drum mowers?

[7520]

looking for a new hay mower. what do you think of a drum mower? does it hold up? does it do a good job? thanks for any reply

 

[sweettractors]

HERE
is a recent discussion that you may find helpful--Ken Sweet

 

[RalphVa]

I think a flail mower is a drum mower. In case you're interested, www.Agri-Supply.com has them. You can request a catalog from the site. They're the first ones where I've actually seen smaller-sized flail mowers available.

Ralph

 

[HayDR]

A drum mower is the most durable of all the hay mowers. We have drum mowers still running that are 25 years old. A flail mower is NOT a drum mower. The picture below is one of a CCM T165 drum mower. We have sold thousands of these drum mowers since 1980.

 

[SteveBenson]

I have a TC40D and have used a friends NH Haybine for the last few years (which uses a sickle bar). I have hard time in my newly seeded field that has a lot of clover. You have to go real slow and there is a lot of tearing and pulling. Not good.

Last year I let the neighbor take the third cut in October and he used a disc mower. It sliced through that clover like nothing. I was real impressed. I looked into the disc mowers and was a little disappointed to learn that you should have a cab tracter to use a disc mower due to the high blade speed. My neighbor was using one without a cab and he said he never heard that before when I mentioned it to him. Where do you guys stand on this issue?

How does the cutting action work on a drum mower? Does it have high speed blades also? Do you need a cab for safety reasons with a drum mower? Do they cut as well as the disc mowers?

Thanks, hay newby (or at least sheltered hay grower) needs to know /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[HayDR]

The only reason the cab issue comes up is a liability issue. Manufactures are afraid of the F. Lee Bailey's of the world taking a company down because of an operators negligence. If you put a disc mower, drum mower or sicklebar mower is a rock pile there will be consequential damage to the machine. The same thing if you put too much weight on a pickup truck there can be issues of safety for the operator and the vehicle. The issue of safety for both disc and drum mowers is the same. They both work the same. In this day of sue happy population manufactures have to make sure their products are safe of they risk too much to produce an unsafe product.
80% of disc & drum mowers are being operated on non-cab tractors. So just go figure that operators are not having many mishaps because the disc & drum mower sales are increasing.

 

[slowzuki]

Just the same, most guys doing big acres on a discbine use a cab tractor for comfort and safety. To be fair, if it will kill ya, it will go through glass too.

 

[SteveBenson]

Thanks CCI. It's good to get an honest answer and makes me feel much better about considering one of these mowers.

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The issue of safety for both disc and drum mowers is the same. They both work the same. )</font>

I'm relatively familiar with the disc mower, what exactly is the difference with the drum mower. If the cost is half as much, and they cut the same, and are the most durable why would one ever buy a disc mower?

 

[HayDR]

Drum mowers work best when the drum mowers have 2, 4 or 6 cutting drums. If you have a 6' drum mower that takes 35 HP and a 7' disc mower that takes 40-45 HP they are close to the same size tractor needed for operation. But now you want to go to a 7' or larger drum mower, you will need 70-85 HP and a heavy tractor. When you start increasing the HP requirement above 70 HP operators start thinking 8-10' mowers. The tractor size and HP is the limiting factor for any implement. Take for instance a Lely 9' disc mower only requires 45 HP to operate. The CCM drum mowers fit a niche in the market for the 20-70 HP tractor. The capacity is from 2-5 acres an hour. Our drum mowers are engineered with a 85 HP transmission for durability reasons. We have CCM drum mower customers harvesting 200+ acres of hay a year. Most of our customers fit in the less than 100 acre category. The CCM drum mowers offer the smaller operator, down to 20 HP, the technology of the disc mower at an affordable price. We sell both drum and disc mowers and have so for 25 years. The larger operators may choose a 10' disc mower but they are only purchasing more capacity, both mowers will cut the same.

 

[Chet]

I bought a CCM T-165 drum mower last year and it works as advertised. Cuts close and does not clog up, the old sickle is slowly rusting away and I could care less. Cut four fields, about 50 acres total last year and wore out one set of blades, which are about 90 cents each at the local coop. I run the mower on a Mahindra 4500 4WD and can cut in high 1st on smooth pasture. Chet

 

[px00001]

i have an antonio cararro 8400trx. it is an 80hp bidifrectional tractor, ie the operator station can be spun around so you are facing the 3pt when going forward, and the steering wheels are behind you, much like a forklift. the tractor has 540rpm pto. the tractor is made in italy, and i have seen pictures of european front mount disk mowers mounted on the 3pt. anyone here have any experience with front mount mower conditioners. i have 26 acres of timothy hay i have to mow each year and would like to get set up to mow and bale it for horse hay.

 

[nomad]

Supposing same tractor hp is enough to operate drum mower and disc mower, most important advantage of disc mower over drum mower is that disc mower has conditioner which rolls/dries the grass/alfalfa/etc much faster. But, the price of disc mower doubles when it is with a conditioner. If you don't need a conditioner (you won't need if you are not in commercial volume business), then, why pay twice for a disc mower while there is drum mower for half price.

 

[LastSTRAW]

I've been very happy with the drum mower by Zweegers. My uncle has used it for over 25 years and now I am using it. It will cut very fast and never clogs. It is great in areas where the wind or rain has beaten down the hay. It seems the faster you go the better it cuts. I mow in both 1st and 2nd high range without issue. The only challenge is taking the corners at high speed. You either have to slow down or swing wide which over time means you will have to back up to straighten things out again. You need to keep the blades sharp and the belts adjusted. The only major repair we have had was bearings in one of the drums after 20 years. I am still new at mowing. On an incline that slopes away from the tractor it works great. When it slopes towards the tractor it is hard to cut without cutting into the dirt and sod at the far end of the mower.

 

[HayDR]

I've been very happy with the drum mower by Zweegers. My uncle has used it for over 25 years and now I am using it. It will cut very fast and never clogs. It is great in areas where the wind or rain has beaten down the hay. It seems the faster you go the better it cuts. I mow in both 1st and 2nd high range without issue. The only challenge is taking the corners at high speed. You either have to slow down or swing wide which over time means you will have to back up to straighten things out again. You need to keep the blades sharp and the belts adjusted. The only major repair we have had was bearings in one of the drums after 20 years. I am still new at mowing. On an incline that slopes away from the tractor it works great. When it slopes towards the tractor it is hard to cut without cutting into the dirt and sod at the far end of the mower.

Many of the parts on the HayMAG 165 drum mowers are interchangable with the PZ165 drum mowers.