Flail Mower Flail Mowers

[erich]

Is there any advantage to using a flail mower as opposed to a bush hog? I have no experience with them. Living here in New England I have to worry about a new crop of rocks every year. The old Woods 60-2 rotary I pull has been beat up pretty bad in the past and without a stump jumper things can get pretty exiting from time to time.

Eric

 

[Panache]

If you are cutting grass (as opposed to small trees) and will cut it before it gets over about 15" tall a flail will cut much better. It will not cut like a FM. I have both a 6' Rhino and a 78" JD 25A. I use the JD much more often than the Rhino unless I am cutting underbrush or cutting roadsides back where trees have started to grow. My flail has about 18" offset to the right side allowing me to cut closer to my pond without backing up. I get about 6' cut on each pass of the flail and only one tire is being cut behind. It cost me about $150 in repairs over about 8 years on my flail. This included 1 bearing and 36 flail cutters.

 

[Tom_H]

I would recommend that you do some research. Many people do not realize that there are different styles of flail mowers. Light duty tend to have lighter frames and have "knife" blades used for cutting turf. Some can leave a very fine finish cut. Heavy duty models have heavier frames and use "hammer" blades to simply break whatever they are cutting, up to about 1.5" dia. brush. There are even special flail mowers mounted on the end of boom poles which are used to trim the tops of hedge rows.

It sounds as though you would use your flail in rough terrain and brush. The flail will cost about 5 x as much as a rough cutter. If you do beat up the blades, you have only 2 free pivoting blades on the pan of the r.c. contrasted with some 40 to 80 separate blades to worry about on the flail.

Several years ago I also considered flail vs. r.c. for brush conditions. I went with a small but heavy duty GearMore rough cutter and have been very pleased.

 

[Runk]

TomH
Can you explain the difference between a "rough cutter", a Bush Hog, a finish cutter???
I have a Kubota L4330 and 10 acres of sage and scrub oak at 8000' elevation in New Mexico. I also have to deal with grass growing tall in Northern California. I also have alot of rabbit bush in Southern California.
Thanks,
Runk

 

[Tom_H]

Bush Hog is the name of a corporation which manufactures implements. Their web address is bushhog.com .

Rough cutter, brush hog, rotary cutter are all synonyms for the 3ph pto driven implement which has a spindle pan and two massive free pivoting blades which cut primarily by sheer force of inertia, i.e. they simply break whatever they hit. If one of these blades hits a stump or large imbedded rock, the pivot pin on the pan allows the blade to slide off at an angle while the pan continues to rotate at the same r.p.m. and not slow down. A half revolution later that blade can whiplash back into position and the pan still does not slow down. This implement can cut 12' tall weeds and even stands of saplings up to 2" in dia. A heavy duty flail mower is also said to give a "rough cut" in that its hammer blades work by breaking whatever they hit. Trail mowers and rough cut mowers are designed like an oversized regular lawn mower with an oversized one piece blade. All of these implements are used to cut heavier materials and the cut basically looks "rough". Siclebars and string trimmers also leave a cut which is "rough".

A finish mower gives a well groomed or "finished" looking cut. Examples are MMM (mid-mount mower), RFM (rear finish mower), ZTR (zero turn radius mower), FMM (front mount mower), and reel mowers. A light duty flail mower uses knife blades to give a finished cut. Golf greens mowers give the most well finished cuts of all. All of these are designed to be used on cultivated turf grass (and not on larger plants), and rely on a sharp knife edge to cut the grass blades. The reel mower is more comparable to scissors than a knife.

 

[erich]

Thanks for the information. I appreciate the responses.

Eric

 

[Runk]

Thanks very much for the, what may seem like mower 101 info, BUT, a Bush Hog type implement costs, as you have pointed out, a fraction of the cost of the flail, so, this is very important info for me and my family.
Take care,
Runk

 

[Tom_H]

Don't feel bad about asking questions; five years ago I didn't know any of this either.

Even the brush hog/rough cutters come in not only a variety of sizes, but in light duty and heavy duty models as well. Light duty will cut very tall thick weeds, but not saplings. Heavy duty will cut the saplings. I have a small sized (42" diameter) GearMore model. Even though it is small, it is heavy duty and will chop sapplings like a vegematic blender chops carrots. Available sizes for brush hogs are 36", 40", 42," 48", 60", 72", 84", and 96".

Siclebar mowers have 2 long plates which slide back and forth. Each has numerous teeth. As the plates slide, the teeth cross each other like numerous scissors. This device was first used to harvest wheat. Both siclebars and flail mowers have numerous teeth to maintain as compared to just the two large "meat cleaver" like blades to take care of on the rough cutter.

 

[tnuke]

Great thread,

Just curious as to what size flail mower a Kubota L39 (39 hp - 30.5 PTO hp) can efficiently pull. I am thinking about mowing a few pastures on the weekends and just wondering what width I should consider.

 

[Tom_H]

I couldn't recommend a flail. I'd go with a rough cutter. One alternative could be a Woods RM990 which has a rear finish style body with rough cutter type free swinging blades. It appears to be a compromise which will cut weeds better than an RFM while giving a better finich than an rc, yet won't cut as thick as an rc and gives a look not quite as good as an RFM. It's big though: 90" and requires 25-50 hp at the pto.