I made a $9 brush hog!

[Tripplebeards]

I’ve got the idea after some internet research. My buddy donated the lawn mower. It was bought new and had only mowed two lawns and stopped running. I found Burlap wrapped in the blade and the carb clogged. I cost $2.49 for a new spark plug, $2.99 for some carb cleaner, and I had a $10 off coupon from eBay so I bought a throttle cable to rig up for $3 with Coupon discount. I cut off the front of the deck so the blade sticks out about an inch. It cuts down small trees like a knife through butter. I guess I’ll see how long it lasts. I mowed a couple hundred yards of trails the last two days about as wide a truck could drive down no my property. Towards the end of my mowing session it bogged down and killed a couple of times. I’m sure it was because I removed the air filter a few times being it was packed with grass and probably had some dirt or grass Get into the carb. I cleaned the carb and air filter. I also sanded the grey colored build up on my plug afterwards and it started right up. It ran ruff at low idle but when I reved it up it ran smooth. I believe it was from some of the carb spray was wet in the air filter yet after I sprayed it to try and clean. I removed the foam filter and washed it with soap and water. Once it dries I’ll test it again. I’ll grab a new spark plug as well. I’m sure reving it up is hard on the plug as well. Works pretty good. Hopefully it lasts a while. I noticed when I moved the blade back and forth With my hand I could hear some metal on metal...I removed It to re sharpen. Once running I can’t hear any metal grinding. Normal? I figured it might just be just some dust and dirt causing the noise between the shaft and seal. I have huge ant hills I can’t see in the chest high brush I’m cutting till it’s to late and end up running them over. I poured a little oil on the seal where the shaft comes out and it seemed quieter. Well, I already got my money out of it if not and I’ll just keep using it till it stops runnning.

https://i.imgur.com/flJVxLK.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/Vd2h1MZ.jpg

[richhodg66]

I had thought about trying this. I have a walk behind string trimmer, but this might work better and Fall is coming when you can get all the cheap lawn mowers you want for next to nothing. Thanks for the right up, on my place here, keeping the brush back is a constant battle, I need to mow my little range when it stops raining long enough.

[JimB..]

That is awesome!

I’ve been using a saw blade on a straight shaft trimmer, but now I’m going to go find a cheap mower!

[Ed K]

CPSC would love that! (keep up the good work!)

[Neverhome]

Looks like the next contestant on Robot Wars!

[DougGuy]

Next time cut a jagged triangular row out of the front instead of a straight cut, fold them down, paint them white, SHARK teeth!!!! :bigsmyl2:

[bakerjw]

OSHA approved???
LOL...
Necessity is truly the mother of invention.

[swheeler]

I like it a lot, I may have to try this!

[WILCO]

Dang smart! Congratulations.

[Tripplebeards]

I reinstalled the air filter and put in a new spak plug a few minutes ago and she's running like a Top Again!!!! I believe the noise I was hearing might have just been the rings from the Piston going up and down the cylinder wall. The grinding noise I heard when rotating the blade by hand is not as noticable anymore but can still feel the and hear the scraping when moving the blade with my hand. I'm going to call it normal noise.

[country gent]

The "push " mowers may have the blade bolted directly to the crank shaft of the motor so be careful how hard you cut with it. The blade limited to 1" sticking out helps to limit the cut on harder objects like small trees and such.

One thing you might consider is straightening the "lifts" out on the back of the blade leaving a flat blade. Our heavy brush hogs dont have fits on the blades just the heavy bar sharpened on the front edge Its almost a square edge instead of the knife edge.

[Tripplebeards]

I sharpened the blade up this morning as well. The ant hills made the blade duller than a butter knife....but it still cut brush without
an issue. Just make sure there is no one in front of you when mowing. It kicks everything out at a 45 degree angle in front of the mower to the right. I watched a chunk of wood fly a good 20 yards and land in a tree about 30 feet high.

[Tripplebeards]

Next time cut a jagged triangular row out of the front instead of a straight cut, fold them down, paint them white, SHARK teeth!!!! :bigsmyl2:

That was my plan...after I already cut it.lol...it got black marker teeth and eye balls...next time real teeth!

[mattw]

Anyone remember these, they were fine machines... ran one often. Talk about safe! :)
265426

[megasupermagnum]

I tried one on an old mower I had. The problem for me was that mine was not powerful enough. It was I think a 3 hp. I ended up doing the same thing to a riding lawn mower with an 18 hp engine, and that really eats the stuff up. The only thing to watch for is you will start to shear flywheel keys if you hit bigger stuff. So if it starts to run weird, that is one place to look. A key is only 50 cents, so no big deal.

[Jack Beauregard]

You guys frighten me :D

[mattw]

Those old Bachtold mowers were gems. Mowed fence rows and water ways with one as a kid to young adult. They would cut things like cat tails and 5 foot tall brush like butter. Just never get in front of it while it was running, about 3 inches of blade out front of the guard. Really wish I still had it for wild roses and wild raspberry plants.

[popper]

Looks like a honda motor, you can't hardly kill them. Most mowers these days have a blade brake that wears out fast and rubs the shaft. Yrs ago neighbor just about got hit by a rock tossed by tractor pulled brush hog about 100 yds away. Ran over a gravel pile, rocks went through chain guard. She just ****** - had her infant in her arms - broke the door sidelight window and embedded in sheet rock inside the house. She was walking out the door. yup, 100 cal miniball. The light steel deck won't stop anything.

[Winger Ed.]

Cool project.

I'd definitely cut the lifting edges off the rear of the blade, and get a spare flywheel key or two.

[Tripplebeards]

Day number three and I’m all done with mowing. Worked great again! That’s a good idea with cutting off the bent edges of the blade so It won’t kick debris up and away and just forward.

[Dapaki]

Heres my baby... well, 35 years later, it dont look so nice any more but it cuts 3" saplings still!

https://www.cpsc.gov/~/link/7a470a36cacd4eda8f2109ca549e70dd.jpg

[Conditor22]

Anyone remember these, they were fine machines... ran one often. Talk about safe! :)
265426



Yes I believe it's called a high wheel grass cutter

[Tripplebeards]

Heres my baby... well, 35 years later, it dont look so nice any more but it cuts 3" saplings still!

https://www.cpsc.gov/~/link/7a470a36cacd4eda8f2109ca549e70dd.jpg


After I cut my deck open I mowed my yard and accidentally bumped the telephone pole... you should see the chunk it took out of that!

[fcvan]

Love It! I think I will make the cuts, ad hinges and latches so I can open up the beast, or mow the lawn. You can guarantee this is useful. My wife will never know . . .

[Tripplebeards]

Here’s some more show n tell...

https://i.imgur.com/jKCCHm7.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zp8w0Ik.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/DIgcqj0.jpg

I was cutting through brush and weeds higher than my head today. The deer are already using the trails. There’s fresh deer poop all up and down the trails. There are also a family of woodcock that sit and call out in the brush and aren’t even scared by my loud mower either. I did have some grass build up catch fire on the deck by the muffler today so I now make sure to clean off the deck quite often.

[country gent]

You accomplish a couple things removing the lifts from them. With just grass they create an uplift air flow that raise the grass to cut and helps it flow out the exhaust. They also thriw tings a little more. They also make a much wider cut on the edge in heavy stuff. By removing them the blade only cuts the 3/16-1/4" width in heavy things instead of the 1/2" - 3/4" it does when its there.

[Tripplebeards]

I might have to mow a section and throw some clover seeds down for a quick food plot. My dirt is mostly clay so it’s hard as a rock. I don’t know how many horse a 139 cc engine is but like mega said his wasn’t enough horse power. Mine wouldn’t have probably been either if I didn’t rig up a throttle cable to it. I can rev it up and it sounds like a race car.lol. I don’t keep it full throttle for long periods of time but just for thick brush in smaller saplings I want to buzz through quick.

