Three years of growth have left my old Bomford Supertrim struggling.  The old Ford bubble cab is not the greatest for visibilty and both tractor and hedger controls leave much to be desired.  What is your money no object dream combination of tractor and cutter to tackle this work for comfort, visibilty and ease of control?  Six metre reach at least.

Case IH MXU/MAXXUM/PUMA, all 4 post cabs, doors right back so good visibilty of the cutting head. Either, Shelbourne Reynolds HD60T, only had it on demo, but we were rather impressed. Bomford Falcon 6T, been running this for about... 5 or so years now if I recall correctly. Heard some good things about the McConnell PA 65T aswell.

Cheryl C at the controls (it is a dream isn't it) and as Maxxum said either a Bomford or a McConnell out back and your good to go. You might consider Proportional Controls but you can talk that over with the operator! Don't worry about the tractor its on contract hire. Oh yes, the lie low to be comfortable while your watching.

Exactly which part of Cheryl C were you thinking of trimmimg in your dream Mursal?  Perhaps all will become apparent on your tattoo! 

Are there not some hedgecutters with a cranked arm to bring the head forward and although I see the theory does this make life easier in practice?

What about the hammer flails for tackling 3 year growth or would you buy a saw head like the Spearhead one and similar Italian versions. And what about the ones which look like a large combine cutter bar?

On a practical note, we have to let some hedges go 5 years because of the Environmental Protection Scheme (REP's) so it can be quite a handful to get them back into shape. The only problem with the saw is the cleaning up after. At least with the flail your finished. I see there is a rotor blade available (all the world like a rotary lawn mower blade only heavier) instead of the saw for light work, but I'm not sure how good they are? If your going for a flail type make sure it has the heavier T bushwhacker flails. They should be able to handle 3 years growth if the direction of rotation is down into the hedge.

Have you good quality hedges or are they like ours a mixed bag? I guess the forward throw on the arm would make a difference at the end of a long day. But in my opinion stick with the big two manufacturers and you cant go too far wrong regardless of which model you go for. And a good gear range in the tractor and a wet clutch for longer life.

I hadn't really thought of Cheryl and the Tattoo project at the same time, but now you come to mention it................

 i was randomly thinking about this tova day... what about custom mounting a trimmer on a turn table on a fastrac load deck.

Brilliant idea, and if you could get one with reverse drive,you would see everything. Not sure about the gears though, would they be slow enough for hedging? I guy down the road from us put one on the front linkage of a Fendt tool-carrier. Its a nice bit of kit. 

Have heard that deck mounted hedgecutters do not work that well on Fastracs, perhaps the suspension works against the boom movements. 

Has anyone any experience of mid or front mounted equipment?  Apart from the pain of fitting is it that much better  to use?

There ment to be alot more sterdy then the trimmers that are fitted to the 3 point linkage at the back of the tractor. But not sure that they would be the best in there transport position. as they are right infront of the cab.

Perry 

 I mid mounted my bomford b49 a few years back took about a month in the workshop,but well worth it,better vision,you can see right to ground,no wing to get in the way! fitted it last year onto a new tractor,that was fun.

Mythos what tractor do you have it on have you any pics i have a b49 and have thought of the same thing

 Hi,it was fitted to a landini mythos first,this was easier as the diesel tank was behind the cab,changed it to a massey 6465 last year,had to fit a tank from a 5465 to make room for it,here are some pics.

 

 

Hi Mythos, Great pictures. Thats a tidy bit of work on the tractor, to look at it you would think it was factory fitted.

Looks the part what did you do for a brakeaway gain a fair bit of reach to

Firstly I have to say that I don't know the first thing about hedgecutting, but it surprises me that no-one has developed a self-propelled hedge cutter, after all many tractors spend most of the year attached to one. It's not unusual to see self propelled foragers and sprayers so why not hedgecutters. You could have better visibility and stability on a purpose built machine and also save a bit on fuel as you wouldn't need as much power ?

Sadly no breakback now,just have to be carefull !!! And yes there is a self propelled cutter it's on YouTube ihls 1200 if I can remember right,but could be wrong

welshnwilling:

Firstly I have to say that I don't know the first thing about hedgecutting, but it surprises me that no-one has developed a self-propelled hedge cutter, after all many tractors spend most of the year attached to one. It's not unusual to see self propelled foragers and sprayers so why not hedgecutters. You could have better visibility and stability on a purpose built machine and also save a bit on fuel as you wouldn't need as much power ?

A contractor around here used to use john deeres with a rear axle mounted swing-over hedgecutter which had a transport position over the top of the tractor. Cutting head was a custom built rotary blade too......mean bit of kit! He had two of these on the go full time which prompted a change to a self propelled machine. (http://www.wnif.co.uk/articles/270/1/Energreen-Self-propelled-tool-carriers-launched-into-UK-market/Page1.html) similar to this but again with his own custom built rotary head. Cab has the ability to tilt and rotate......hydrostatic drive........it was the only one in the UK 4 years ago but i bet others have found out about them. His rotary heads are really neat......on the leading edge he's put a heavy duty hinge with a small hydraulic ram so that when he gets close to telegraph poles or roadsigns he can hit the switch......... the leading edge folds up to expose the cutting rotor and he can get up real close so does an excellent job. Its fully rotary too and bi-directional so he can do a small roadside hedge in no time at all (especially good if its not a solid hedge with loads of large gaps! Its out nearly all year round and the best bit of kit he's ever bought!!

here's a better link: http://www.energreen.it/home.asp?lang=en

At last!  I knew that there was my dream machine out there!  Thank you for that Ant88.  

I wonder how many 1983 Ford bubble cab/Bomford Supertrim combinations  I  could buy for one of these!

I have a customer who is currently attaching a large bomford hedgecutter to a tracked dumper. Also he is fitting three point linkage and pto to the front and rear of the machine, should be an awsome machine when it is going.

The guy I sat beside at school said he went out with Sharon Stone until we asked him for a photo. Any chance of a photo?

Don't bother sending a photo of the tracked dumper....a photo of Sharon Stone in her prime would suffice !

tractordriver99:

 i was randomly thinking about this tova day... what about custom mounting a trimmer on a turn table on a fastrac load deck.

I knew a chap that did this in the mid 90's and it does not work!!! The Fastrac load bed was only designed to carry a couple of tons at best so although the trimmer was well within this weight when it was at full stretch the fastrac would lean almost to the point of tipping over. Because at full stretch the trimmer acted like a lever and the suspension wouldnt self level, caused no end of problems i seem to remember. Needless to say the Fastrac didnt stay too long....

Here is a youtube link to the Energreen nachine in action and there seem to be several other related videos to this machine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU2pEW6CkZE

Anyone know what they cost, or has anyone seen a second hand one?  I had a look down google but found nothing.

It is a bit like Aston Martins really, I know it is a dream but I still would like to know what they cost!

Thanks ploughshare an excellent demo.

Would a Rubber Duck with a flail head fit the bill?