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Mt Zion 520H

Can 520-h go over after brush-hog chopped down...

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Mt Zion 520H

So; i've got a few questions. Lol.

Neighbor across street got permission to level off some brush behind me and i'm wondering if it's now safe to go over it with my 520-h??

Pic being posted to give an idea of what ground looks like now.

Can the horse handle it safely??

If so; the slower the better i'd imagine right??

I'd imagine probably best to shave off 1 - 2 ft at a time instead of trying to run the whole 48" over at once right??

Sharp blades to cut or not so sharp to whack/chop??

Any tips or tricks and advice greatly appreciated brothers.

IMG_20170718_072349_01.jpg

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WVHillbilly520H

I wouldn't hesitate to "chop" that up with my 520/48" combo, but only with a set of used blades that was ''sharp" that way if you do find something "hard" it's not ruining your "best" set of blades, and yes go slow deck gauge wheels to highest level and not a full swath then go back over it lowering the gauge wheels in steps to where it's acceptable to you, just my :twocents-02cents:, Jeff.

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Sarge

When clearing lots , it's not a bad idea to have someone ahead of you walking the area you're going to cut to watch for large, heavy debris - that can destroy deck spindles and break blades . I've cleared quite a few overgrown lots over the years and it's tough to see exactly what the deck will hit from the seat of the tractor . Slow and light passes is best to chop the stuff up and I've even had to use a second unit with a blade to push piles out of the way to get through the stuff it was so heavy . Unknown properties that are overgrown become garbage collectors and can have anything you can imagine hidden in that brush/grass - pieces of steel , concrete and things like that can destroy a deck and potentially hurt someone nearby - even across a fair distance when a blade shatters so be aware of those things . I hit a steel coil "load lock" made from 1/4" flat iron once , broke 1/3 off a blade and shot that through the deck as well as a steel building on the neighboring property - thankfully no one was hurt . Used to have pictures here of mowers brought over by friends and neighbors for repairs after hitting hard objects , water shutoff curb valves are always the worst as they are hard cast steel and capable of bending a crankshaft in a push mower , not to mention the hole in the deck from the broken blade and it's owner with an ER visit . Just some heads up stuff , there's a reason to use industrial brush mowers to clear lots like this and avoid damaging equipment not designed to do this work .

 

Be safe and might want to wear safety glasses to avoid the ricochet of stuff hitting the front tires and getting you in the face - just had a small rock hit my glasses last week and left a nice chip in an expensive lens .

 

Sarge

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Mt Zion 520H

Thank you WVHillbilly520H for your input.

Thank you also Sarge; for your experience, cautions and dangers. Maybe i'll just ask neighbor to make another pass or 2 with his machine to ground it up a little more.

Maybe set it on fire after to turn it to ash and i can pick out any debris after a few good rainy days wash it out. Lol.

 

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Sarge

Actually , if burning is possible per local ordinances - that isn't a bad idea and would prevent possible damage or injury , plus it would dispose of the brush at the same time...

 

Sarge

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ohiofarmer

 The biggest problem you have with so much vegetation is that you use so much power spitting the excess out of the mower. It is pretty hard on belts as well I have had luck with using a large leaf blower clearing the already cut stuff away or piling it up and then dragging it away with tarps on to a trailer. Maybe there is even room on the lot to make a compost pile?

 

 When it is just lawn grass, I mow it high and then use the blower to move it after drying out for a day. The next mowing usually finishes the job. What you Don't want to do is mow wet grass high and then try to chop it up fine right away. Makes a mess.

 

 I have the biggest blower that Stihl makes, but that just means that I can make bigger piles. Good luck. I am sure you can figure out what to do.

 

 I recently mowed a lot with grass higher than the hood. First pass was holding the mower with the handle raised all the way up in the transport position. I found that I was going over hidden fallen limbs as much as 2" in diameter . i was able to then pick up the limbs and get the lot mowed without getting caught in the blades

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Edited by ohiofarmer
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littleredrider

I've been mowing stuff higher than those that and larger sticks/branches/bushes. The 518 with the 16 horse and thjnk 36" rear discharge does pretty good. Biggest issue is the belt, I went thru 2 already. Go slow, shape blades, and at the most half the width of the deck to start, then go back over it. And make sure to keep the blower housing free of leaves and grass. Mine gets plugged up pretty easily.....

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tunahead72

Great advice so far.  Also keep an eye out for anything that could puncture a tire.

