Side mowing

[Rowski]

I've been asked by a few people to cut the side of their drivewasys. Most of them I can't do with my rear mount cutter due to ditches, trees, mail box, rocks, etc. I'm exploring the idea of a mower that can do this. The first thought that comes to mind is a sickle bar mower. Other thoughts are side batwing or boom mowers. I have a feeling the sickle is the better way to go? I've searched the forum for sickle bar mowers and found some good info. But still a little uncertain about some things. Can a sickle cut small saplings, what is the max diameter? With the bar level to the ground can you control the height? Can the bar be picked up and droped hydraulically? The big question price?

 

[MarkV]

Derek,
I have done some casual research on sickle bar mowers. From what I understand they will not do well cutting saplings much bigger than finger size. They can also clog up if you are cutting a lot of woody type of material though the double action cutters seem to do better. You can adjust the cutting angle hydraulically but you need a hydraulic remote. Most seem to cut to a 70-degree downward angle and 90 degrees up. Prices I hear start at 1K and go up.

MarkV

 

[HayDR]

A single action sickle bar mowers is designed to cut grass and an occasional sapling to 1/2". The double action sicklebar mowers have a greater capacity to harvest grass but one rock or one twig will do hundreds of dollars worth of damage in a moment. If you have more than grass to cut then you will need a ditch bank mower or a Boom Mower with a Flail mowing head. A ditch bank mower needs a tractor of 60 HP or larger. The Boom mowers are available for tractors from 20 HP and up. I have seen boom mowers designed for CUTS. 4-8' reach with a 30-42" flail cutting head. The boom mower may require filling tires with fluid and adding some front weights. $4000-10,000

 

[markie61]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( The boom mower may require filling tires with fluid )</font> ....

.... and we all remember Rowski already has his tires filled from his post on overfilled tires/rusted rims/beet juice /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I remember my grandfather's sickle mower would clog even with "woody"/fibrous grass. A flail mower on a boom sounds like the ticket, but I don't remember the HP of the 2120.

Mark

 

[fenneran]

Dumb Question Alert! What is a flail mower? I am familiar with Rotary (I have a Howse 4') and sickle bar (but I don't know the difference between single-action and double-action). But I don't know what a flail mower is. Could someone explain?

-Frank

 

[Currmudgeon]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I don't know what a flail mower is. Could someone explain? )</font>

You know the old saw about "the only dumb question ..."

A flail mower has a mechanism that kinda resembles a rototiller. Obviously, the cutters are set to ride above the ground. They are shaped differently and rotate at a higher speed. They are expensive, compared to a rotary.

 

[Soundguy]

I would guess a NH 2120 has to be in the 40ish hp range somewhere..

My 1920 is 33 or so.

Soundguy

 

[Golfgar4]

You can read through this recent thread Flail vs Bush Cutter.... Who Wins? in this forum and get a fairly good education about the differences. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[Rowski]

A few more questions:

How can you tell the difference between single and double action sickle mowers?

With a sickle mower can you have the 3pt hitch most of the way up and then raise and lower the cutting arm?

What are the brands of good quality mowers? I've found Befco and New Holland.

Who makes ditch bank or boom style mowers for CUTs?


My NH2120 runs 43hp and 35hp PTO.

Thanks again.

 

[Slamfire]

Actually you want the sickle bar to be pretty close to parallel with the ground, otherwise the cut won't be even. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif