Roof Manufacturing Brush Mower Model VP 75
At least 25 years old, but it still has the original, Roof-branded drive belt on it!
So. What is this all about? Well, it is to be used primarily for mowing paths through tall grass for portable electric fencing; fencing specifically intended to manage the sheep in paddocks, or out and about on the farm. A string trimmer just won’t get the job done, and a brush cutter (kind like a string trimmer, but with cutting blades instead of string) will take much, much longer.
Anyway, I thought this machine was of special interest. The mower is of course Roof-branded, but so is the gearbox, so are the tires, and even the drive belt is Roof-branded. You don’t see that much anymore. The Kawasaki engine puts out 9.5 hp.
Notice how the 25 inch blade extends from under the mower deck; the safety-Sally’s of the world would drive any company doing this today into bankruptcy in a heartbeat.
“Ordinary consumers” cannot be trusted with such a machine, which is your first clue that it is probably well worth having!
I was first turned on to this mower by one of our church elders, Ron, when he brought his over to help reclaim the path from the Farmhouse (Airbnb) to the lake; his was even older than this one, but made short work of the offending shrubbery. Then, when Timothy and I went to Brian’s to learn about raising Katahdin sheep, he rolled one out, somewhat newer than this, to clear paths for his electric fencing. And, that was it; a brush mower went on the shopping list.
DR Power makes a similar machine today, but I’m sorry, two thousand dollars is unaffordable; we give up 1 hp and 1 inch in blade length, but the price of ours came in at less than 25% of a new one. Not to mention the fact that the DR has two more pneumatic tires that I could do without; the Roof has solid, taller tires, which won’t go flat, and which roll more easily. Geri found it on Facebook Marketplace.
I have tested the Roof alongside the driveway, where due to steep slopes we cannot safely go with the Kubota-drawn brush-hog. It worked well, though I was throwing the belt. By the way, there is a belt guard which I had removed to service the belt, and for the photos. I believe lack of sufficient belt tension to be the culprit.
I bought the manual, naturally. It is not very detailed in terms of operation and maintenance, 6 pages, and hard to find, and relatively expensive, but still worth it.
Once I get this thing running the way it ought to, I’ll record a video and update this post.
A good find!