[oneofsix]

I have an old high wheel mower, might see if I can mount it to the front of my lawn tractor and clear some brush...
Knocking off/down the lifts on the blade is a great idea!


I also have a saw blade on a straight shaft weed eater, but it's heavy.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

[country gent]

Balancing the blade when you sharpen it will make things last a lot longer.

We had an old gravely rough service mower. Dad had several attachments for it, A blade 3' a reel mower, a heavy rotary and a sickle bar. Was only a 3 or 4 horse motor. But when Dad snagged the antenna cable by the time he got it shut off the reel mower had it 4' off the ground. LOL

[10x]

This is an incredible idea.
The only mod I would do is to replace the solid blade with a small flywheel and have 4 shorter blades that pivot attached to the fly wheel. This would reduce shock to the crankshaft

[Tripplebeards]

As a tip I can tell you the mowing went a way faster where I drove my 4 wheeler through previously as it packed a lot of the brush down already. It’s going to be nice not to get soaked walking to my stand in the morning from the overnight dew and not to mention complete quiet and not having the black cap bush thorns poking through my thin camos. I dragged the mower up through the woods to the top of my ridge yesterday only to find it was to rocky to mow. I don’t don’t own a gas powered weed wacker so I’ll go old school and use my harbor freight machete again like last year.

[10x]

As a tip I can tell you the mowing went a way faster where I drove my 4 wheeler through previously as it packed a lot of the brush down already. It’s going to be nice not to get soaked walking to my stand in the morning from the overnight dew and not to mention complete quiet and not having the black cap bush thorns poking through my thin camos. I dragged the mower up through the woods to the top of my ridge yesterday only to find it was to rocky to mow. I don’t don’t own a gas powered weed wacker so I’ll go old school and use my harbor freight machete again like last year.

A few years back I was in Rundu Namibia. The local government office had 5 guys with extremely sharp machetes mowing lawn in front of their administrative building.
They had a Husqvarna 2 stroke weed trimmer to do the edges. The Husqvarna also served to dispatch black and green mambas that were coming into Rundu because the Okavanga river was in flood due rains in Angola. Green mambas - known as one step snakes and black mambas - known as 2 step snakes- are very aggressive and will chase and bite anything or anyone that annoys them. A weed whacker makes short work of them
I asked a local about the difference between a green and black mamba. His reply "one step".

[Johnch]

I like your idea !!

But after seeing your idea
I have a better one ( Maybe )
I bought a almost free used Walker Zero Turn mower a few weeks ago for parts , as it was the same as the one I already have
It had a area broken off the front of the deck
Someone had repaired the broken area 1 or 2 times .... lots of BAD welds

Wonder if I can cut more of the front of the deck off ?
To make 3 areas to cut tall weeds
I will have to go over areas to get the weeds missed
But I only need paths to walk through the woods
As I use Brush spray and a tractor and 8' bush hog for brush control

John

[FrontSite]

Next time cut a jagged triangular row out of the front instead of a straight cut, fold them down, paint them white, SHARK teeth!!!! :bigsmyl2:

I used triangle cuts of the shiny "furnace" tape. to make teeth for a stage prop bear trap looked great!

[dverna]

I am surprised more people are not hurt with brush hogs. I sold mine after the first year.

[mattw]

Bushhogs... Have you seen the ones that mount on the front of a Bobcat and only have spring loaded bars covering the blades on the front? They will cut down 4-5 inch trees on the go. They are used to mow powerline runs. They do make me worry as the blades are much wider and thicker than a standard bushhog blade, lots of horse power also. I really like a flail mower for this kind of work.

[megasupermagnum]

I am surprised more people are not hurt with brush hogs. I sold mine after the first year.

