Bush Hog Ford 601 compatibility

I have a 1960 Ford 601 Workmaster and am looking at a six foot Bush Hog model 306. Can anyone tell me if the Bush Hog is too big for this tractor?

Tall grass it should do ok, if you try to tackle 1 inch saplings I think it will drag it to its knees.
You can fix this by taking a 3 foot pass if you are in the really heavy stuff.


A little front weight would make it a little more stable too.

Rick

Unless you plan to mow light cover frequently or slowly, use a 5' cutter.

Unless you have lots of front weight, level ground and a good hydraulic system, limit cutter weight to around 650 lbs.

Dean

Like Dean, I think you will be happier with a 5 footer with that tractor. They just do a much cleaner job (and a lot easier on the equipment) if the tractor isn't getting bogged down all the time.

I'm with Rick,buy a six foot,keep it sharp and use shollow pass when the going gets heavy. A 5' is ok unless you have a lot of fence where the 5 doesn't cut outside rear wheels.
Two often overlooked items that can be game changers are a properly functioning governer and whether the blade mount has additional weight like a stump jumper which gives more ump for intermitent loading. Workmaster with Sherman has the advantage of always having a just right gear compared to most like horse power tractors of same vintage.

There are times when I wish my brush hog was wider than my tractor"s rear wheels, since I have not figured out a good way to take care of edges with the 5 foot wide machine I have. Things would look better if I could get closer to fences. My 641D handles the 5 foot brush hog just fine, in almost anything I have ever tried to cut. But maybe a wider machine would have trouble bogging down.

One thing not mentioned so far, is the NEED for an Over Running Coupler when using any size brush hog with a Ford tractor. It is flat SCARY for the tractor to continue going forward after you have put in the clutch for a stop, propelled by the huge flywheel effect of the brush hog blade assembly. An ORC will let the PTO driveline to harmlessly ratchet, allowing the tractor to slow or stop normally. I have seen ORC"s at farm stores for between $60 and $100. I think they are well worth the expense and work to install them. It only took one time having the tractor almost hit a fence to make a believer out of me!

I guess I would try to decide on buying the larger brush hog by thinking about how much they want for it. I am assuming it is used. I would probably buy it and try it out to see if it would do the job I was asking it to do with the tractor I had to use it with. And if it was just too big for my tractor, I would try to sell it to someone with a larger tractor. Good luck!

The need for an ORC is there if he has a 641 or 651, which have transmission PTO's. The 661 (live PTO) and 671/681 (independent PTO) don't need the ORC.

A 6' is pushing the limit on a 601. I'd rather have a 5'.

Thanks for the information. The bush hog was my father-in-law's. My mother-in-law is giving it to me if it will be compatible with my tractor. The tractor was given to me by my father-in-law last year and we spent the year restoring it. He past away in November. Probably way too much information, but I would like to post a before and after photo of the tractor.