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Missismiggins

Is there anyone out there that can recommend a DECENT grass cutter?

I need one of those red metal devils with the whirling dervish blades, you know the ones I mean, they are mounted on a couple of 26" bike wheels, you strap a Honda 6.5HP on the top, and connect with a fan belt.

I have for the past few years been using an "NKL" brand, and to be honest, there is barely a grass cutting session that goes by without something falling off, breaking, going missing etc.

I am looking for STRENGTH as opposed to any other factor.

The problems I have had so far are -

1: There is a sliding lever at the back - that eventually broke due to vibration. (snapped)
2: The wheels (hubs) split open and the wheels kept falling off - now are welded in place.
3: EVERY SINGE WELD around the chassis (if you can call it a chassis) has broken - in fact the machine probably weighs 30 KG more as it is made almost entirely of 1/2" rebar, welded everywhere.
4: The underside protection plate, (the one that swings back and forth to prevent stones etc. from giving you compound fractures - the really well designed one that simply rubs metal to metal until there is no metal left and it drops off into the blades) worn through its mountings, what a shit design that was! Now held on with steel cable.
5: The handlebars dropped off due to corrosion from SWEAT!
6: The section of chassis that mounts the engine, the 45 degree offset, has now gave way and the engine becomes skewed in relation to the front pulley, so if the blades turn clockwise the belt flies off, if the blades turn anti-clockwise the belt inverts. (flips) Looser than a whores draws.
7: The grease cups are completely stripped and cannot be tightened properly.
8: All of the tappings that secure the blades to the rotor are stripped. ( a ridiculous double thread design - where the rotor is tapped for the bolts, but then you have to fit nuts, so they are forces working against each other)
9: Not being a fuss pot over safety, but there are four bolts underside that hold the blade rotor in place, if you remove these and remove the cover, there is a sort of retaining clip, which was almost worn out - with no safety, if this drops out, you then get the full blade rotor complete with blades at about 6000 RPM droping off in front of you in free flight!

Also, it would be nice to find a one where the engine and body supports are actually mounted on TOP OF THE AXLE as opposed to everything being slung under the axle and supported by two bolts!! (There is about 3KG of rebar welded to mine now to keep the whole lot from dropping off)

It needs to be pretty robust, as it needs to contend with 20 Rai, of pretty thick shit - so any good reccomendations would be appreciated - I am totally pissed off with it!

Thanks

hillbilly

I would be rethinking of what is needed to keep 20 rai mowed. A 26 inch mower seems to be overmatched in this application.

Norton

I've seen plenty of heavy duty mowers but not familiar with this or NKL brand.

What are you cutting?

Friend of mine has a Huskvarna self propelled mower. Very rugged.

Missismiggins

I know I tend to go over the top when looking for specs.

But better to buy an expensive push mower for 3K baht than waste 100K on a machine suitable for the task - Besides, it keeps me fit!

Missismiggins

I don't think we are comparing apples and apples somehow - even the name Husqvarna sends me sort of into a world I know nothing about.

I am cutting EVERYTHING that can possible sprout up, from 4M bamboo like grass to the tangled thorny crap that multiplies 10 fold overnight.

What I am after is a STRONG push along mower that won't fall to bits in a week or remove my legs eyes or other appendages.

They are the red painted two bike wheeled two handlebarred varieties you see at many a Thai shop at the side of the road. - You strap a 6HP Engine on and connect with a fan belt and hey presto you have a grass cutter.

I say, I bought this NKL a few years back and it needs to doe about 90KM per cutting session, it has sadly failed to live up to my high expectations, it has never ever managed to cover 90KM without having to be repaired.

This is what I am after, and this is the shit it needs to cut..






Its 10 rai lam yai


8 rai Teak



And a couple of rai of Mango, infested with 20 rai of shit!

DrAndy

like many cheap machines in Thailand, and household appliances, you get what you pay for

Gipsy

I don't know what you're growing on that 20 rai, but if it's nothing but weeds, and not needs to be harvested or protected, wouldn't it be better and easier to bring in a herd of water buffaloes from time to time? Any buffalo farmer will be happy to help you, provided he's not too far away. Just let them graze for a fortnight and then cut the 'leftovers' with your new machine or a bushcutter... not much work as they eat almost everything. And they give you some nice fertilizer as well....

Missismiggins

There lies the problem...(see the edited post above) we have numerous trees, and the buffalo would eat the lot..maybe goats?

Rural Surin

Not if you control their movements {10 metre reach} by tetering location periodically. The common Bhrama variety are worth their weight in gold, as they are tremendous feeders. Certainly if you live in a rural/village situation and don't have them yourself....someone nearby will. It's a win win for all parties. And cheaper as well.

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somtamslap

Goats would do the lot too.

Mrs M..in my very vast experience of using that style of mower, they are shit. Too many punctures and too heavy in the slopes..

Get one of these

hawkeye

How often do you cut the grass?
I have 5 rai in mangoes and cut with that type of mower every 10/15 days. At present due to rain do a bit each day over 4 days and now have about 70 % in grass as opposed to weeds.The more often you mow the better the grasses grow. In the dry times cut every 15/20 days.

On the big clumpy weeds I spray roundup and let the grass take over in due course.Also keep under the trees free as much as possible by mulching, and the odd dose of roundup

Have looked at ride on mowers but cost not in keeping with returns.

