Customer Reviews

Swisher WB11524 Predator 24-Inch 11.5 HP Gas Self-Propelled Brush Cutter

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Like others, I couldn't believe a DR Field and Brush mower could be worth the $1000 more (although the DR does accept additional overpriced attachments).

So, I ordered the Swisher through Amazon. At first I was given a delivery date in 2 months, but it ended up arriving after 1 month -- still rather long.

The mower was easy to assemble and initially worked great, chomping through the 4 feet grass and various blackberry brushes in my eratically sloped fields. Still a fair amount of work (on flat ground though it is very low effort), but after about 2 hours of use, the motor cut off every time I engaged the mower!

So, I opened up the top cover over the pully system, and noticed a wire going from the motor to the safety switch (detects when the mower is engaged and shuts it off when needed, such as when putting it into reverse). The wire on the left side of the mower (as viewed from the rear handlebars) had come out of a little plastic clip assembly, had been flipping around underneath, and the insulation was stripped off and it was shorting to the chasis as it flopped around, causing the mower to cut out when it would short. I repaired it temporarily with friction tape and re-seating the wiring. Yesterday, I put some standard high temperature flex tubing around the entire wire assembly and then re-hooked it into the plastic clip. Its been OK ever since. Just having a very thin wire hanging down beneath the mower seems like very poor design, and flex tubing costs so little. The wire on the right side of the mower to the safety switch does have flex tubing, is routed to the side, and looks fine. The wire on the left side is just a very poor design.

The rubber grips on the handlebar slip off easily -- one already fell off and subsequently got chewed up by the mower. But I'd never use the thing without gloves -- the handlebar levers pinch your hands constantly without gloves. In general, the handlebar assembly seems a bit cheap.

The B&S motor is great. Mine still runs a bit rough when idling, but does fine when its going.

Pros:

Free shipping, good price, great motor, does mow down the brush as advertised.

Cons:

Poor wiring to the safety switch, handlebar assembly is lightweight and rubber grips on handlebar slide off easily.

I bought this machine because I compared prices, and this is the best value on the market. I read the other reviews, and took the precautions mentioned. I used loctite on the handle bolts, wrapped the control cables with flexible tubing and zip-tied them, and used silicon glue on the handle-pads before my first use.

During use, you'll find that this machine won't lose battles with any weeds or brush. This is a good product for the price. The picture makes it look smaller than it is, and the model has been updated, so take a look at the swisher site to see the new handlebar configuration.

This thing is a great value at about half the DR chipper brand price. It was well packaged with only minor handle and shift knob assembly needed. The Briggs engine ran a little rough at first but this went away after 5 min. I wrapped the fuel lines that run right up along the engine block with heavy foil. I had just replaced these lines on a very similar 25 hp Briggs after only 3 yrs - totally rotted from the heat. The brush cutter went through 4' tall heavy Texas weeds (up to 1" dia.) with no problem. The unit is still tiring in 95+ heat but a lot better than running them over 5x with a regular mower!

I have around six hours of total use, so this review is based upon that.

Delivery time was good, but initially taking delivery was a problem. The item shipped on a semi-trailer and could not be delivered to my home address due to the trailer not having a lift. My options were to pick it up at the delivery hub or have it shipped to my work, which I did. Set up was easy. All I had to do was attach the handle bars, check the oil and fill it with gas. A couple of tugs and it started and off I went. Spent an hour and a half mowing chest high thistles, burdock and nettles in our horse pasture. Went out the next day to continue mowing and the blade would not engage. Upon further inspection, I discovered the cable and spring that engages the blade was lose and some how became bent. I called the company and their response was great. Replacement parts arrived within 5 business days and after installing them (which was fairly easy) I mowed for another four hours with out problems.

Likes: Does what it is supposed to do starts easy and it is fairly easy to maneuver. It was the most reasonably priced mower I could find. The next closest in price was $800.00 more.

Dislikes: Shipping directly to my home was not possible unless there was help unloading it from the trailer. Replacement parts were necessary after limited use. Getting it into reverse is touchy. (There must be a safety switch that engages and kills the engine if the shift lever travels too far.)The handle grips are not very good. (They keep slipping off and one is already starting to tear.)

Received within two weeks in an outstanding crate. Reviewers' suggestions followed regarding handles and wiring. Pull rope would not budge and tech rep at Swisher was CLUELESS. Local B&S repairman knew immediately that a machine shipped with oil had to have been tipped in the crating/shipping process filling the cylinder with oil. I removed the spark plug, pulled the starter rope(now EASY) spewing the oil from the cylinder into a cloth, and had it running in 5 minutes. The Swishser went through 1/4 mile of Nantucket thicket like NOTHING.

I agree with the last review on the handle bar,wiring and grips,but i have no other issues.The motor ran fine right off the bat.I ran this unit non stop for hours the first day i used it.It had no problems chewing up several years growth of brush and grass.

The machine was delivered in a healthy crate with no damage.