I've been running them for years for others, but never owned one myself other than my chopped up mower. Used to use one on a farm that went onto a tractor. It isn't happening this year, but in the past I've ran the walk behind Billygoat's clearing trails for OHM single track trails in state forests and other land. The only big threat I see is it is usually rough terrain, and now with little nubs of brush making it easy to fall and hurt yourself. For the unit themselves, I don't see what is so dangerous. The tractor mounted one is no danger. A sickle blade is more dangerous, but is only really for grass. The walk behind Billygoat brand unit, I don't think I've ever had them kick out rocks or anything. The blades aren't turning fast, maybe 1/3rd the speed of your average lawn mower. I wish I could afford a big walk behind like a Billygoat, they run $1500 to $2000. My riding mower works, and other than flipping, I don't see how it is any more dangerous than mowing the lawn.

[jcren]

First, great idea! Second, as far as the safety of brush hogs, I am a country boy and learned to drive a standard on a tractor. When I was 8 or 9 I was assigned to brush hog the pastures with a Ferguson to-30 and a 5 foot brush hog to earn my buscuits during the summer. Not my first time brush hogging mind you, but on one lap under some pecan trees, I was caught by surprise by a low limb and it lifted me off the old style pan seat and dropped me on my back on the top link bar. The good lord was watching over me that day, as a few inches either way would have been under the hog.

[megasupermagnum]

Oh yes, an old school tractor could be bad. No guard on the PTO either I'm sure. The tractor I was in had a full cab, AC, radio. It was like mowing from the living room. I loved that job.

[10x]

Oh yes, an old school tractor could be bad. No guard on the PTO either I'm sure. The tractor I was in had a full cab, AC, radio. It was like mowing from the living room. I loved that job.

The guard on a P.T.O. shaft is a "wonderful concept". Just another annoyance that will try to kill you when something goes wrong with a universal joint.
I have incredible respect for P.T.O shafts, so much so that a guard on the shaft is redundant.
My brother in laws farm with GPS assist. They read books or cruise the internet while babysitting the equipment they are running.

[john.k]

Yep ,I got a biggish tractor and a 7ft wide "slasher"they call em here.....Getting pretty rusty after 40 yr out in the weather ,but still works good.Blades are solid steel 3/4" thick ,lots of weight if they get loose too....Bolts are about 1/2 way thru ,must replace them when I think of it.One time the slasher threw a lump of wood ,round and smooth like a football ,was going straight for the big front window on the house over the road.....turned aside at the last few bumps ,and hit the brick wall.....the people were watching ,and poured out like angry wasps....I pretended I didnt see it ......serves em right for complaining to the council about my back paddock.

[Thin Man]

I get only a few chances to go to the hunting camp in the summer to keep the yard in order. The grass grows thick and fast there so I use a Ferguson 35 tractor and 5 foot cutter for my lawn mower. Gotta keep the yard cleaned off so I can watch for snakes - hate 'em don't you know. A few years ago I was mowing when a real loud noise sounded off and the cutter began shaking real bad. Shut down the tractor and looked under the cutter to see only 1 blade present where there should have been 2. Next I found a ragged slash torn in the side of the deck facing the neighbor's pasture. Never did find that blade, guess it traveled 2 zip codes before it ran out of steam.

[dverna]

I've been running them for years for others, but never owned one myself other than my chopped up mower. Used to use one on a farm that went onto a tractor. It isn't happening this year, but in the past I've ran the walk behind Billygoat's clearing trails for OHM single track trails in state forests and other land. The only big threat I see is it is usually rough terrain, and now with little nubs of brush making it easy to fall and hurt yourself. For the unit themselves, I don't see what is so dangerous. The tractor mounted one is no danger. A sickle blade is more dangerous, but is only really for grass. The walk behind Billygoat brand unit, I don't think I've ever had them kick out rocks or anything. The blades aren't turning fast, maybe 1/3rd the speed of your average lawn mower. I wish I could afford a big walk behind like a Billygoat, they run $1500 to $2000. My riding mower works, and other than flipping, I don't see how it is any more dangerous than mowing the lawn.

