# Hi - new here and questions about PTO



## vermontdevil (Apr 2, 2007)

hi -

I saw that there's a brush hog for sale near where I live. I need one because I'm told that they are great for removing raspberry bushes that I have growing all over my property.

The owner said via email it's PTO.

I'm not familiar with that term - I did look up Google and it did explain it's driven by a shaft connected to a tractor.

But I'm hoping someone would explain more in detail about this.

What kind of tractor? What about ATV's? Two wheel tractors?

Any in depth info would be great.

Thanks!


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

First of all Welcome to the Tractor Forum vermontdevil!arty: 

Second on your question about the mower. PTO stands for power take off and is as you mentioned a powered shaft that connects to a tractors engine and provides power to attachements and thus allows them to function without a seperate engine. The PTO shaft normally comes out of the rear of tractor somewhere below the seat and is a slotted shaft.The attachment has a cup that slides over the top of the tractor PTO shaft and locks in place so when the tractor PTO spins the attachment shaft does also. There is a clutch on the tractor that allows you to turn the PTO off and on as needed. 

There are other questions I have so we can help you further. First of all do you own a tractor (or anykind of ATV or Garden Tractor)now? How much ground do you need to clear out and how rough is it? Are you going to need to mow this ground several times per year or is this just to clear it one time. Is the bush hog mower a 3pt hitch or pull behind model?

Obviously if this is a one time thing and you don't own a tractor you will save lots of money just renting the equipment or hiring your local farmer to do the mowing for you. This is especially true if you don't have any other chores to use the tractor for other than mowing.

To safely operate any bush hog I have seen you will need the properly sized tractor. The tractor not only needs enough power to operate the mower but also enough weight to lift it and enough traction to safely navigate the terrain.

If you only have a couple acres to mow and don't need a tractor for other jobs (though that is kinda hard to imagine since we love our tractors here) you may be better off with an ATV pulling a mower that has its own engine. Much less expensive and will do a good job on smaller fields.

Let us know more details of your situation and we would be happy to help.

Andy


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## vermontdevil (Apr 2, 2007)

*Hi*

Thanks fellow Andy 

The hog for sale is a 3 point hitch. 

I have 1 and 1/4 acre open/wood mix field.. It's hilly as well so am trying to find the right solution to get rid of all the raspberry bush in the shortest amount of time possible (whether its 1 year, 2 years, or so).

Perhaps a local rental would be better if I can rent for a weekend and get rid of these bushes? 

If so - what kind of rental? A tractor with a pull behind mower? Can a tractor handle the hills (This is Vermont after all)? Or a more nimble machine like ATV (I doubt they are up for rent) or a two wheel tractor like BCS?

You brought up a good point about looking at ATV pulling a mower with its own engine. Are they good? I know ATV s are ideal for navigating rough terrian.

Thanks for putting up with my blitz of questions.

Andy


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## Live Oak (Dec 22, 2003)

Welcome to Tractor Forum! 

PTO is the accronym for Power Take Off. The PTO in most if not all cases is mounted on a tractor the back end of the tractor along with a 3 point hitch to which the impliment is mounted (either full sized ag tractor or compact utility tractor) and is driven by the engine through the transmission drive train. Most if not all tractors have a PTO that is designed to be driven at 540 rpm as is most impliments that mount to the tractor utilizing a pto for power. In some cases, older and usually larger ag tractors have a second or convertible PTO that is driven at 1,000 rpm. This PTO is normally used by more specialized equipment that most of us will probably never use or see. 

ATV's cannot run this type of equipment although they can pull and mower or other self contained and powered impliment. 

There may be the rare exception but Lawn and Garden tractors cannont run this type of equipment either. 

Below is a picture of an example of a tractor with a brush cutter mounted to it on the 3 pt. hitch. You can see the PTO shaft in the lower middle of the rear of the tractor which drives the brush cutter. You will need a tractor to run a brush cutter unless you opt for a pull type impliment that will work behind an ATV. These are good for not much more than cutting heavy grass and weeds at most. Another option would be something like a DR Brush Mower which is pretty much a self propelled light duty brush hog which will do fine upto small tree sapplings of not much more than an inch or two. A heavy duty brush hog mounted to a tractor can take down small trees upto about 4 inches in some cases but that is pretty extreme.


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## HYDROGUARDIAN16 (Feb 14, 2007)

welcome aboard the tractorforum family. we are here for you and tell your friends about us.


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## chrpmaster (May 5, 2004)

Before I spent the money on a BCS I'd look for a good Gravely two wheel tractor with either a 30"bush hog and/or a sickle bar mower. I have both and even added a 25" saw blade in place of the bush hog blade. It works great at cuttin lots of smaller trees without bending over all the time useing a chain saw. I use this all summer long both in my woods and some smaller pasture areas at my Dad's home. 

The Gravely's have been around for a long time and are still easy to get parts for. There lots of tractors and accessorys for sale on Ebay plus in your area there are large Gravely users groups and web sites. There is a New England Gravely club that puts out a monthly newsletter. There are several Yahoo groups also with the largest and most active being Gravelyclub.

As you can tell I'm kinda biased but for less than $500 you can have a nice running two wheel tractor with bush hog, sickle bar mower and saw blade. No way you could touch that for less than $2000 at BCS.

Andy


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

vermontdevil said:


> *Hi*
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Tractors can handle hills but you need to know how to navigate them....As for the ATV or UTV pull type self powered mowers, if you have an ATV or a UTV there are several companies that make these self powered pull type mowers....You have two basic types, rough cut or trail mowers and finish mowers.....Finish mowers would be for lawn quality mow jobs and trail or rough cut for what you are taking about....

The trail mowers work very well


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

I'm sure their issues are resolved. Last posting was in 2007...lol


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## unsquidly (Jul 13, 2021)

SidecarFlip said:


> I'm sure their issues are resolved. Last posting was in 2007...lol



LOL Well, this is the second post that was way old and due to not having my reading glasses on when I read and replied to it I failed to notice the date it was posted........LOL Getting older is not being very kind to me it seems......


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