wheel mount areas which offer some support for those areas. If the deck breaks I will just find another one or get it welded up. Will keep an eye on that.
Tom

 

[bertsmobile1]

Not familiar with the base mower but for it's and your own personnal safety I strongly recommend fitting swing back type blades .
FWIW I have a 1964 up font slasher fitted to an anchient (1964 ) ride on.
basically a single circle deck on some long arms.
We use it for cutting down tussock grass as it slashes them clean off at ground level then the owner follows up with his Cub Cadet to recut the clumps of cut grass ( weeds really ).
Naturally it is totally illegal but several contrctors who have seen it bought second hand decks and modified them to take the 2.5mm heavy duty low flute Honda 19" swing back blades.
The mower it sits on is only 30" wide & I have sold a few of those 2nd hand as well.
The boys like them because they are low enough to cut the grass under the bottom fence wire and just wide enough to do a clearing run along both sides of a fence line so eliminates hours of trimmer work.
Original tractor had an optional dozer ( har har ) blade and the slasher attaches to it's mounting points so if you are interested you would be looking for a similar type of machine.

 

[Pumper54]

Bertsmobile1
The mower is a $25.00 (USD) SEARS Craftsman mower I bought from a mower repair shop. I have seen the swing type blades and may go to something like that one day. I just use the mower around my farm to mow areas I can't/will not take my rider into. Mostly around the water line at the pond. It mows water very well :biggrin:

Tom

 

[bertsmobile1]

i can see where you are coming from and bending the crank on a $ 25 machine is not much of a loss.
However having it flip because the solid bar hit something too hard & then you falling on it is not a pretty thought.
Even with a functioning blade brake / engine cut out still lots of sharp & hot things to land on.
\
I Can usually knock down saplings to about 3" but it is a self defeating exercise as the stumps still block the wheels and the old saw with the really dirty blade will knock them off to ground level a fair bit faster than the mower does in any case.
A little somthing you might like to keep in the back of your head as old 24" mowers tend to pop up a lot for scrap metal prices.

 

[Pumper54]

Bertsmobile1

Thank you very much for the pictures. I had been thinking along those lines for building a heavy duty grass mower for when the fields get out of control. Gives me lots of information as the pictures show me ways to solve problems I found. Those heavy "fly wheel" type blade work real well in the heavy grass/brush. Have heard of people installing two regular blades stacked on each other to increase mass and cutting blade numbers.
Thanks again

Tom

 

[bertsmobile1]

The deck in the photo is of course a side discharge unit but it is a really old design where the height adjustment is on the deck via a pair of jockey wheels like a push mower.
So the boys have cut the front off & welded up the side discharge hole then run some 1' angle back to mount it to the mower.

Some popped an electric PTO on the end of the engine shaft.
Most use it for a roughing mower. We get a lot of tussock grass around here and if it gets better than 6" tall only a full commercial or flail mower will touch it as most decks will simply ride over the tussocks.
I would imagine the USA is somewhat the same here where blokes see deck size like like a phalis ( Mine is bigger than yours ) so the small mowers with small decks end up as toys for the grandkids or tossed out onto clean up. Back in the 60's & 70's the mower companies came upon the perfect mower for blocks up to 1 acre, the 8/30 and if you though you needed more power the 10/30.
For some strange reason the averaage Joe with a 1/4 acre block now seems to think they need a 20/42 plus a 21" self propelled for places the 42" deck can not fit and then a 16" push for the places the 21" wont fit & finally a line trimmer.

I have the parts listing for that particular slasher if you would like me to post it

 

[bertsmobile1]

Ok , took a while but here it is.
Found 1/2 the parts list, the important bit with the pickies



It attached to the mower via the mounting shown as 35. It pivots from this mounting. The further back this is the better from stability and easier height adjustment.
The two walking stick shaped rods shown as 30 they go to the height adjuster.

It fits easiest to an old AYP type tractor with a deck height adjuster lever in front of the driver.
These have an arm with hangers on them that attach to the deck so when you put the angle iron on the top of whatever deck you choose to use you simply space them so the existing height adjusters will slip into a hole drilled in the rails.
It is a lot easier to do than it looks.
The round nosed side plates are important as these will touch the ground and become the anti scalp device. So they need to be able to skid along the ground.
On the original both sides were open but I have a latter version with the wrong side ( discharge ) closed in ( OH&S strikes again ) .
The belt keepers on the engine will need to be repositioned as they will be on the wrong side of the pulley as the pto belt now goes foreward not back.
An electric PTO clutch is highly recommended . On the original the deck is raised which allows the belt to go slack enough ( just ) to start the motor.
A blade disc with swing back blades is essential as if the blades hit something hard with the deck that far ahead of the tractor it could easily toss the whole mower if they can not swing back.
The heavy disc also stores a lot of energy which is handy for thick tussocks the saplings up to about 2" dia..

I use it here mostly for doing the fence lines, It is set so that when skidding on the ground the blades are at about a 2" cut height which make the mower low enough to cut under the bottom fence wire.
I have a cutting on the side of the road so after mowint the top, I come along with this to knock off the grasses growing in the cutting to the top embankment height so we can see the traffic when leaving the property.
Also it gets brought out for ferral tussocks in the pasture. These are so thick the real slasher on the real tractor can not cut them it rither rides over them or the pto safety clutch kicks in which makes it a very long slow job.
We have a flail mower which will in time get get pressed ito service but at present it is rusted up solid so it is a long term project.

 

[bertsmobile1]

Bertsmobile1

Thank you very much for the pictures. I had been thinking along those lines for building a heavy duty grass mower for when the fields get out of control. Gives me lots of information as the pictures show me ways to solve problems I found. Those heavy "fly wheel" type blade work real well in the heavy grass/brush. Have heard of people installing two regular blades stacked on each other to increase mass and cutting blade numbers.
Thanks again

Tom

Tom.
Murry & Norma both did mower decks like this ( don't know of any others ).
Both have available very heavy blades which should do the job just make sure they are not fluted as you do not want to waste any energy pumping wind.
Doubling up blades will require some sort of hard spacers on the bolts as swing back bolts are all shouldered to allow just enough clearence forthem to swing when necessary.
What is really important is to keep them sharp. I have a 1/2 dozen sets in use at any time and as soon as I feel the mower labouring too much I swap them over which is a breeze as you have clean access to both side of the blade bolts
The biggest problem I have with this set up is steering, you have to lift the slasher off the ground to turn corners and your turnng circle becomes really big.
And grass fouling on the dive belt.
I tried a couple of shrouds but they make it hard to go under the bottom fence wire and it's most useful purpose is clearing the fences, particularly now as we are in peak fire season and even a grass fire can do thousands of $ damage to the fence and that is before the cattle get out onto the road and start playing chicken with the cars.
A customer suggested mounting a leaf blower on the side and I am thinking of giving that a go.

Also remember you will end up with a lot of long grass stems which will need either raking ( burning/composting ) or remowing ( mulching ) if you are using the fields as pasture.