Dual Spindle 84s for Trail mowing.

[elsievo]

Looking for advice. I volunteer to mow the local cross country ski trails to prepare them for winter. Fairly rough terrain, a few stumps that should be ground, ruts etc. Most cutting is light grasses, ferns and goldenrod, some sections of heavier marsh like grass, some tag alder usually no wider that 3/8". The goldenrod and tag elder can get as high as 3' over the course of the summer.
Equipment we've been using is a Kioti CK4010 Compact tractor (33 hp PTO)
68" Flail mower (offset sticks out about 12 inches on the right of the tractor)
72" TSC rotary cutter (covers the width of the tractor)

The Flail is easy to maneuver and follows well up and down the short hills, it also hangs out the right so when I mow over the culverts I can keep the tractor wheels at a more "comfortable" distance. Problem is that the more woody objects like the tag alder, if they are more than 2' high, just get bent over and stay bent over when the cutters go over them and then just spring back up. (Their sticking up causes problems for skiers catching the edge on them and causing them to fall.)
The rotary cuts these just fine but I have to get much too close to the culverts and anywhere else the edge of the trail falls away.

I would like to hear from any that have used a Land Pride RCD1884, Bush Hog SQ84T or similar dual spindle mower. The manufacturers recommend 35 hp PTO, other than sacrificing speed would running one with 33hp work? Has anyone run a unit like this on a smaller tractor? I like the fact these are offset and am hoping they will cut this tall "stalky" stuff well. I'm thinking that they would be more maneuverable.

Thank you and I look forward to your comments.

 

[skipperbrown]

I don't have any experience with the unit you are studying. However, I run a 96" Frontier twin spindle behind a Deere 5203. I have 40+ PTO HP. This tractor bogs in heavy grass and I could really use an additional 300# to complement the 250# hanging on the front bumper. I'm not sure of the weight of the cutter, but I'd guess about 1000#. Be careful about the tail wagging the dog. Can you cut the heavy stuff with your cutter and then polish with the flail?

 

[elsievo]

I can and at the moment that is the plan. Would prefer to get it done in one pass ideally and be able to cut the areas near the culverts or where the edge of the trai. There are over 35K of trails that take 4-6 passes with either mower to cut the full width of the trail system. Takes about 44 hours to cut all of them once.

 

[art]

The land pride has less hitch issues if you look at where and how the a frame is mounted for the three point. We sell both so it is no sweat to me but it might be for you!!!

 

[leonz]

Can you afford a wider flail shredder??
A twin spindle rotary cutter will suck up a lot of power on you.
An offset seven foot Vrisimo Minimax model flail mower would work well for your needs as it is ment for heavy
highway ditch mowing and heavy brush mowing.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Used to use a Liliston trail type, 8 foot, 3 spindle mower on a 42 pto hp tractor. It would lay waste to just about anything up to a couple of inches, but wouldn't do a very nice cutting job. Came from Canadian Armed Forces.

I have owned two Ford 917 Flails, fine cut and regular and they require constant knife attention when working in ugly terrain. Also a Van Wamel Ditch mower with ten or so pound hammers that will pulverise trees, but rocks will pulverise the heavy hammers.

There are a lot of ways to cut vegetation, I guess because situations are so varied.

 

[elsievo]

Wider flail would help with the extra passes. The problem with the flail is that the goldenrod and tag alder gets tall enough to where the mower bends it over and before it can spring up and be cut, the tail roller is on them and keeps them pressed to the ground where they consequently spring up after I go by. The rotary is wide enough they spring up underneath and get cut. Just don't have the offset with the rotary. May have to consider mowing a couple times starting earlier in the season with the flail before stuff gets too tall. Unless someone has a 50hp tractor they'd like to donate to a worthy non-profit organization.

 

[Industrial Toys]

A wider single mowing component doesn't do as well a job, leaving valleys/ground depressions uncut.

 

[leonz]

She could use a 540 RPM Hiniker towed 6 foot flail crop shredder that does not use a rear roller and clear everything down to 2 inches in height and not have any thing left to worry about during the winter. It is capable of tight turns with the PTO shaft connected and operating due to the CV joint it is equipped with.

The larger crop shredders like the loftness 12 foot flail crop shredders do not have rear rollers and cut down to 2 inches.

The larger 15 and 20 foot Hiniker shredders can be towed or three point hitch mounted but require a 100 plus horsepower tractor with an 1,000 RPM PTO.

 

[Wyobuckaroo]

Where I lived once I did volunteer light maintence on about a kilometer each way on an ATV trail that went past my place..

I can understand your wanting to do this work in one past to save time... However.. The terrain you describe, roots, ruts, hills and all given tractor horse power and weight may be a concern..
That being spending money on a piece of equipment that may not work well or be harder to use... Using it in rough conditions leads to repairs and up keep expense on top of new equipment cost..
Good luck with that ....