Rear discharge finish mower vs side discharge

[TheFarmerInAdell]

I have never owned a riding mower. I went from a push lawnboy mower to a FORD 917 Standard knife flail.

I still have a fine cut 917 that is never used, as I don't have a mid sized tractor anymore, but I would NEVER consider the cut quality of a flail close to a blade type mower. Plus, it's far easier to sharpen a blade, never mind the many knives on a finecut. I even had a special sharpening machine for regular 917 blades once. A lot of work, taking them off for sharpening.

It depends on how high the standards are for cut quality. My standards are quite low. I do notice that the cut quality is better on short grass than long grass. I haven't used a fine cut flail, mostly because the course cut meets my requirements for lawn.

Yes, sharpening a flail can be an all-day event. Again, I don't care much about cut quality so I usually just wait for the blades to need flipping/replacing.

 

[Industrial Toys]

If I recall, certain wispy vegetation, the flail would not cut.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

If I recall, certain wispy vegetation, the flail would not cut.

I haven't had that issue, but I don't know that I've tried to cut anything wispy. I do know that on taller grass, sometimes the grass doesn't come back up quick enough after the tires run it over and it ends up a little longer than the rest. I don't have that issue on my lawn, but the 3' tall grass I will need to go back over it again in a week or so to level it out. I usually try to not let it get that long but we've had quite a wet spring so it shot up quicker than I could knock it down.

 

[RalphVa]

I've 2 rear discharge walk behinds. Use both in mulching mode. No clumps of grass left behind.

Ralph

 

[chim]

I have been trying a Befco 6' finish mower on lawn grass. It leaves behind clumps of grass. I was told that a side discharge won't do this. Ironic, since I bought the rear discharge because I thought the side discharge would leave windrows.
Is it possible to get a good cut and a clean lawn with a rear discharge mower, or do I need to go with a side discharge instead ?

I have both. The little Ford has a 5' that discharges to the right. The Kubota has a 7.5' rear discharge. Previously had both side and rear 5' and 6'. I prefer the rear discharge. As some have mentioned, the one thing a rear discharge isn't useful for is gathering leaves in the Fall.

Clumping and wind rows can happen with both. The grass isn't always exactly the same all year. Weather and mowing frequency affect the height, "juiciness", etc. Making adjustments to PTO and travel speeds helps. If we have a period when the grass is growing fast and my schedule keeps me from mowing when I should, the outcome isn't as nice regardless of mower type.

One thing I really like about the rear discharge is being able to mow in any direction using different patterns and cut close to things on both sides. With the 7.5 footer that means a quick walk with a string trimmer (less than one 20V battery for the DeWalt trimmer) takes care of what the mower won't cut. The only problem areas for trimming are the banks of the creek and an area where I have tossed scrap steel etc. and can't drive through.

 

[wvgca]

the rear discharge seems to work better, especially on taller grass [two - three feet high] .. at least it throws the clippings on the area that was already cut [mostly] but it won't 'windrow' like a side discharge will ..
I used a seven foot Buehler behind a forty horse diesel, JD 510, it worked okay at three to four mph ..

 

[Halftrack]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on my experiences with mowers, both rotary and flail.

Rotary:
Bush Hog 5' 3 blade side discharge- typical SD windrow, great for windrowing leaves

Kioti 6' 3 blade rear discharge- the Best at a nice unnoticeable distribution of grass and even cut. Kioti is a rebranded something, not sure what.

Simca 91" 5 blade rear discharge- two distinct windrows coming out the back after removing safety chains. Wheels are at extreme ends so will scalp on uneven ground. (current machine)

Woods 7' 3 blade RD- still windrows with restricted rear discharge.

Woods trifold finish RD- similar to 7' Woods, remove safety chains to improve results.

Flails:

Ford 5.5' and 6.5' model 917 flails with single piece duck foot blades (fine cut)- even distribution of cuttings, same direction rotor rotation means poorer quality cut at higher speeds. Stripes. Little vacuum effect for picking up wheel tracks. Horse power hungry in tall (1' to 3') material (creeper speeds), bush hog ability in brush.

Ford 5' model 918H with 2 knife per station side cutter blades- For some unknown reason it leaves windrows (2 sometimes 3) while finish mowing. NOT horsepower hungry in heavy grass, roadside and brush mowing (run normal speeds). Stripes. Little vacuum effect. (current machine)

Mathews Company Lawn Genie 6' lawn pickup flail w/hopper- strictly a finish mower, has baffles on rotor to assist with suction and leaf pickup, able to bypass hopper and spread clippings. Stripes. The BEST finish flail I have used, even cut and even spread. Currently in storage and used mainly for leaf collection in the fall.

Hope someone gets something useful out of this.

 

[Texasmark]

I have been trying a Befco 6' finish mower on lawn grass. It leaves behind clumps of grass. I was told that a side discharge won't do this. Ironic, since I bought the rear discharge because I thought the side discharge would leave windrows.
Is it possible to get a good cut and a clean lawn with a rear discharge mower, or do I need to go with a side discharge instead ?

I usually have high velocity cross winds when mowing and clippings get in my right eye easily....I thought long and hard about a rear discharge. Upon seeing one and the clumps as you mention, I realized that the side was better for a clean cut. I think a side discharge with a high blade speed like my Ferris 700zt, 61" and open discharge chute (like it has) is best as it has a 3 blade generated wind tunnel making for better dispersion. I found some side shield sun glasses that work for the clippings in the eye thing.

 

[dalola]

You might also try some mulching blades, like G6 Gators. Dry grass vs wet grass will also spread more evenly.

All things being equal, I don't see much difference between the two (side vs rear) as far as cut quality. I do prefer moving the "dust cloud" to the rear with the rear discharge, and being able to mow close to boundaries with either side. This would be with a RFM. For a mid-mount, I would prefer the side discharge. Precisely why I have both.

 

[Summerlin]

I’m obsessive about cut quality, and I hate leaving noticeable clippings

If I mow an area and there’s clumps of clippings left behind, I will double cut and raise the deck 0.5” to get any missed stragglers and to disperse the clippings