I too experienced the issue with the safety switch wire coming loose and corrected that with some cable ties and tape. It is amazing that Swisher would leave a fragile connection hanging down under a brush mower. A small twig or stick will disconnect this every time. The handle bar grips are an issue as well. I used some spray on adhesive to hold them on but that isn't working too well. I will likely go to a lawnmower shop and get some heavier grips that will stay on the bar. These issues are totally unacceptable and could be solved at the factory with very little expense if any at all.

The skids dig in and tear up a lawn or field so I fabricated skid plates from flatbar and bolted them to the existing skids. This gave them a smooth surface and the ends are turned up so it works like a sled instead of the bent plate design which tended to catch the grass and surface and do damage to the field. This improved skid works well and doesn't damage the surface.

I am 6 foot tall and found the handlebars were way too low. Fifteen minutes bent over trying to maneuver the machine will wear you out. I made flatbar extensions to extend the handlebars where they attach to the mower frame. This worked ok and was a simple fix. The height is now a much more comfortable working height for me. Again, I am wondering why the factory hasn't corrected this issue.

The blade engagement level broke off when a limb from a bush hit it. The replacement part was quite expensive. This plastic part is way too fragile for a brush cutter. There is a high probability that this will occur mowing brush and a fragile plastic part isn't the answer.

All in all this is a machine that will require lots of significant time and modifications to get the quirks ironed out. If you aren't a real do it yourselfer, leave this one alone.

The deck and frame are heavy and well built. The machine's engine and blade system is generally strong and effective at what it was designed for but it has lots of weak links for it to be considered a substantial trail and brush cutter.

Bottom line if I could do it over, I would buy the DR. I bought the machine because of the significant cost difference compared to the DR. But I have found out the hard way that this machine is not a serious competitor. I have had to spend way too much time modifying and repairing this machine. Even with all the time for modifications and repair, I still have a machine that is not as robust as it should be. It is too bad that Swisher hasn't made tweaks in the design that would make it a more durable and useful machine. With very little effort and cost they could make a very durable machine using the design platform that they already have. I have buyer's remorse on this purchase.

The Swisher Predator is a perfect field mower. [I don't have brush or saplings so I can't rate it for those uses.] The mower arrived in a crate on the pallet. It was well protected, but there is a half-dollar sized paint scrape on the engine that I intend to complain about. It must have been there before it was crated. No reason to send it back, but a price adjustment would be reasonable. The mower came fully assembled except for the handle and transmission lever. They were easy to install. The operating instructions were not very clear. Be advised, the engine has two sliders. The upper one is easy to see. It reads "run....choke", and it is only a choke control. The lower one is a little less obvious, but that is the more important one to feed gas to the engine. It is pull cord starting, but it starts very easily. The right hand squeeze lever has to be closed to keep the blade engaged. The blade engaging lever is to the left. You rotate it forward and it locks in place by itself as long as you are holding the right hand lever. The left hand squeeze lever is your go control. It's like a clutch. If you let go, the machine stops and you can shift to another gear.

This machine only has two wheels. In front, it has skid rails. That means it is not for fancy lawns, because it will chew them up. The balance is incredibly good. It takes the lightest hand pressure to raise the front of the machine to get over a bump. The drive is very powerful. Going up hill, it will tow you gently up the hill. Going down hill, the gears keep it from going fast.

The 11.5 hp Briggs & Stratton is incredibly powerful and it barely breated hard in use. An engine of this configuration should last anywhere from 1500 to 5000 hours provided you change the oil, oil filter, and air filter. The engine has full pressure lubrication, so it should run just fine up and down any hill that the Predator can climb.

I did not measure the width of cut that I was getting, but it was all of 24 inches if not more. The reason I mention this is that I have owned several mowers, and most of them did not cut as wide as advertised. This one does.

I do not think this machine can really cut 2/3 of an acre in 1 hour. The instructions recommend mowing in 1st or 2nd gear. Maybe if you use 4th gear you could cut that fast. Still, this is a fantastic machine that will undoubtedly last 15 or 20 years on my 1 acre property.

Quick delivery. Delivery inspection revealed that the fuel pump was damaged. Customer service sent a replacement that arrived in a few days. I put the machine to work clearing a thicket of Green-brier (Smilax bona-nox L) and 1" - 2.5" saplings. This stuff was really dense. The machine performed great. The bolt on the shift bar to transmission came lose. A few days later the reverse gear engine kill switch came lose. Each required that I do some troubleshooting to correct (torque). I am going to install a protective shield in front of the engine to help prevent damage to some relatively at risk engine components, i.e., fuel pump, fuel line, throttle and choke levers. Recommend the use of a torque wrench during assembly.

I found it to be easy to adjust the height. It runs well. For what you are paying, you can't beat it. There are a couple of models for twice the cost that will probably do twice the job, but my needs are twice yearly of about three acres of grass. I'm very pleased. Note, the delivery took about three months. It may have been the shippers fault, but ultimately, I got it.