Rotary cutter front guard

maxwell99

Well-known Member
Yesterday I was using my 5 ft. Rotary cutter trimming the grass and weeds in my woods lot,
Cutter hit a limb and fired it up toward me, hit the tractor this time,

Last year a limb or stick hit me in the ankle, hurt so bad I did not want to look down, Fortunately only some blood and pain,

However, after that incident I bought a front heavy rubber guard belt for my cutter, plus bolts and attachment material,

But as you can guess, was too lazy to install it, so it's still rolled up in my storage shed,
Maybe it's time I re think the front guard installation,
All cutters should come with front guards or deflectors,

My opinion only, but I think rotary cutters and chain saws are about the two most dangerous things most of us part time farmers use,
Be safe,
 
if you do mount the rubber on the front make sure its far enough forward that the blades do not cut it off when it folds under the deck, and Yes they are dangerous for sure, I have thousands of hours running rotary mowers, I ran one cutting road ditches doing 2400 miles a year when I worked at the County here I have just about seen everything you can find and hit with one lol, tires, iron and wire are some of the few things they have a hard time with,, Yes be safe,, the board of labor lists it as one of the big "Hazard" jobs to do, the chain guards do not keep the stuff in the deck all the time but does seem to make things go to the ground sooner
 
good point,
first thing I noticed when I put the belting material up against the cutter frame,
it appeared as the belt was forced back under the cutter as you drove along,

the blade would shred the belt.

so spacers are necessary to push the belt material out in front of the cutter frame.
this is where "the cheese got more binding" designing sometype of spacer that would hold up under the strain.
that may have been when I quit working on it.

the Howse brand cutter with front guard has spacers in place.
but the front guard from the dealer was almost 1/2 the price of the cutter.
(cheap 5 ft models)

dealer said he did not sell many lower cost 5 ft models with front guards, but would order one, if I wanted it.

at the time I got hurt, cost was not a issue.
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Some heavy conveyor belting, like what you"d find in a quarry, makes an excellent front guard, and would be pretty reasonable. They"re about 3/8 inch thick, some may be thicker. Damaged belts get thrown away.
 

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