I must be unlucky. I have had large stones thrown 20-30yards. One was split in half.

Last year I was riding in a UTV following a tractor running a brush hog clearing trail. I told the idiot to back off as we were too close. A few minutes later we saw a good size rock whip out from under the unit. My idiot friend looked at my sheepishly.

I would not operate one within 50 yards of a building, person or vehicle unless I was certain there were no rocks, stones, bricks or chucks of firewood in the grass.

But I admit, I may not not know how to adjust one to operate it safely.

[megasupermagnum]

I was more referring to to the safety of the operator. I think anything with spinning blades has the potential to sling things towards someone down range. I'm not aware of any adjustment, although it does seem like the walk behind units have some form of clutch to stop hard hits. Most people may not know since they don't have rocks in their yard, but a lawn mower will chuck rocks like you wouldn't believe. One of the most impressive things about brush cutters is how well the blades hold up, even when you've been hitting rocks. We all know one good hit on a lawnmower can trash the blades. I attribute this to the fact that brush cutter blades are turning much slower. I don't know what the exact speed is, but by sound I would guess they are about half the speed of a lawn mower.

There is no doubt there is some risk in using a mower for brush cutting as Tripplebeards and myself do. I would just say wear pants and boots, safety glasses, and stay aware.

[john.k]

On the bigger slashers ,nothing on the blades is rigid.....they can fold right back right up to the centre shaft if a big enough obstacle is hit ....mine has stalled an 80 hp tractor,and cut a piece of 3/8 steel in half ,without apparent damage......The blades wear round on the cutting edge ,and I leave them like that for max impact strength........sure ,you get a much smoother cut with a sharp edge ,but coarse grass and weeds are very abrasive ,and the edges are soon rounded again.Welding up with hardfacing is possible ,but I wont do it ,as the blades might be made brittle,and you dont want a 10 lb blade flying off.... it might shred the tractor tyre,at worst ,hit an animal or person.

[Tripplebeards]

I wore steel toes and jeans in 98 degree weather while cutting. Should have worn safety glasses and will next time. When I first cut out the front of the mower and got it running I zip tied the start bar down to let it run for a while to clean out and residual varnish in the carb. I had it sitting in my garage. I walked in front of it a few minutes later and has Murphy’s law would have it something flew out of it and hit me in the leg. I still have a bloody scab where I was hit. I only got hit in the leg with some debris two or three times when cutting. Mostly pieces of wood left from downed trees when the county cleaned around my telephone poles and left a mess a few years back. I’m down to clearing about a 150 yards with my weed wacker up on my ridge line. I have three batteries I use when doing so. They normally get about 75 yards each before draining then I use a machete till I’m wore out. I have to hang my deer cams, fix one no trespassing sign that three of the four screws ripped out so the sign is blowing around, and knock a few fire ant hills flat that are in my 4 wheeler trail. My soil is almost solid clay and the hills are are over a foot tall and like cement. A pointed shovel won’t brake them down. I’m taking an axe to knock them down and some gas with me today just in case the hills aren’t vacant.

[Texas by God]

I have a DRmower with the circular chain saw on it. Best thing ever for briar thickets or rose hedges. I like dangerous home made power equipment- takes me back to my childhood when I slept with a fan made from a car motor fan and a refrigerator motor. No blade guard. Believe me, you only ran into it once in the dark to learn!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G930A using Tapatalk

[gwpercle]

Oh ...brush hog
I thought you said " I made a $9.00 Hog Brush " and wanted to see it...danged aixelsyd !!!
My hog does need brushing ... never mind.

[merlin101]

I use an old Gravely L model walk behind with about a 30-36" cut, the blade is about 3" wide and gotta be 3/8" or so thick. Works like a charm, gives me a good work out steering it too!

