New 3038E owner, and I'd like to get a 3 pt brush hog or 3 pt mower for it. Planning to use it to clip pastures when sheep have been moved off (an acre at a time), and mowing a new 4 acre field 2-3 times per year. Don't need it to go through brush, just overgrown pasture plants up to 3' tall. Questions: brush hog or finish mower or other? Width? Brand recommendations? Thank you in advance.
Looking for recommendations for a brush hog or mower for 3038E
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3038E, AV20H Root Grapple, 370B Backhoe, BB50 Box Blade, RB20 Rear Blade, Woods BB72X Rotary Cutter
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I have a 3038E with a Woods BB72X Rotary Cutter. It's a beast. I got it wider than the tractor to get closer to obstacles and to finish a little quicker. I regularly cut the 2" stuff it's rated for and I have certainly gone over that with ease on occasion. For your application I'd still say it's better to have it and not need it. The only negatives I would add, and I have yet to look into it, is the annoying audible drone that develops right in the sweet spot between 530 and 570 rpms. Hopefully it's not normal. That and a finish mower would give a cleaner, more uniform cut at a set blade height. Good luck and congrats on the tractor!
A 3038 can run a 6’ implement no problem. You may want to look into a flail mower with hammer knives. This would be more of a hybrid between a finish mower and brush hog. The finish mower could get beat up going through thistles and other brushy things in a pasture. Check out Titan Implement, they’re based out of Tennessee
FL Series Mower | Titan Implement, LLC
FL Series Mower | Titan Implement, LLC
Your 3038E tractor has 30 PTO horsepower, and Rhino says their TS10 10 ft flex wing mower can be used on a tractor with as little as 25 PTO horsepower.
I love mine, and it does a beautiful job mowing. You can't see it in the picture, but there are 3 terraces on this field and I just sit a mower tire on top of the terrace and mow both sides before mowing the rest. Having a flex wing is a great way to go for larger areas. It doesn't scalp uneven ground like a 10 ft straight mower can do.
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It is very easy and smooth for the tractor PTO to spin up those 3 blade spindles.
I made the mistake of buying a very heavy duty 7 ft single spindle rotary cutter for my 4 series tractors, and only used it one time because it shook the tractor violently on start-up and I could even feel vibration like it was flexing the motor mounts when using it. I was afraid that it would damage the tractor. No more large single spindle mowers for me.
I love mine, and it does a beautiful job mowing. You can't see it in the picture, but there are 3 terraces on this field and I just sit a mower tire on top of the terrace and mow both sides before mowing the rest. Having a flex wing is a great way to go for larger areas. It doesn't scalp uneven ground like a 10 ft straight mower can do.
It is very easy and smooth for the tractor PTO to spin up those 3 blade spindles.
I made the mistake of buying a very heavy duty 7 ft single spindle rotary cutter for my 4 series tractors, and only used it one time because it shook the tractor violently on start-up and I could even feel vibration like it was flexing the motor mounts when using it. I was afraid that it would damage the tractor. No more large single spindle mowers for me.
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TS 10 if its in the budget is a great choice.
If your needing less expensive, I have become very partial to a flail type over a traditional brush hog style mower.
I am sure there is one of those that would work well just take a lot longer to mow vs a 10ft TS10.
However only mowing a few times a year I would think the flail would work quite well.
The Flail has a much smaller footprint compared to any of the traditional brush cutters, so storage takes up a lot less space. Also from what I am seeing the flail is really durable, no blades to get bent my an underlying stump or rock.
If your needing less expensive, I have become very partial to a flail type over a traditional brush hog style mower.
I am sure there is one of those that would work well just take a lot longer to mow vs a 10ft TS10.
However only mowing a few times a year I would think the flail would work quite well.
The Flail has a much smaller footprint compared to any of the traditional brush cutters, so storage takes up a lot less space. Also from what I am seeing the flail is really durable, no blades to get bent my an underlying stump or rock.
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It sounds like you are doing some rather light duty mowing and all these other suggestions are kind of overkill! You could use either a 5 or 6’ bush hog. I have had a Bush Hog brand, a Woods BB60, but my newest is a Land Pride Medium duty (heavier and more blade tip speed than the others) RCF2060. I have a lot of trees to mow around so I have a 5’ and it cuts very nicely. I cut my 6-7 acres and several neighbors properties and have not sharpened the blades after 2 seasons, it’s a tough machine!
I'm a new 3038e owner also, bought it Feb 2021. I recently bought a 1 year old RC2060 for my unit. clutch plate instead of shear pin, and front and rear chain debris guards. I found it on a FB marketplace search for 1500 locally. changed the gearbox oil as recommended before use. Runs great and happy with purchase. As much as you're hunting for one, someone on FB is looking to sell one, just a suggestion for the hunt.
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Thats an interesting unit.
Just don't see those up here ......JD dealer did have a twin gear box unit in today but no flex.
Whats a mower like that cost?........7K+++....I have no idea
Dan,
Unfortunately they are over $10K. Lots of parts. Looking on Tractor House, the 2021 models probably went up again. I don't think they have any competition at this time. Several people make a 12 ft flex wing (including John Deere), but since I already have a HX15 15 ft John Deere flex wing I use on my 6 series, I wanted the 10 ft for my 4 series tractors. It was a good choice.
