Commercial rotary vs flail help!

[Brozum01]

I run a brush hogging business with a few larger 30 acre commercial accounts with most overgrown grass and weeds I cut twice a year with a 45hp tractor. I have a woods 6ft rotary and a Alamo shd74 flail with heavier duty y blades. I'm wondering which would I be better off using for these accounts. It doesn't need to be finish quality. Will the woods require more hp with less travel speed? I had been using the rotary and can cut about 2 acres an hr depending on the property. But now I'm wondering about the flail. Which would be better for me fuel and cutting time wise?

 

[Tinhack]

There's nothing heavy duty about Y-blades. They don't like woody pulp or high and dry weeds. I have "heavier duty" spoon blades and have thrown a few of those off in woody brush but it will leave a lawn-cut look in typical light weeds and grass. I normally use my rotary mower the first cut of the season since I let the wildflowers grow in the spring. After that, I'm using the flail mower.

 

[K5lwq]

If you have the flail already why not do a test to see which works best for your situation?

 

[ddbackhoe]

I run a brush hogging business with a few larger 30 acre commercial accounts with most overgrown grass and weeds I cut twice a year with a 45hp tractor. I have a woods 6ft rotary and a Alamo shd74 flail with heavier duty y blades. I'm wondering which would I be better off using for these accounts. It doesn't need to be finish quality. Will the woods require more hp with less travel speed? I had been using the rotary and can cut about 2 acres an hr depending on the property. But now I'm wondering about the flail. Which would be better for me fuel and cutting time wise?

Fuel use will be the same if you run the rotary and the flail at 2600 rpms. I know some people that drop the rotary mower down to 15-1800 because ”it doesn't need that much” and then say a flail uses more fuel.

 

[Rustyiron]

From a strictly fuel consumption point of view, my (unproven) thinking is that a rotary cutter with all that mass rotating is similar to a 6' flywheel. They all seem to easily spin for 5 minutes or more after you cut the power to it.
Now a flail seems to quit in seconds to maybe a minute.
This would seem to me that unless what you're cutting is very consistent in height and density, the flywheel effect of a rotary cutter would "carry" you into a thicker, taller area a few feet before you're tractor comes under load and while in areas of low growth or vegetation that same flywheel effect would require less effort from the tractor to keep the cutter spinning.???
This is splitting hairs but you're question does make you think.

 

[Torvy]

Fuel is per hour may be the same given the RPM being the same. I think where differences will come in will be how effectively they cut the things you need to cut. Of one takes 2% more time to do the same job at 2500 rpm (or whatever), the fuel use will likely be 2% higher. That may not be much to me and my casual use, but as a commercial business, that is a lot of lost profit.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

A big zero turn mower is advertised to cut 9 acres per hour. It will hack that brush. I have done it. But people still clench their bush hogs.

 

[Ribz]

A big zero turn mower is advertised to cut 9 acres per hour. It will hack that brush. I have done it. But people still clench their bush hogs.

9 acres per hour? I'd have to see that. What would your ground speed have to be? I don't think Mario Andretti could mow that fast.

 

[Tinhack]

9 acres per hour? I'd have to see that. What would your ground speed have to be? I don't think Mario Andretti could mow that fast.

I think it's the Exmark 96" that advertises that. Around $17 grand too. Might do that on a golf course but not on any land I own.

Edit: That works out to about 10mph if cutting full width.

 

[crashz]

My spine would snap at that speed on the fields I cut. The brush is one thing, but how does a zero turn handle rocks?