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EricF

Myself, I'd be inclined to go skim over those loose branches, partially-embedded roots or saplings and general trash with a 'dozer blade first and build up a couple of piles to haul away or burn, if it's allowed. Just skim over the ground, don't dig in. Heaven knows the 520H has the power to push stuff around all day. It'll help save your blades and deck from wear and damage you really don't want.

 

Even after pushing the big trash away, you'll probably still wind up with a lot of small stuff that's not great on the blades -- great if you can rake some of that up and haul to the rest of the piles in a wagon. If not take it slow and make a pass with the deck all the way up, then another pass with it lower to take it easy on your equipment.

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Mt Zion 520H

Sarge.. I have a lot of space bit wonder how i'd keep the fire under control.. Keep from lighting the whole feild. Lol.

 

ohiofarmer.. Thanks for the tips and pic. Wow. Lol. I have just over 2 acres adjacent the freshly chopped field. No divider.. So compost pile would be easy. I just don't have anything to do the work with. Just have the 520h with 48" deck. Would have to ask neighbor if he'd do it all for me with his machines.

 

Thanks littleredrider.. Will keep sharp blades and keep away the buildup.

 

tunahead72.. Where do punctures usually happen.. Sidewalls or tread? Think i'll buy some ride-on for the tires.

 

EricF.. Yeah; like i said just above.. I will have to rely on neighbor for all of that because i don't have any of that equipment. Lol. He could run thru my property easy and might even have a tiller and rock collector. Lol. I'll get a hold of him and see what he can and is willing to do for me here. Lol.

 

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EricF

Yeah, clearing a long-neglected area takes a while, even for landscapers who have all the right equipment. Right now, I've got a neighbor across the street who's clearing a long back yard of brush and trash after a number of trees were cut down. And right behind him, another landowner is clearing out several lots. The neighbor is doing it all himself and with the help of three energetic boys, and the other landowner has a paid work crew and basic equipment. Neither one is making progress any faster than the other. The fast way is just to hire a big bulldozer operator in to scrape it all up and have it hauled away, but loosing topsoil is never a good thing, especially here where the soil is sandy -- take that away and you'll have to truck loam back in to spread so you can get grass growing. Big equipment gets it done a lot faster, but it's expensive.

 

Depending on cost, you might consider getting a pull-behind rake or harrow for the 520, or just drag an old bedspring with it to scrape up the little stuff. Even a de-thatcher set high could help rake up some of the junk.

 

Where I grew up, about half of the neighborhood was empty lots that were slowly being sold and developed, one-by-one. I got to see quite a few houses get built from the ground up. Clearing lots was usually done by scraping lightly with a big bulldozer to get the small trees and big trash piled up for hauling away or burning. The remains were roughly leveled and spread with the 'dozer or an articulated loader, and any remaining big rocks were hauled off. That was good enough until the house was up and it was time to clean up to make the lawn. By then, a backhoe/FEL combo tractor had done all the foundation digging and drainage grading (Big track-hoes weren't a thing back then...) The lawn area was cleaned up and cleared by running a drag over the whole area with a utility tractor, usually a Cub or a small Ford. The drag was almost always an old bedspring. Once in a while, a crew would have a "fancy" setup with a rake and a proper harrow, but junk bedsprings were cheap and did the job. Drag an area, occasionally knock the junk off the thing and hand-rake it into little piles to haul off or burn, drag a little more and repeat a few times, then smooth it one more time with the drag and call it done. Seeding for a lawn was done by just broad-casting seed over the ground after dragging it. No fancy seeders or hydro-seeding. They'd toss some straw over the front yard area and around the house to protect the seed; the back yard seed mostly was left to do the best it could. And that was it. Today, I'd suggest running over the area with at least a spike aerator before seeding, but over-seeding the cleared area should help fill it back in to keep the weeds at bay.

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WVHillbilly520H

If you have the rear rock shaft and lift cable with the clevis hitch then you could buy/rent yourself a "york" rake like mine it does a fairly good job, plus I have the rear scraper blade dad built when I was a child, and the front snow/dozer blade does ok but doesn't lift very high unlike the older Cub Cadets, Jeff.

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Edited by WVHillbilly520H
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Sarge

Now you know why many of us have more than one tractor and many attachments - it's for doing larger scale work . I usually have at least 3 and can easily swap out stuff as needed , blade/disk/harrow/ripper/grader/blower and a 10" plow -  mostly for gardening work and doing grading . if that area is 2 acres - you'll need bigger equipment or a lot of time to tackle something that big . We've done some large scale profiling work here , but that was with the assistance of a buddy's mid-compact tractor w/loader , rear blade and tiller . He would break up a large area , use the loader to dump it in my big trailer and I'd haul it to the low areas and dump it for leveling with my blades . We moved over 50cu/yds of soil but the top here is almost 3' thick - other spots in this area can exceed 12' of rich black top soil when I worked the last pipeline job ....it's at the end of the glacier flows in Illinois .

