Billy Goat know a thing or two about rugged mowers, their equipment is high-end, heavy-duty, durable, tough & chosen by professionals everywhere. Their OBC2403HE Outback Rough Cut Brush Mower is a fine example & can clear dense vegetation, clear up very large overgrown areas like pastures, fields, parks & orchards. It will even mow down bushes; cutting swathes through very heavy underbrush & will deal with small saplings up to five centimetres in diameter. There is a brush guard bar at the front of the mower, if that will push the sapling, bush or other piece of vegetation over, the Outback can cut it up… even plants up to eight feet tall! A tough brush cutter starts with a good engine & this has a powerful 390cc Honda engine with an output of 9.7kw for cutting power & very smooth, quiet performance. It is an OHV design for enhanced efficiency & torque & a bearing supported crankshaft for durability. This model has en electric start, very easy to use & ultra reliable, just flick a switch & off you go. The fuel tank takes up to of 2.18 litres so you can run for longer on a tank & not stop to refuel quite so often. The gearbox has three forward & one reverse gear, ideal for places where turning is impossible, & you have a choice of speeds up to 3.69 MPH with 2.77mph for the reverse gear. If you are going to go seriously ‘off-road’ to get rid of & thick vegetation, you need a good wide clearing width & the cutting deck on this model is 61 centimetres, for faster & more efficient clearing. Cutting in unknown territory, in long grass, you can’t always see what’s underneath, so the Billy Goat BC2403HE Outback self-propelled brush cutter has a Kevlar belt that will absorb any impact shock & transfer it to the clutch. This means the brush cutter can, if necessary, survive impacts with half buried logs, tree stumps, stones, even cinder blocks! For inspection & maintenance the front hatch can be lifted of with ease. Maintenance is not needed with the rugged transaxle however, which is sealed, & there is a slip differential that enables the brush cutter to be handled easily on slopes of up to 20° & on very uneven ground or when undergrowth is very thick & difficult. Another helping hand in manoeuvrability is given by the large, rear wheels, fitted with 16”high- floatation pneumatic tyres. These have deep patterned grips for added traction & the tyres are pre-filled, at the factory, with anti-puncture sealant. The front of the deck is fitted with adjustable cupped skid-shoes that enhance side-to-side manoeuvrability & tyre traction A solid, rigid deck provides excellent stability, & is built to take the knocks that you would expect from heavy duty clearing. The transaxle cable has it’s own protective guard to help avoid being caught by vegetation. Controls are comfortable & ergonomically designed to be well-placed & easy to grip. Drive & cutting blade are independently controlled, by levers, for ease of operation & all controls & triggers, including the choke for the Honda engine, are placed with easy reach. Steel hand guards protect the operators’ hands from thorns, prickles & sharp branches. The blade drive spindle assembly has four-direction buttressing for added protection.