[Ozark mike]

Years ago i had a good 12hp off a rider and a push mower with a bad motor so i married the two together. It was to heavy to use after a good rain looked crazy but would turn 4x4s into wood chips. best mower i ever had need to build another jus like it

[Tripplebeards]

Just wanted to give an update. I used it to clear a little spot to plant some clover for a food plot two days ago. I was just finishing up and got to close to a poplar tree with about a 6" trunk. I killed the mower and went almost threw the trunk! I figured I'd finish it off and slowly push against the rest of the trunk. It killed the mower again...and bent the blade to the point it was sticking into the ground. The blade shifted, shearing off the raised key looking attachment spot in the middle and both outter raised round bumps to hold it in place as well. I thought I wrecked the mower because when I pulled it over the blade was jammed into the ground making it feel like it was locked up. It also puked oil out either by me pulling it over when the blade was jammed in the dirt or when I tipped it over to in spect the blade. I bought a new universal blade on clearance at walmart today and a new blade attachment at ACE.for $8.99. I also cleaned the inch thick of grass build up on
the air filter and changed the oil. The oil looked pretty watery like it had gas mixed in it...along with some silver shavings. The oil didn't smell like gas so it might just have been really broke down. I never changed the oil previously so the shavings could have been pre existing. I drained it and replaced with high milage synthetic blend 10w20. After the oil change and air filter cleaning I started it and ran smooth like it was brand new again! It let out a puff of smoke but immediately cleared up. I had oil soaked in the air filter for some reason when I cleaned the grass out of it so I would assume that it sucked in the carb and caused the smoke when I started it. I'll remove the air filter and clean the oil out and re test it. I'm staying away from trees bigger than 3" from now on. I'm re naming the mower to Herbie. Lol it just won't die.

[megasupermagnum]

Try a thicker oil, a 15w40 diesel oil works good. The thin 20 wt oils might be what is soaking your oil filter.

[Tripplebeards]

Makes sense. I’ll have to grab a quart. I don’t know what oil it had in it when got it but it was pretty thin. I’m sure it was what ever Walmart included with yard machines mowers. Cheap junk. I’m going to have to figure out how to make a mesh bag or screen to fit over the air filter cover so it doesn’t suck so much grass in...and so quickly.

[Tripplebeards]

I took it out and mowed today. Just went over part of the trail. About 15 minutes of mowing. It ran good but I could see a little oil burning off the top of engine for some reason. It also looked like it was smoking under the deck. It still ran good. When I got home I washed the mower off so I could inspect. The new oil, that I overfilled, looked like grey milk. I tested the compression and it’s down to 45. About half of what it should be. I would assume gas is getting past the rings and into the oil. I’m done mowing for the year. I’ll start looking for another donor push mower. Hopefully I can use the blade and adaptor I bought yesterday for the new one. I’ll keep mowing with this one till it dies. My guess is it won’t take long. I’ll pick up some 15w40 and dump it into the mower when I find some to see if it extends what life is left in this mower.

[Tripplebeards]

Finally had a change to look at it today. I checked the head bolts. One I was able to to tighten a hair. I did not find any oil leaks. I tried my cheap harbor freight compression tester again but tightened it down this time with a wrench instead of just finger tight. It had 60 PSI. After the compression test I dumped the old oil. It didn't look bad at all. I'm guessing the silver shavings I saw must of settled to the bottom or weren't anywhere as bad as I thought. I cleaned out the oil tank with mineral spirits and filled the tank back up with a whole bottle of STP oil treatment which is like Honey. Got the bottle given to me from the restore shop. Someone dropped it off and no one wanted it
I added a little 80 90 gear oil to top it off I had left over from my boats lower unit fill up. The mower starts right up on the first pull. Runs like it's new and doesn't smoke. I'm sure I was just being paranoid after I bent the blade. I'm guessing it will last a long time unless I hit another big sapling. Hog on!!

