Flail Mower vs Belly Mower vs rear mounted mower

[npalomba]

Could someone tell me what the real difference is between the Flail mower and the other mowers listed above? I know that the melly mower and the 3point mower have simular cutting but the rear mounted mower is easier to get on and off. Could someone break these down for me?

 

[JackIL]

Nick. Flail mowers are made with a horizontal heavy duty rotating shaft to which many small knives (flails) are pinned. These knives can pivot back if they strike a solid object. A cylindrical shield covers most of the rotor to guide the cut material up, over the top, and then discharge it downward toward the ground. This design has an advantage in not expelling cut material at high speed either to the side or to the front or rear. Thus it is sometimes preferred by highway departments for roadside mowing and schools or parks where there is a need to mow with the possibility of bystanders present. It has a major disadvantage in maintainence effort and cost. Each flail knife has to be individually sharpened or replaced and there can easily be more than a hundred of them on a mower. Some manufacturers offer a sharpener that can sharpen the knives while still on the mower, but it still is a difficult and time-consuming task compared to conventional rotary mowers with only 3 or 4 blades. Heavy duty flail mowers are also sometimes used in orchards to shred the limbs that have been prunned. You asked for a comparison to "rear mowers." These could be either "finish" mowers for fine grooming of turf or "rotary cutters" for heavy duty cutting of tall growth and light brush. There are numerous posts on the board dealing with each.

 

[Bird]

Jack, I had only seen one flail mower in my area; sitting in a pasture, rusting. The highway crews around here mow with rotary cutters. However, week before last I saw crews mowing along U.S. 460 in West Virginia using flail mowers, and they were mowing while it was raining./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif And just north of there, on I-77, they were putting down a new layer of hot asphalt in a driving rain./w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

Bird

 

[markcg2000]

Flail mowers are more in the class of rotary cutter (Bushhog) than finish mower. They are safer to use then the cutters because they don't throw things the same way. I think that is why they are so popular with the road crews. They're a lot more expensive then a rotary cutter - I think that's why they are only popular with the road crews /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

mark