Rotary Cutter Does Direction of Travel Matter?

[LD1]

Overlap certainly is inefficient, but can increase cut quality dramatically in certain conditions.

Agreed. If you have one wheel track that isnt cutting clean, mow in a direction that leaves THAT wheel track closest to your next pass so you can hit it with the least amount of overlap:thumbsup:

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I've always had good luck mowing back opposite of the way I just mowed, meaning my tractor tires mash down the grass in the tracks going one way and when I come back the opposite it seems to help stand that grass back up so I don't have many bahai stems sticking up. I have also learned that there are 2 different types of blades for a lot of rotary mowers, my Bush hog 720 Squealer came with flat rough cut blades and cut poorly in my opinion, I bought a set of curved lifting blades and it cut 100% better.

 

[gsganzer]

This is an old thread and I'm sure it gets beat to death again every other year, but I'll throw out a helpful tip to anyone new to mowing with a rotary mower. At least this is how I learned it.

Make a pass through the tall grass. Then stop and look at your deposited cuttings behind the cutter. If the cuttings are concentrated on the left side (of your direction of travel), you should proceed CW, if on the right side, you should proceed CCW.

In other words, the bulk of the deposited cuttings should be on the outside of your cut.

 

[zzvyb6]

Because of the rotational direction of the blades, 1 direction of tractor turning raises the effective blade speed, the other reduces the blade speed.
So: Make sure the pto rpm is correct (540) and slow down your tractor turn speed so you don't outrun the inboard blade. Same thing with an offset sickle bar mower. The cutter actually backs up if the turn center is not properly located. What's important is the mower turn center, not the tractor's.

 

[leonz]

The rotary cutter blade travelling with the edge towards the rear of the machine will pick up the grass run over by the tractor tire if the operator travels in the proper direction (this side of the cutter towards the cut part of the field). That ensures that the blades are cutting 75% of the time, not 50% if one chooses to accept your logic.
Flail mowers typically cut in a forward direction and can do a lousy job on wheeltracks in tall grass because the flails are travelling in the direction the grass is laying.

Flail mowers with double edge side slicer knives are able to slice brush and grass in forward and reverse if desired.

 

[Fallon]

Flail mowers with double edge side slicer knives are able to slice brush and grass in forward and reverse if desired.

Flails don't cut well in reverse at all. I assume because of the roller pushing grass down, but don't know for sure. My Peruzzo has hammers, but my old Ford 917 has side slicers. Both only cut half the material in reverse. If I drive forward over what I just cut backwards it cuts fine.

 

[oosik]

My 2 1/2 acres of "lawn" is really mowed field grass. After 40+ years of mowing - it looks pretty good. AND it is the fire break for my house and out buildings.

Anyhow - I've learned to mow in a CCW direction. All the cut grass is blown away from the uncut. Makes sense and cutting is much easier and cleaner.

 

[Fallon]

Mowed part of the yard today. Took the opportunity to grab a video mowing in reverse & the resulting half the material that gets missed. Not the greatest video, but should give the idea

 

[dadohead]

Spent 30 yrs at JD putting many tractors and mowers into production. Mowers look easy but are very tough to design. Finish mowers, rotary cutters, and flails all 'impact cut': you hit the plant fast enough to cut it before it moves (usually >12000 fpm). Its easiest to do that when the plant is standing straight up.... but that often doesnt happen. The tractor tires mash the grass forward in 2 strips; the mower housing also bends the grass forward just before cutting.

We used to call the region of the mower where the blades are cutting in the reverse direction the "back sweep" portion of the mower. Where the blades are traveling forward is "forward sweep". Back sweeping grass that is bent forward results in a very clean cut. On my CCW cutter, the LH side is the strong cutting side. The RH section is where the forward sweep is trying to lift and cut the tire track.... usually a MUCH weaker cut.

So, knowing the LH side of my cutter is the strongest, I mow CCW around the field letting the LH side back sweep the grass. I keep the RH side in the previously cut path. Direction definitely matters! Good discussions above.... hope this helps!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

I observed this week that ccw was better than cw.