Review of DR brush cutter.

Paul Shuler · Nov 25, 2015

I have a one to two acre woodlot just south of my barn. In 2007 we had a big Ice storm that left us without power for 13 days and it looked like a bomb had gone off in the woods. The worst were the hedge trees, the tops broke out of all of them leaving a thorny mess. I have been working in the fall and winters since with a chain saw trying to clean it up. I got most all of the busted up tree tops cut up. what a chore. But the woods where full of buck brush and vines sticker bushes as high as my head that grew like crazy with all the extra light coming in from the many tree tops lost. The trees are way too close together to try and get a tractor with a bush hog in there so I have been up till now clearing by hand. Went to a fish fry at my cousins house and he had in the last year bought a DR walk behind brush and field mower. He offered it up to me and I used it last night for the first time. All I can say is wow. It would push over and cut up trees and vines up to 3 in dia. And briers and buck brush didn?t even make it work. As I used it I got a lot better with it. At first I was fighting with it and it was winning. When I decided to point the way I wanted it to go and just let her go and hold on it did great. They are pricey but I can tell you I am going to start saving for one. It?s so nice to see a tool do what they advertise it will do and more. The section I did last night looks like a city park. I took a video while I was doing it but forgot to hit save on my phone. Lol But I was very pleased with it.

Tom in NE · Nov 25, 2015

I think the new ones have an assortment of attachments. Snowblower,etc.... One power unit utilizing ground engagement equipment and such...

L.Fure · Nov 25, 2015

My wife's cousin brought his over to trim back a wild rose bush that was spreading in our yard. It did a good job grinding up the bush. He did a few other areas that were a bit brushy too. I'd say they are well worth the money if you have small areas you need to maintain.

Matt E. · Nov 25, 2015

They are pricey but I've never heard of anything bad about them. Is it worth buying one or better just to go to the local rental place and use one for a day or two a couple times a year?

I ran across a Jari sickle mower for $100 last summer. It wouldn't work in your case but for overgrown grass areas that you keep up with, it works great. Just a thought. Glad you found the right piece of equipment to do the job.

Paul Shuler · Nov 25, 2015

I was going to go the rental path myself. It was going to be about a $100 a day and I think it would take me a lot of days to do all I would like to do. My cousin wouldn?t take pay for using it but I plan to get him one heck of gift card for allowing me to keep and use it for a while. When I get home from work it gets dark awful fast anymore so I have to work a little at a time.

Mike M · Nov 25, 2015

How are they any different from the age old Gravley mowers or any other walk behind mower for that matter ? Or just get an old rider and go for it !

Tom in TN · Nov 25, 2015

Paul.

I have Hedge trees (we call them Osage Orange), locusts, and wild roses all over my farm. I try to keep them under control with my tractor and bush hog, but even at that, they puncture the front tractor tires just about every time I go over them.

Did you have any flats on the DR?

Tom in TN

PS, I have an old Gravely that does not cut at all well if the weeds/grass is high. It just clogs the deck and makes a mess.

JerryS · Nov 25, 2015

Consider paying your cousin an hourly rate based on the rental company's price. Me, I'd just burn it.
Fire is good.

Paul Shuler · Nov 25, 2015

so far no flats. I had to use needle nosed pliers to pull all the thorns out of my boot soles though. Maybe 50 of them. Only one went all the way through.

DENNIS MIN · Nov 25, 2015

Paul,

Wife and I used a "Bllygoat" styled mower. Seemed of a tad better quality and never looked back. I, too, was amazed at what it can do.

D.

showcrop · Nov 25, 2015

That sounds like some really good progress against those vines. Now if you go back in the spring with some liquid brush killer and spray the new ones when they are small, you will really get somewhere. Otherwise in ayear they will be back up just as high and thick. I have been making good progress against multi-flora rose and bittersweet by going both fall and spring.

oldtanker · Nov 25, 2015

My son in laws parents own a walk behind string trimmer, not a DR. He borrowed in and brought it our to our place to help out a little. We are on the same farm but their house is up the hill from ours. We liked it so much we decided to buy one together. I happened to find a DR that a lake shore owner had bought, quickly found out it was too big for a well maintained 150X200' lot. He sat on it for a couple of years and when his rider died he used it for a trade in. I picked it up for less than 1/3 price of a new off brand one. Sense were bought it it's seen a lot of hard use. We were controlling weeds under fence lines and in general keeping hard to mow areas cleaned up. I went from an attitude that DR stuff was a lot of hype to being very pleased with the company and I think they make very good products.

Rick

Geo-TH,In · Nov 26, 2015

I too have had an ice storm and it looked like a war zone with trees down, yard a mess. One year I hauled 25 dump trailer loads away to a place that turned the branches into mulch. Thank God they didn't charge to dump. I had just bought a 10k dump trailer and I used my terramite with forks to load trailer. It took me an hour to load and go dump the trailer. The terramite and landscape rake did most of the work. The terramite saves my back. There isn't anything better being retired and having a little tractor theropy.