Update...
I just dripped some seafoam into the carb while it was running a few times. I then mowed with it for 20 minutes and hot soaked the engine with seafoam for a good 15 minutes. When I re started it the mower blew out a ton of white thick smoke from the exhaust for a good 10 minutes. I'll have to retest the compression again and see if cleaning it helped.

[Tripplebeards]

It’s still going strong! I mowed 17 acres worth of trails in two days. The muffler bolts magically came loose and flew off on day one. I kept mowing with it. It did get hot enough to quit running. I figured it was down for the count. I grabbed my newly fabricated brush hog mower #2. I made it a few weeks back and mowed with it for a couple minutes till the throttle adjustment came loose. Because it came loose it was mowing at a really low idle. I shut the new one off and went back to the old, original mower that quit. It pulled over hard like it was seizing up. I pulled it again and it started! I mowed for another hour and half with it. I tightened up the muffler putting new nuts and washers on it when I got home the first night. I then mowed with it all day again yesterday. That ATD mower won’t quit!


You can see where I started and stopped right before my little white clover patch. It was easier to mow, and went a lot faster, this year since the small trees and “real heavy” brush got mowed down on the same trails last year.

https://i.imgur.com/UrRG5JY.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/R9zyliM.jpg

I tossed out 5 pounds of white clover on the trail here going all the way back to the shack…

https://i.imgur.com/O6xYNaV.jpg

I did not want to mow over my clover patch I planted last year since my brush hog mower cuts low enough it would probably kill it. I took my weed eater with and gave it a good trimming being it had tall weeds growing in it.

https://i.imgur.com/KT6IwF1.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jU7wcAZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/wQYDXHz.jpg

I did loose the rear plastic shield towards the end of the day. It seems to push easier now. I scattered 5 pounds of clover seed in front to the shack after after I was done mowing. Glad the rain is coming down right now…a day after it was forecasted.

[Conditor22]

Another important feature is having a good-sized opening to discharge the grass.

With a rear discharge mower, you wire the rear door open and hang a heavy canvas/towels to stop anything from hitting you.

[pworley1]

I can see one of these in my future.

[lksmith]

The guard on a P.T.O. shaft is a "wonderful concept". Just another annoyance that will try to kill you when something goes wrong with a universal joint.


yeah the guards sure make it hard to hook and unhook them, not to mention complicating greasing and a great way to cut your wrists with the plastic. But they sure do help keep you from getting wrapped up or getting brush wrapped on the shaft. Nothing like having a briar vine whip you across the back/back of the head at 540RPM, when it wraps the shaft

[lksmith]

I get only a few chances to go to the hunting camp in the summer to keep the yard in order. The grass grows thick and fast there so I use a Ferguson 35 tractor and 5 foot cutter for my lawn mower. Gotta keep the yard cleaned off so I can watch for snakes - hate 'em don't you know. A few years ago I was mowing when a real loud noise sounded off and the cutter began shaking real bad. Shut down the tractor and looked under the cutter to see only 1 blade present where there should have been 2. Next I found a ragged slash torn in the side of the deck facing the neighbor's pasture. Never did find that blade, guess it traveled 2 zip codes before it ran out of steam.

had similar thing happen on my hog. I got lucky in that the blade wasn't thrown it just dropped straight down when the 7/8" came out of the blade

[lksmith]

I was more referring to to the safety of the operator. I think anything with spinning blades has the potential to sling things towards someone down range. I'm not aware of any adjustment, although it does seem like the walk behind units have some form of clutch to stop hard hits..
on a tractor mounted unit, the front is usually adjusted to angle downward a little so that anything thrown will be thrown away from the operator

[Tripplebeards]