 

Front long frame blades aren't hard to find but you need the extension for the 520 - I believe someone had posted a drawing or at least the dimensions to have one made .

 

Sarge

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Mt Zion 520H

EricF.. That's interesting about the bed spring.. Lol. I'll have to see if i can find some youtube vids on that. Lol. Thanks for the info and tips. I have a feeling he may do it for me.. And maybe get him to turn everything up to seed. I'll look out for him somehow in return. One hand washes the other.

 

WVHillbilly520H.. I'm not sure if my rear has the lift mechanism or not.. Will check but don't think so. Hmm.. Like your pops build though. Haha.

 

Sarge.. Yes; i too wish to someday built my stable with more horses and implements. Lol. Sure would be nice.. But til then.. I think neighbor will look out and assist. He's been talking about how he wish he could bring more farmsoil up at a time because his truck holds only so much.. I can haul some more for him on trailer and save him some trips. My property is just over 2 acres but the area of it that was brush was about 250' x maybe 30' - 40'... And the rest of the brush was on other property. So i only really need to do the long strip.. Attaching a pic..

I have a lot of weed growing thruout the property though.. Think tilling and reseeding would help? Or should throw richer topsoil on too?

20170718_123052.jpg

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Mt Zion 520H

I'm like only halfway to the end at road. That's my house on right of pic.

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tunahead72
On ‎7‎/‎18‎/‎2017 at 1:39 PM, tunahead72 said:

Great advice so far.  Also keep an eye out for anything that could puncture a tire.

 

17 hours ago, Mt Zion 520H said:

... tunahead72.. Where do punctures usually happen.. Sidewalls or tread? Think i'll buy some ride-on for the tires...

 

Either, I suppose, depending on what kind of debris is still left on the ground.  I'm thinking small tree stumps, sharp rocks, anything that could act as a "tire popper".

 

Of course, the correct answer to your question is that punctures usually happen as far away from a source of compressed air as is physically possible.

 

I'm not familiar with Ride-On, but it sounds like Slime?  I've heard mixed reviews about such products, most vocally from guys who have to service the tire when it's time.  Most hate the stuff since it's so messy and difficult to remove, but I've talked to a couple of mechanics who take it all in stride and don't seem to mind.

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Mt Zion 520H

tinahead72.. Ride-On is similar to slime in that it plugs holes in tire but is better as it stays fluid and balances tires as well. I believe clean-up is easy with just water. Youtube it.. Vidoes show riders/drivers going over wood with nails etc and keep going like nothing. They make for cars, bikes, tractors etc.

Edited by Mt Zion 520H
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ericj

Check C/L for a beat up half worn out 48" deck and use ti to clean up the bad area. I have a spirea hedge row on one side of my property. when we, my neighbor and I, trim them up I use an old 42' rear discharge deck to grind the brush up except the bigger thick stuff, that we pick up by hand and get rid of. ask around I'm sure you would be able to find a rotton half worn out wheel horse deck around with out too much problem or too much cost. good luck

 

 

 

 

eric j

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Sarge

Tilling a large area , leveling and re-seeding is a pretty big job and tough to get it right . Depends on the soil conditions and you have to be careful with depth on the tiller - if you go deep you can end up with some serious bumps/dips later as it resettles and compacts with the rains . I'd just clear up the bad area and blade it down as smooth as possible , then re-seed it after a round of weed killer like Roundup , but that can get very expensive for a strip that size to mix it strong enough to kill off anything coming up . I'm used to doing this stuff the easy way at work - with bull dozers , scrapers and other heavy equipment , lol....takes ten times longer with our little tractors and lightweight implements . The right way is to remove the top few inches and dispose of the junk vegetation/dirt , add or rough up the top after leveling and seed it in the fall . It would look like new next spring although sometimes depending on weather you can get some rutting from heavy rains . Chopped straw protects the soil/seed but that in itself is big job and any seedling cover rolls are expensive to buy for a homeowner . Any way you do it there will be a lot of handwork and raking , but it can be done ...

 

Sarge

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AMC RULES

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Edited by AMC RULES
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ACman

Great videos and pics @AMC RULES love to see a hard working horses :handgestures-thumbupright: !

 

If my old RanchKing 18hp 46"cut can clear out 3 acres of 4' tall weeds and brush , that 520 should have no problems . Like others have said you just have to be couscous.

Edited by ACman
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AMC RULES

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