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.

 

[Foggy47]

Today, I operated this cutter for about 1.5 hours. I cleared perhaps 1 1/2 miles of trails on two sides. I also had my flail mower on the back....and used it on the trails to mulch the debris I had cut with this machine. Slick way to operate. I did two passes in many areas....one low pass and one high pass to provide clearance for my tractor and implements. During deer season....we use a golf cart and an E-bike to get to our stands silently and without scent.

Gotta say...this brush cutter is a super time saver. I think I did in 1.5 hours what may have taken me a couple days......IF my body was prepared for this duty....which it isn't. Mulching the limbs with my flail mower is the absolute best plan for this duty. I do both operations at the same time. Pretty sweet.

I stopped cutting when I saw an oil leak at the hose connections to the hydraulic motor I figured I had broken a fitting or a hose...but when I got back to the pole shed I saw that the fitting had just worked loose....thus the oil leak. I re-tirghtend the fitting and it's good to go again. Still, I had to stop as I had other things to do. I hope to spend an equal amount of time tomorrow....and may be done for this year after that.

I'm going to follow through on protecting those hoses and connections at the motor....as I think these connections are vulnerable to damage with enough time. Lots of things happen in field conditions.

At this point....I would purchase this machine again. .....but it is not one of those things I would loan to others....as it takes a good operator to sense what you are doing and what you should and should not cut with the tool. I still have not nicked a blade or broken anything other than that loose fitting. My hydraulic fluid is now at the very bottom of the dip-stick....so I need to add fluid to prevent damage to hydraulic components.

Too busy for pics today....but this is the real deal. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[Foggy47]

Got more seat time with this rig yesterday. Now have all cleaned up that I want to do this season. 8 hours total running time with this and my flail mower to mulch what I cut down with this machine. Strangely....I had two more events where the nut at the hydrualic pump worked loose. Both times I caught right away and was able to tighten that fitting....the last time I cranked it pretty tight....and no more leaking.

I was able to reach as high as about 17 feet with this sickle cutter head. Really nice to fully trims shooting lanes around my stands while conserving some of the cover around the blinds. In some areas I widened the shooting lanes a bit and was able to greatly expand the area one could shoot.

Eight hours of seat time with this machine can get allot of work done. If I were to use a loppers, a pole saw, a silky, and a chain saw.....I may spend two weeks to accomplish what I did in 8 hours. I do not have that kinda time or energy for this type of work.

The entire unit weighs around 250 lbs and my tractor and loader easily operate this unit with the hydraulic hoses connected to my 1/2" rear remotes and long hoses. I a can thus control the cutting action forward and reverse via the SCV Valve in the cab. Most of the time I ran my flail mower at the same time and kept the RPM.s at about 3000 to keep the flail at operational PTO speeds, and could feather the needed power to the sickle cutter head.

Despite some pretty intense sessions entangled in some heavy brush and tree limbs.....I did not break anything. No cutter blades were noticed to be chipped or broken. That is something that I had anticipated would happen....but no. I did cut a few oak limbs that were way beyond what the machine is designed for. I am not an abusive operator.....but I do use my equipment up to it's full potential at times. It's a calculated risk assessment that can be instantaneous initiated at any moment. lol

I think I may have cut about six to ten 1.5" oak limbs. One in particular locked the cutter bar and I jockey'ed the SCV control reversing directions until I severed that limb. It was preventing shooting in a good line from my deer stand and had to go. Grin.

I did not have time for pics....but will take a few before removing this machine to show the hose routing and the complete rig....as well as the cutter teeth after 8 hours of hard use. It's too bad I did not take before and after pics...as you would be impressed. I would very easily buy this machine again.....after knowing what I know now.

Not sure I stated this in a prior post.....but you can lay the cutter bar down to a horizontal setting....thus cleaning along roadways and water ways is a very safe and easy task (I think). I do have a road coming into my land that is hard to mow with my flail.....even when its offset. The bank is very steep and I fear unstable along the edge. If I were to get too close.....I fear a tractor roll over could happen very quickly....therefore I have not maintained this bank as I would like. Maybe I will do one more cut there with this rig before retiring it for the year.

Phew....quite wordy....no? Grin. I like passing along good intel. Pics in a another day or two.

EDIT: Two shortcomings I see: one is some better protection seems to be needed at the junction of the hoses and fittings to the hydraulic motor. I am going to come up with a solution sometime in the near future. Also I desperately need a parking stand....and I am told that the maker is about to offer one. It's not going to be easy to put this thing away or reconnect it without a better solution. I do have an idea...but little time to implement it this year.

 

[jsasker007]

Sounds like a sweet set up. Always a pleasant surprise when you think something broke but you just need to tighten it back up. Goes from a bad gut feeling to hey what a beautiful day.