Agrishield Pro Cut 21 w/66" Cutter Bar (trail cutter) Review

[Foggy47]

In June I purchased a Pro Cut 66" cutter bar to mount on the front of my tractor, after watching a good video I had seen on YouTube. I bought mine to attach to my universal quick attach on my front end loader. They also make a unit that clamps onto your loaders bucket, and those are considerably cheaper.....but I like the increased visibilty and the freatures of this mount I bought. Their was supposed to be about an 8 week wait....but that turned into more like 12 weeks....but the unit showed up this week. These units run via a hydraulic motor and use the tractor hydraulics to power that motor. Very nice kit here.

The hardest part of the assembly may have been getting the unit out of the (four) cartons it was shipped in. All came via UPS in those 4 cartons/crates. 3 cardboard boxes were strapped and taped.....no danger of loosing any parts. The main cutter bar unit was encased in a wood shipping crate and all secured with tape and more straps. I finally got all the parts out of the boxes and then spent about 2 hours to bolt the parts together and hook up the hydraulic hoses to my rear remotes.

I bought all the hoses and complete kit from Agrishield......and I am glad I did. All the components are first rate and the hoses are the right length to route to my tractor...just as anticipated. I fastened the hoses with a few zip ties and also used some of the Kubota hose routing on the tractor. With all connected I gave the unit a trial run. I cleared about 400 yards of overgrowth from my trails in about 10 minutes time. Pretty sweet. The largest limb I cut was about a 1" oak limb and that is about as big as I would recommend. It really did a nice job of what can be a very time consuming project with all the trails I have on my property.

You can operate this machine vertically (as shown) or horizontally like a mower, or use to trim hedges and along ponds, etc. Also can place the cutter bar at various angles and closer or further into the brush via the sliding tube and connectors,

Keep in mind.....these guys make professional equipment for the orchard industry and lots of implements they make is geared to those functions. Good stuff. There are some wear parts and you can expect to have to replace some blades and such....especially if you are abusive. But I think for my purposes this is just about the best I can do unless I want to spend lots more money on a lane shark or something similar. Here are some pics. Will review again after more seat time with this item. At this point I would buy it again.

 

[Foggy47]

I only took one height of cut down my trails......but I think I would normally go with two passes on each side to do at both high and low levels .....Thus I would be cutting in the area of 11' tall .....which takes care of my needs. I got allot of trails.....and this dude is going to take much of the work out of limbing trails for me. Happy.

 

[Brian662]

Looks like a nice unit, what's the MSRP?

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

Are you just going behind and throwing all the branches into the woods? Whenever I clear my roads with the pole saw I love the cutting, and then I turn around and dread the cleaning

 

[Foggy47]

Are you just going behind and throwing all the branches into the woods? Whenever I clear my roads with the pole saw I love the cutting, and then I turn around and dread the cleaning

I am going to try to mulch the branches with my flail mower and / or use my landscape rake to clean up. Will let you know what works best. The unit as pictured had an MSRP of about $3000 complete. That is a fair penny, but it’s about the most expensive one that they make and that is 100% complete as shown. It’s worth it for me…as my trails are closing up in places and I would never do the work otherwise. I can now do this on a rainy day.

 

[Bill]

I could use that for a weekend or two. I just don't have enough roads through timber to justify it. But that a nice rig.

 

[Foggy47]

I did manage to get a small oak tree into the cutter....and it stopped the machine cold. I suppose it was 1.5" diameter. I stopped the machine and reversed the motor to clear the tree. It nearly severed the tree.....and no doubt killed it. I did no damage to any of the teeth in my trial run.....and I kinda learned how to go about this. Will take my mini chain saw along for a few "leaners" that should be removed.

I was supposed to get a package of replacement parts....like $150 in value but they did not show. I guess they want you to do an honest reveiw to get the "free" parts. And I did that above and submitted my claim.

You guys know me.....and I review everything good or bad....like the Flimco crap I owned and my love / hate for my Herd seeder and how they need to be improved. Grin. I love me some cab and my 'boata.

 

[Foggy47]

If a person wants one of these machines....I would order this fall and you would have it for use next Spring / summer. They run a backlog on these things. All American made and use great components / parts which are commonly available for replacements....which is gonna happen.

I do intend to add one mod by adding about a 1.5" diameter tube to attach to the 2" main beam and serve to protect those hoses from damage by debris. They are HD abrasion resistant hoses.....but I wont leave them to "fate". I think I have an idea on how to do so. Also want to make a parking stand....and I thought I was getting one as that is how it is pictured on their site (??). Kinda hard to store this thing as provided here. Needs a couple of those telescoping legs found on other machines in order to set it down.