Some used ones are finally starting to show up, so that is another option.
They make them for red, blue, and green tractors, but I had to wait 6 months to get a green one. I pulled ugly red flex wing mowers behind green tractors for years, and decided I wasn't going to do that anymore when it came time to upgrade.
I just upgraded from a 3038E to a bigger tractor. If your looking for a nice brush hog I have a John Deere one that won't work with my bigger tractor. Would be perfect for your tractor. PM if interested. Thanks.
Awesome setup.
This is certainly a job for a bush hog as a finish mower is used only for lawn grass. You do not want to mow more than a few inches at a time with a finish mower or you will plug it up.
Either a 5' or 6' bush hog would work fine. You are only cutting at most 4-5 acres at a time and often only one acre based on what you said, it won't take all that long to cut. You do not need a very heavy one as you say you are only cutting down 3' tall pasture grass and such at the worst. The 5' Frontier RC2060 mentioned above would be a very appropriate unit.
I would not recommend a 10' batwing for cutting only 4-5 acres as you will spend almost as much time backing up and turning as you will actually cutting the field. One would be more appropriate if you had 40-50 acres to cut and not 4-5. You can also buy four or five 5-6' light duty cutters for what one 10' batwing costs and a single spindle machine is much easier to maintain.
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I have a woods BB60XC which works well for me because I use it in the woods. If I had that HP tractor and I was mostly mowing over grown pastures in wide open spaces I would probably go with a 72 inch. I would no hesitate to buy a woods attachment again. Very high quality.
Mow 40 to 50 acres with a 10 ft mower? You certainly would if that is all you had, but given a choice, you would want something larger.
One of the fields I mow is 10 acres. I mowed it once with the 4 series and 10 ft flex wing, then went back to using the 6 series and 15 ft flex wing because it took too long with the 10 ft mower. Additionally, these compact tractors beat the crap out of you mowing fields, and the 6 series is smooth as silk.
4-5 acres is a pretty good fit for a 10 ft flex wing. I mow several smaller few acre patches that are very efficient to mow with the highly maneuverable eHydro 4052R with 10 ft flex wing. That is why I bought the 10 ft flex wing, and it has worked out well. It is not that large of a mower. The TS10 looks like a puppy next to the HX15.
What about a 78" flail mower? https://www.woodmaxx.com/product/woodmaxx-fm-78/?pto-hp=30&min-lift-capacity=1600#compatibility
I have a 60" one that my 25 hp (19 at the PTO) pulls with ease, now with my 3520 which is about the power you have I wish I had a 78".
I have a 60" one that my 25 hp (19 at the PTO) pulls with ease, now with my 3520 which is about the power you have I wish I had a 78".
Mowing 4-5 acres of mow-it-three-times-per-year pasture with a 6' bush hog at a typical speed of 3-3 1/2 MPH takes about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. I chose that speed as that's what speed I run at when I knock down field edges and unhayed portions of fields that fit the OP's description of what he will be doing, any faster and there's too much volume of material for the bush hog to digest and it slips the clutch. Running a 10' cutter would take roughly an hour and a half at that speed if and only if there is not much extra time spent in turning around and maneuvering around obstacles. I question if somebody could run a 10' mower at that speed with slightly over 30 PTO HP, but for the sake of argument, let's assume it is true. The OP would be spending an extra $7-10k or so to save only about 2-3 hours per year in mowing time as he would save roughly one hour per mow and he mows three times per year. Also, let's not forget that he probably will only be spending somewhere between 6 and 7 1/2 hours in the entire year mowing if he had a 6' cutter in mowing those fields, it's not like he is going to be mowing for 200+ hours per year. I also bet once you figure in maintenance time (there are a lot more things to lubricate and keep tightened on a batwing vs. a single spindle cutter), he may actually spend less total time with a 6' cutter or so instead of a 10' batwing. It may be a different story if you are contract mowing a bunch of fields and thus want to finish as absolutely quickly as you can, and have a lot of total hours of work to do as you are mowing a lot of acres in total, but that is a very different scenario from what the OP stated. That is why I recommended a 5-6' single spindle mower for the OP.
As far as the comment for the 10' mower being more appropriate for 40-50 acres, if you mowed 50 acres with a 10' unit at the same speeds mentioned above, it would take you about 15 hours to do this. A 15' unit would get done in 10-11 hours. There is a little time savings there but again, it's not tremendous. A 20' unit, which is the largest commonly available and which would require a whole lot larger tractor, would save you only about two good days' of work per year if you cut everything three times per year. So again, the total number of acres you cut in a year is quite important and the more acres, the larger and more expensive of equipment that can be really justified.
@mo1
You don't seem to understand how this works. It it fine to tell the OP what you recommend, but it is not fine for you to argue with me and tell anyone that my story about what works for me is invalid for anyone else.
You mow how you want to mow and share that information as you like, and I will do the same without your interference - thank you.
This is a discussion forum and differences of opinion without personal attacks are "how this works." Good day.
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