In New Zealand you can buy rugged mowers, self propelled, cutting blade54" and on 4 wheels for around 100,000 baht. Wish they were here!!!
HAWKEYE

Gipsy

Yes, the fruit trees might be pruned a bit, but I doubt if they will do that much, as there's much juicier food 'downstairs' instead of munching on hard mango leaves. They sure will go for an over ripe mango or two, but the fruiting season is when the grass is not really growing.
The advantage of buffaloes over cows is that they eat more species of weed, do no ruin the top soil as much as cows tend to do with their smaller hoofs and are very 'mellow'. Just staring at them, and them at you will be 'love at first sight'... Why not try one or two, follow them for a day and see how much of a weedkillers they are?
Goats will eat everything, literally, even your flip flops.... and they climb!

Norton

After looking at your pics, we sure do.

You're a far more energetic person than I if you are using a push mower.

Missismiggins

Well one thing I have never had with this shit NKL machine is a puncture..touch wood!

I've minced a couple of snakes, disturbed a few JAKEPS, to the point that the fuckers were half way up my back. Pissed off a few bees, to which I had a swollen face for a few days, and lastly, but most painfully, really annoyed a nest of those Tor hua sua, whereby I got stung by about two or three, that really set me back a bit...I had an arm the size of my wifes ass, only I couldn't move it on it's own, I needed help to get in on the steering wheel of the car...never again.

But as luck would have it, last night I was pruning some branches from the Teak trees, and I don't know why, maybe 6th sense, but it was getting dark, but I saw this ball shape, about 3 inches from my face, as I brought the cutters up for a quick snip....it was a bees nest - they couldn't have been 3" from my head, and I couldn't have been one second from cutting the branch!!!! Luckily.I backed off, and they never moved.

I've got one of them, and they are useless in the shit I have here, they are ok with the thin stuff, but you get into the shit that has sprouted up here and it's a no go!

I have a Makita 623 RBC or whatever, I have tried it with the dual steel baldes, no way! the rotary saw type, no way, and the rotary saw with two small blades attached, they quickly become unnatatched.. the RBC hasn't a hope in hell where I am, and I normally where my underpants over my trousers when cutting the grass!

Missismiggins

To be totally truthfull, I only cut the grass when I haver let it grow to long, and by that time, it is pretty much too late, hence the hard work.

We don't have a LAWN - it's a major bit of "get off your ass" to clear 20 rai with this macine, but we cannot get a tractor, as the arseholes that laid the irrigation put the pipes just under the surface, and a tractor will shred every pipe I have.

I have heard the suggestions to get a THAI to do the work, but, we tried that, and they have about ZERO understanding of macines, the last one we hired, tightened the belt so tight it ripped out the oil seals on the HONDA..fucking idiots!

somtamslap

You can get big blades for those strimmers, Mrs M, a good 2 foot in length, u can fell trees with the bastards..efficient in comparison in my opinion, but a decent mower on flat ground (and I can't believe your not getting punctures, I was getting them every 100 metres) would be less time and energy consuming,,have a go with the big blade and keep at full revs as u plough through it,,u'd be surprised.

Missismiggins

No, never had a puncture, (BUT I USE SIAM Tyres - probably the Thai equivalent to Dunlop or BF Goodrich..) They would probably rot before I got a puncture! but if I put two foot blades on this machine, it would cut the tyres of and my legs as soon as the thing got going!

These things only have a couple of 7 inch or so blades, the entire circular cut is no more than about 30cm, shit if I had two foot blades I'd be airborne! (with no legs or tyres) That's why I need to push the bastard 90KM or so to clear 20 Rai /32000m.

somtamslap

...I'm on about the strimmers MrsM..2 foot blades for those bastards,,It works, it's utter mayhem and it's great fun to boot.

Missismiggins

A 2 foot blade for a strimmer....let me know where you buy them, the more shit I can cut per minute the better!

As I said, I use the Makita RBC 2300 or whatever, previously a shitty four stroke Honda, but none of these machines can cut this shit!

I wondered about those BLOWTORCH weed burners, but never seen them here, like a parraffin blowtorch on the end of a stick????

Maybe a farang could DESIGN it !

Thetyim

You need a flail mower for that land


A sickle bar mower will do it if you don't have too much woody stuff

somtamslap

^ ^Available in most hardware shops I think (although been a few years since I needed to pull out the big guns)...what stuff you having trouble cutting? Always remember to keep one of those big machetes at hand.

Missismiggins

Cheers, sadly I have neither a PTO nor a tractor, it is two arms and two legs, that's it I am afraid!

But now I know what a sickle bar and a flail mower is!

Thetyim

You don't need a tractor you can get a walk behind model
Just need to find a shop that sells them in thailand which I haven't managed yet

Mr Smith

MM, go out and hire a tractor to level everything out. Then plant a good grass. A friend of mine has about 65 rai in macadamia nuts and does the whole thing by himself. It looks like a golf course between the trees.

Missismiggins

I have had tractors about 6 times over the past 10 years, I have exhausted the world supply of ROUNDUP, there is nothing that clears this shit.

I get a tractor, a week later it starts to reinvent itself faster than ever, I cut it, it grows back, I spray it with Roundup, it dies, then a totally new variety, usually a thousand times worse appears overnight!

My place looks like a golf course too...just a one that you can't see more than about half a metre! or play golf on. (From the air, I expect it looks like a "GREEN".