bush hog vrs flail mower vrs finishing mower

[peteinthehills]

I need a replacement to my bush hog. I've had a look online and there are some auctions coming up and they have a variety of different mowers for the back of my tractor. The cheapest is a finishing mower, but I'm not sure it can cope with the big weeds in my fields. But I like the idea of a finishing mower for around the house.
How robust are the finishing mowers? do they need a lot of maintenance?

What advice can you give me?

Pete
Texas

 

[jeff9366]

Finishing mower blades generally are V-belt powered. Tough weeds will stop the blades.

If you stress the average Finish Mower it will not hold up. Finish Mowers are lightly built.

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I agree with Jeff. If you try to brush hog with a finishing mower, you'll bust a belt. And my Woods finish mower is a PITA to change the belt on.

If you want a good clean cut for around the house, but still want to tackle tall weeds in the pasture, a flail is probably the answer. But they are typically more expensive to buy and maintain than a brush hog, and they require more maintenance.

 

[peteinthehills]

ok, bush hog is it then. Obviously in a couple of years when I have my 12 acres in perfect manicured perfection, I'll be using a finishing mower...:laughing:

 

[terryknight]

i use a "bush hog" for brush (anything that is 3/4" or bigger, and/or woody) and a finish mower for grass even if that grass is 5ft tall.

the bush hog i have is a 6ft medium duty Befco, i paid 450 for is and have pressure washed and greased it. This will be it's third year



the finish mower i use my dad bought this spring marks its 30th year with us. it is a Woods RM90, 90" cut. belt driven. we put the fourth belt (belts are expensive at ~$250 a piece but the cheap ones don't last, had a cheapy it lasted about a year) on it last year and the 2rd set of blades 10 years ago. the blades get sharpened and iot gets greased ever year. it has been repainted once





i have never used a flail. they always seem to be more money.

 

[ovrszd]

I use brush cutters and a Flail. If you cut regularly with brush cutter the quality is fair. The durability is awesome.

If you cut regularly with a Flail the cut quality is awesome. The durability is fair.

 

[Texasmark]

I use brush cutters and a Flail. If you cut regularly with brush cutter the quality is fair. The durability is awesome.

If you cut regularly with a Flail the cut quality is awesome. The durability is fair.

Looks like that sums it up. I never used a flail but have the other two. Finish is just that, besides it is totally ground mount and small caster wheels fall into cracks and bounce over fescue wads and get choked up in big stuff and all for something other than a "lush estate lawn".

The brush cutter is tough and with a sharp blade makes for a nice cut in a smooth, grass pasture. I don't like the marks the front skids make in the turf when trying to get a close cut. On durability, hard to beat that setup.

 

[Catoosa]

I would look for a half way decent flail at auction and hope luck is on your side. I was lucky and grabbed a John Deere 7 foot flail for $200.00. It had bad bearings but a local bearing company was able to fix me up for about 1/2 of what JD wanted for the same bearings. Flails are really easy to rebuild and parts are available from several sources. Much better cut than a brush cutter and almost as forgiving, less trouble and maintenance than a finish mower.

I went from a brush cutter to an old Ford 6 foot flail I pulled out of the weeds. Put about 100.00 in new cutters and another 100 in bearings. Used it for 6 years on 7 acres before I retired it and bought the John Deere.

 

[GManBart]

If you're only knocking down typical weeds/grass and small saplings, a flail is often better than a rotary cutter. I got rid of my medium duty rotary cutter and bought a larger flail, for several reasons.

The flail can be wider for the same PTO power which saves time, it give a better/lower cut so you don't have to mow as frequently, and it works much better on wet and/or long weeds that sometimes lay over with a rotary cutter. In short, it saves me a lot of time in the long run.

Yes, you might have to occasionally have to sharpen a few blades, but if you aren't mowing new fields with unknown hazards, that shouldn't be a regular occurrence. I don't think I sharpened any blades during the season last year....I know my fields, and have gotten rid of the stuff that might cause a problem.