I put an ad on craigslist and was surprised how many people wanted free firewood.

showcrop · Nov 26, 2015

(quoted from post at 05:29:28 11/26/15) I too have had an ice storm and it looked like a war zone with trees down, yard a mess. One year I hauled 25 dump trailer loads away to a place that turned the branches into mulch. Thank God they didn't charge to dump. I had just bought a 10k dump trailer and I used my terramite with forks to load trailer. It took me an hour to load and go dump the trailer. The terramite and landscape rake did most of the work. The terramite saves my back. There isn't anything better being retired and having a little tractor theropy.

I put an ad on craigslist and was surprised how many people wanted free firewood.

I have a much faster method. I put a pair of steel sign posts in my bucket, load with branches and brush, go down back to dump, come back for another load. Ten minutes round trip, and with those six foot tines they are big loads.

rview_ · Nov 26, 2015

(quoted from post at 17:42:53 11/25/15) I have a one to two acre woodlot just south of my barn. In 2007 we had a big Ice storm that left us without power for 13 days and it looked like a bomb had gone off in the woods. The worst were the hedge trees, the tops broke out of all of them leaving a thorny mess. I have been working in the fall and winters since with a chain saw trying to clean it up. I got most all of the busted up tree tops cut up. what a chore. But the woods where full of buck brush and vines sticker bushes as high as my head that grew like crazy with all the extra light coming in from the many tree tops lost. The trees are way too close together to try and get a tractor with a bush hog in there so I have been up till now clearing by hand. Went to a fish fry at my cousins house and he had in the last year bought a DR walk behind brush and field mower. He offered it up to me and I used it last night for the first time. All I can say is wow. It would push over and cut up trees and vines up to 3 in dia. And briers and buck brush didn?t even make it work. As I used it I got a lot better with it. At first I was fighting with it and it was winning. When I decided to point the way I wanted it to go and just let her go and hold on it did great. They are pricey but I can tell you I am going to start saving for one. It?s so nice to see a tool do what they advertise it will do and more. The section I did last night looks like a city park. I took a video while I was doing it but forgot to hit save on my phone. Lol But I was very pleased with it.

How close to the ground does it cut? I've seen reports that it leaves some.

One of my quarters (160 acres) has a lot of cedar trees, was overrun when I bought it from my mom. 15 years ago I went out with an axe and chainsaw, got many cleared out. I also hired a shear/skid loader for a few days. Cleared out some more, but more are back. Any way I'm looking at it, lots of time and a few thousand dollars. I'm probably buying my own shear for the bigger ones, but the smaller ones aren't practical with that, I was thinking one of those brush cutters would work, but not if it leaves much of a stump.

I do have a DR wheeled string trimmer, and as I've said before, they are solid. Mine was from when the frames were still all aluminum. All metal parts, bearing, holders, etc., not like some of the cheap ones in town with plastic bearing holders. I have a "beaver blade" with it that they sell, disk with a real replaceable chain saw chain around it. I use the front of that to cut off some of them, but, sometimes dirt around the base of the tree, and it's hard to keep it out of the dirt in general. Works great, but needs sharpened often. I got out several hundred with that this spring, made a fair showing in another pasture that isn't as overrun. Finding time to do any of that is difficult. But if I get caught up I can rotate haying and keep them off.

Paul Shuler · Nov 27, 2015

I think it cuts 4" above the ground

GVSII · Nov 27, 2015

Rough cut mowers work very well if you don't try to use them for more than they were designed for.The D R unit is a good unit. But knocking down a 3" hard wood saplings and chopping it to splinters-I don't think so!
As to hight adjustment,my swisher can be adjusted from about 3" to about 5".
Incidentally The Swisher will do anything the D R will do for MUCH less money!
The problem with using an old push behind mower or anything with the blade mounted directly to the crankshaft and hit something hard a few times you'll have a bent crank.

rview_ · Nov 27, 2015

(quoted from post at 13:53:24 11/27/15) I think it cuts 4" above the ground

Thanks, I was thinking it was something like that. It would be handy otherwise.

rview_ · Nov 27, 2015

Swisher makes a decent product. I always had one of their old 3 wheel, front wheel drive Big Mow mowers around. When I found out they were going to quit making them, I bought the last new model. Don't use it much since I got the DR trimmer though. I take that quick on the inner yard like a push mower, and I ...graze..., the outer yard with a few cows most of the time. If not I take my road ditch mower (9' sickle), and whack it off once in a while. Looks decent enough, and don't care if it wins any beauty contests anyway. I used to mow it all with the mower, but decided it took too long.

That being said, the Swisher trimmers, I wouldn't get one. The beaver blade and all metal parts on the frame/bearings, etc., are enough to justify the difference there (for me). Can't comment on these brush cutters, I've seen good and bad reviews on both, but they don't really serve any purpose for me when I thought they didn't cut low enough, so didn't look into the price difference much. The commercial Swishers get up there in price a little, but only to the lower end DRs. But, DR is decent to deal with (in my experience).

Review of DR brush cutter.

Paul Shuler

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Tom in NE

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L.Fure

Well-known Member

Matt E.

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Paul Shuler

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Mike M

Well-known Member

Tom in TN

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JerryS

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Paul Shuler

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DENNIS MIN

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showcrop

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oldtanker

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Geo-TH,In

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showcrop

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rview_

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Paul Shuler

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GVSII

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rview_

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rview_

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