Rotary Cutter Best rotary cutters for uneven terrain

[npalen]

I mowed several hundred acres of tall grass (bluestem etc) seed plots this spring with a 15 ft Landpride batwing (trail type mower not 3PT) and some of it being fairly rough. We were trying to mow fairly close and had issues with scalping.
Looks to me like a hydrid design batwing with gauge wheels in front of the wings would be advantageous. It wouldn't need to float like a finish mower but the gauge wheels could lift the wings when necessary to prevent/minimize scalping.
Many multi-section field discs have had the wing front gauge wheels for many years. They don't necessarily carry any weight until going thru a rough spot or ditch in the field and the idea is to keep the front gang from gouging.

 

[leonz]

I have a lot of areas with irregular ground, containing small dips & humps. I need to keep some of them mowed as well as possible. I've been using a rotary brush cutter on my compact tractor to do a reasonable job, but it's hard to keep it from occasionally digging into the ground. I'm afraid that a finish mower would not be able to take the abuse it would inevitably get on this rough ground. Is there a rotary cutter that has wheels in the front or some way to keep it from digging into the ground (like a typical finish mower, but more heavy duty)?

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With your mule and its available PTO horsepower a used 7-8 foot cut finish flail mower would be a better option,
as the rear roller is either 7 or 8 feet long and controls the height of cut.

A JD, Vrisimo or Alamo finish flail mower has full length welds and the construction of the flail mower has tubular
steel across the front and rear to increase the flail mowers strength of construction and prevent wracking and twisting.

My father used a gas powered ford jubilee to reclaim and mow 12 acres of old pasture with a JD290 finish flail mower(7 foot cut).

The other option is to see if you can purchase at least 2 complete tailwheel assemblies with flat free solid tires for a single rotary cutter to allow them to be welded
to the front of the finish mower and the mounting frame is long enough to assure that wheels will be able to spin around and not become jammed against the
mower body.

Purchasing the complete wheel assemblies and having them welded properly on the mower deck would not take a great deal of time.

 

[coobie]

I flung a similar one two hundred feet in an upward arc many years ago. Went through an insulunit, embedding glass in an ajacent paneled wall. The mark is still in the ceiling!

The rock from my BH traveled about 150ft like a missile.I was brushing down my road right of way thank god there were no cars driving by.Lesson learned for me.

 

[metalbender]

I always have concerns when RMs are mowing ditches along the highway with their big bat-wing mowers. So far, no incident from flying rocks or debris.

 

[jaxs]

Any mower will hit the ground (some more than others) unless you are mowing high. I don't believe the King Kutter flex system above would make much difference on any tractor I've ever operated. With engine running,no empliment on tractor and 3 point lift mid way between up and down,either lift arm can be picked up more than 6 inches by hand. I fail to see how 1.5 inches on flex system would be an improvement. Every cutter I've used has a lingth of chain on bar running from 3rd link to rear of deck that has same effect as flex system. Spraying to kill weeds will kill not 2 but 3 :dove::dove::dove: with one stone. #1 Field look's better sans weeds #2 Intervels between mowing are extended #3 You will be able to better see humps and holes in time to make correction.

 

[ruffdog]

Any mower will hit the ground (some more than others) unless you are mowing high. I don't believe the King Kutter flex system above would make much difference on any tractor I've ever operated. With engine running,no empliment on tractor and 3 point lift mid way between up and down,either lift arm can be picked up more than 6 inches by hand. I fail to see how 1.5 inches on flex system would be an improvement. Every cutter I've used has a lingth of chain on bar running from 3rd link to rear of deck that has same effect as flex system. Spraying to kill weeds will kill not 2 but 3 :dove::dove::dove: with one stone. #1 Field look's better sans weeds #2 Intervels between mowing are extended #3 You will be able to better see humps and holes in time to make correction.

With most modern tractors, the 3pt lift arms can be raised, but, they are not independent from each other. Also, the best part of the Flex system is not what is happening with the top link, it is the Flex between the 3pt lift arms and the deck. I had 1800 trees removed and not all stumps are below grade. Some stick up a few inches....not high enough to hit with the blade, but the deck corners hit them. The Flex is much better than a rigid mounted deck when you hit a stump.

PS...also, when you hit a stump, it doesn't just move upwards, it moves back/up on the radius of those dog bone links.