Need help getting started with chosing a rotary cutter

[keegs]

Gents,

I'm looking for a cutter to do around the house along both sides of the driveway, along the road frontage and along the perimeter of two large fields. The local Kubota dealer sells Land Pride and so I'm considering that brand. I'm thinking a 6 foot or maybe a 7 foot cutter. The terrain is mostly flat.

I have two hay fields that I plan to cut with a sicklebar mower once a year.

Please help me sort through the Land Pride selection.

Thanks in advance.

Chris.

 

[leonz]

Gents,

I'm looking for a cutter to do around the house along both sides of the driveway, along the road frontage and along the perimeter of two large fields. The local Kubota dealer sells Land Pride and so I'm considering that brand. I'm thinking a 6 foot or maybe a 7 foot cutter. The terrain is mostly flat.

I have two hay fields that I plan to cut with a sicklebar mower once a year.

Please help me sort through the Land Pride selection.

Thanks in advance.

Chris.

AAY YIE YIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are you seriously intent on using a rotary cutter around your HOME????????!!!!!!!
NOT A SANE IDEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A rotary cutter operating at 540 r.p.m. can throw and object over 400 feet you know.


Invest in one of the Land Pride Flail Mowers from your dealer(which are a rebadged Itailian flailmower of excellent quality) and you will have a mower that you can use in the fields and next to your home with no worries AND it will outlast your tractor and it will go on the new one with no issues.

 

[TripleR]

I have used/owned different brands and now use Woods and Land Pride. I have a LP RCR2672 with chain shields on the front and back. It works really well for me, but I don't use it close to my house, my wife takes care of all that with "her" BX2660.

I have not noticed any missiles coming out, but it can happen.

 

[keegs]

Thanks for the heads up on cutting near the house. I have no experience with a rotary cutter.

 

[TripleR]

There are some old threads on here about how to use a rotary cutter and of course the often debated flail vs rotary cutter. I don't own a flail, so I don't know much about them other than what leonz had told me.

 

[Ted Summey]

Road right-of-way mowing contractors around here have switched to flail mowers for reasons previously posted.

How clean are the areas to be mowed?

 

[keegs]

Ted,

If you're referring to how clean are the areas around the house, that leads me to a question about what the rotary cutter will be tossing up and around as I mow with it. I've been cutting around the house with a walk behind string trimmer and a lawn mower. Of course with this being a second home the grass can grow to twelve inches between visits. I imagine that the rotary cutter could pick up a stone and toss it about??

 

[Ted Summey]

Yes a bush hog type rotary cutter can send shards of rock and sticks sailing a good distance (think broken windows on the house or car or worse if people or pets are nearby). It is like a lawn mower on steroids in that regard EXCEPT the rotary cutter is typically operated higher off the ground than a lawn mower. Plus a rotary cutter is necessarily open on the front and rear without a discharge chute to deflect flying debris. Some people put chain guards on their cutters (like pictured above) to deflect SOME of the missiles that come out of a rotary cutter. So if the area you want to mow is relatively clear of rocks and obstacles, a 3 point hitch finish mower, sickle mower or flail mower are safer options than the rotary cutter. IF you are quite confident that you won't get the rotary mower in the dirt AND it isn't necessary to mow closer than 8 or 10 inches, you COULD get by with the rotary mower safely. That's a big IF even for people who use rotary cutters often.

You mentioned mowing a hay field or two - a disc mower might do everthing you need to do including the hay mowing. It would be safer, quick and leave a better finished appearance than the rotary cutter. It is, however, a pricey solution.

If it were me, a finish or flail mower would be the better choice.

 

[keegs]

Thanks Ted.

 

[wcampbell47]

I had bid on a road side mowing project and had chosen a Brush Hog SQ84T as my mower of choice. It is a double spindle mower, 84" cut where the right side of the mower extends about a foot past the tractor - it is an offset mower. In my research the claim was that a double spindle would use or require less hp than a single spindle. Plus it does not hang out as far in the back as a single spindle mower. Well the contract never came through. I bought a Prefert 60 inch single spindle which has been very serviceable. The dealer did let me bring the SQ84T home for a trial run. The B3200 handled the SQ84T ok, although the salt grass I wanted to cut is pretty tough. I am thinking the multiple spindle will give you a little finer cut than the single spindle. I like the offset because I could get closer to objects without getting the tractor too close. It extended out into the ditch as well without having to drive the tractor into the ditch. The SQ84T doesn't seem to be popular, as a result I found 2 that the dealer was willing to let me have at his cost. If I had an L or M size tractor I would go for the SQ84T in a heartbeat.

Here is a link you can read. http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/15470-single-dual-spindle-rotary-cutter-2.html