Can an Attachment Affect Skid Steer Fuel Consumption?

Cutting Power Affecting Fuel Consumption

The Blue Diamond® Extreme Duty Brush Cutter uses 4 cutting blades which provide 33% more cutting ability than a 3-blade and 100% more than a 2-blade unit. The finished look when mowing is visibly different when using either a 3-blade or a 2-blade setup. The 2- and 3-blade models often have to make a second pass in the same path to get an acceptable finished product or drive much slower to achieve a clean cut. Both of these extra actions can double the fuel usage and hours put on your machine. 

Fuel Consumption When Cutting Large Material

Let's talk about cutting larger material like 6-inch trees. Assuming an average cutter rotation speed of 500 RPMs, as you move into the tree, it is being hit about 16.7 times per second with a 2-blade cutter, 25 times per second with a 3-blade cutter, or 33.3 times per second with a 4-blade cutter. Clearly, our 4-blade cutters increase your productivity substantially over comparably sized machines with fewer blades.

An Efficient Attachment Means Less Fuel is Consumed

Blue Diamond® focuses on getting you through your jobs as quickly and efficiently as possible. So many features affect your fuel consumption and the hours you spend on your machine. To name a few more, drop down blades cut cleaner than straight blades, taller deck design with a raised back allows for the deck to clean out faster, and being able to reverse the blade rotation controls discharge direction. Find out more about the features that set us apart in this blog about our skid steer brush cutters! 

If your machine hours are reduced by 25%, fuel consumption and labor hours follow suit, not to mention the added 25% in productivity each day! Does it not just make sense to spend a little more on your attachment? 

Editor's Note: We originally published this post in 2016 and we have since completely revamped and updated for both accuracy and comprehensiveness.