I had to give my “original, gen. 1” homemade brush hog a sermon today. It was a good mower and I’ll miss it. I beat the snot out of it over the last couple of trail mowings. I have to say that mower lasted WAY longer than I thought it ever would have. I had to use a vise grips to pinch the starting lever open last time I was out with it because the cable broke that holds down the starting handle. I started it in the garage today after sitting since last summer. It started making loud banging noises and launched the connecting rod out the side of block! It hit my boat trailer and made a hell of bang. Good thing I made a back up brush hog 2 seasons ago. I basically have a twin to it. I’ll be using it the next couple of days to clear saplings out and make a food plot. I have another buddy that has a twin do this mower, unmodified of course. I just sent him a picture and he said he would donate me his for the cause!

https://i.imgur.com/r95hXIB.jpg

[Fishman]

What a saga! :)

[elmacgyver0]

Well, you got some good use out of it, you probably got your money's worth.
What was it? $9.00?

[Tripplebeards]

Free and I bought a throttle cable for $9! Saved the cable for the next one. I did wreck the original blade and bought a replacement and a new chuck that I kept as well. Can’t wait to make another one for a spare to the 2nd one I made, and still have, that’s going strong.

[gwpercle]

Next time cut a jagged triangular row out of the front instead of a straight cut, fold them down, paint them white, SHARK teeth!!!! :bigsmyl2:
:goodpost:
Then paint it like one of General Clair Chennault's P-40 Warhawks of the AVG's "Flying Tigers" and WWII fame ... Awesome !
Gary

[Tripplebeards]

I did make shark teeth on the second gen.lol

[Brassmonkey]

Glad to see another ready to take its place, last one someone posted had an 11hp Briggs, that machine would just eat! I cleared an acre overgrown with brush thorns and little sapling like trees I'm no arborist haha. 22" 4hp briggs mower knocked it all down but didn't survive the task.

[RKJ]

That was a good tale. That little mower sure earned it's keep. I would have never thought of a push mower as a brush hog but it sure did a good job.

[Tripplebeards]

When it rains it pours!!!! I wrecked my back up today! I hit a bunch of hidden stumps while clearing for a clover food plot. After hitting about the 100th stump today, give or take, my my mower stopped as usual. But this last time it locked up. I turned it upside down and pushed the blade till it freed up the motor. I then pulled it over. It pulled over really easy with little to no compression and a pinging noise. Darn it! Lol. Well, I called my food plot big enough since I'm currently out of "brush hogs". I have 2 mowers in my garage I found I will getting running so I can make a couple more. The back up was kinda wimpy vs the original hog I made anyways. Kinda shocked it lasted as long as it did too.

[Tripplebeards]

I worked on 4 free mowers i and a buddy picked up during our last big trash day. The Toro,not pictured, went back to the trash because it had no spark. I didn't have a replacement coil similar to its style laying around to test. The other three I got up and running this morning. The red one was missing its carburetor and coil. It was my buddies. He said it ran fine but needed the parts for another mower. Luckily It was the same engine as the 2nd one I blew up. I had it pieced back together in an hour and running like new. The green one with the big wheels needed a recoil pull handle and longer rope. I sill have to take one off the junk mowers. The carburetor and air filter was clogged. Fifteen minutes later I had it running like new. The last green one I went threw last week. It was running but still acted like it was starving for fuel and sputtering. I already cleaned the plastic carburetor three times with no luck. A buddy had an extra briggs and Stratton carburetor and tank laying around in his junk parts bin. I cleaned the replacement carburetor and tank. Then installed it. Number three after 15 minutes time also runs like new!!! These are all 22" mowers and my first two were 20" so I've upgraded! The three Amigo's will be getting the front decks cut our tomorrow for hoggin!!!
https://i.imgur.com/0KcQTQ2.jpg


Here's what is left of my 2 original hogs...
https://i.imgur.com/6QeEZfO.jpeg


The one block went in the trash. Think someone grabbed it for scrap metal. I'm sure they'll come back for these. They already snagged the toro. I stripped them and threw the parts in a 5 gal pail...just in case.