Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher

   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #1  

hayden

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 23, 2000
Messages
2,014
Location
VT
Tractor
Kubota L5740 cab + FEL, KX121, KX080
I thought I'd share my experience with these three different attachments after owning and using all three. I use(d) them on a mini/mid excavator, but I think this largely applies to use on a tractor or skid steer as well.

I've watched a number of Youtube videos where people work their way through buying these attachments, just as I did, until they find the right one. My hope here is to save people some time and money by picking the right attachment in the first place.

I started with a rotary mower on a 4 ton mini excavator. It's just a brushhog with swing blades that mounts in place of the bucket and is hydraulically driven. It worked well, but it's important to understand the limitations. A rotary mower works well on grass and similar vegetation, light brush, and woody material up to around 1", maybe 2" if the wood is soft. The advertisements for these mowers will tell you they can cut up to 4" or something similar, and they can, but they don't do it well. Not at all. Material that's too big just gets hammered and pounded, not cut. Or it just gets flattened to the ground and not even cut off at the stump. So for anything beyond light brush, it's really not the right tool. I've seen people buy these, as I did, with the expectation of clearing saplings and other bigger material, and it just doesn't work well.

Next I got a bigger excavator (8 ton) and this time got a flail mower. I had never owned one before, and I have to say it was the biggest disappointment. Like the rotary mower, it's really only good for grass, vegetation, and light brush. The advantage over a rotary mower is that it chops up the material better, and leaves a more finished cut. So if you are mowing road sides, or stream or pond banks, and want a finished cut, it's probably the best choice. But it's even worse at woody material than the rotary mower, so make sure you only need to cut light stuff. Also, the flail mower was very heavy - frankly too heavy for the excavator. It was a very heavy duty attachment, and the attachment/excavator weight relationship will vary widely from case to case, but this is something to keep in mind with any of these attachments.

The majority of my clearing work involves some amount of woody material. Brush, saplings up to 4-6", and a lot of lighter vegetation, but being able to cut the heavier stuff is essential. For that, nothing beats a fixed tooth mulcher. I'd say it does better with everything except for grass, and for grass it's about the same as a rotary mower. Not quite as good, but pretty close. If you have anything other than grass and light brush, or need to do finish cutting, don't waste your time on any of the other attachments - go straight to a mulcher. They are more expensive, but it's where you will end up sooner or later.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #2  
I didn't realize they made 3pt Mulchers. Cool but spendy.

 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #3  
I wasn't intending to watch it, but it popped up in my video playlist on Youtube yesterday afternoon and I see this post.


I watched all 46 minutes of it and I thought it worked well for what they were doing with it. Especially with such small excavators. Both were underrated for the attachment by the sounds of it.

Although, I can't imagine what they were using it for was good for the bearings. Especially the one scene cleaning up around the pond. They were submerging it.

But hey, I was pretty impressed with it.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #4  
Psssst,sometimes it makes sense to own more than one type because none of the three are advertised as being suitable for all applications.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #5  
I wasn't intending to watch it, but it popped up in my video playlist on Youtube yesterday afternoon and I see this post.


I watched all 46 minutes of it and I thought it worked well for what they were doing with it. Especially with such small excavators. Both were underrated for the attachment by the sounds of it.

Although, I can't imagine what they were using it for was good for the bearings. Especially the one scene cleaning up around the pond. They were submerging it.

But hey, I was pretty impressed with it.

That hydraulic drive flail mower was never ment for hacking up trees and limb brush,
heavy long term growth brush yes but not the trash trees and limbs he was using it for.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#6  
I wasn't intending to watch it, but it popped up in my video playlist on Youtube yesterday afternoon and I see this post.


I watched all 46 minutes of it and I thought it worked well for what they were doing with it. Especially with such small excavators. Both were underrated for the attachment by the sounds of it.

Although, I can't imagine what they were using it for was good for the bearings. Especially the one scene cleaning up around the pond. They were submerging it.

But hey, I was pretty impressed with it.

This is one of the examples I was alluding to. A mulcher would work much better for the work he was doing. Even the brush he was cutting at his friend's house would have worked much better with a mulcher. If all he wanted was a nice finished cut of grass around a pond or along a roadside, the flail would be great.

He has a rotary mower, and now tried the flail mower, and I predict will get a mulcher next.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #7  
I thought I'd share my experience with these three different attachments after owning and using all three. I use(d) them on a mini/mid excavator, but I think this largely applies to use on a tractor or skid steer as well.

I've watched a number of Youtube videos where people work their way through buying these attachments, just as I did, until they find the right one. My hope here is to save people some time and money by picking the right attachment in the first place.

I started with a rotary mower on a 4 ton mini excavator. It's just a brushhog with swing blades that mounts in place of the bucket and is hydraulically driven. It worked well, but it's important to understand the limitations. A rotary mower works well on grass and similar vegetation, light brush, and woody material up to around 1", maybe 2" if the wood is soft. The advertisements for these mowers will tell you they can cut up to 4" or something similar, and they can, but they don't do it well. Not at all. Material that's too big just gets hammered and pounded, not cut. Or it just gets flattened to the ground and not even cut off at the stump. So for anything beyond light brush, it's really not the right tool. I've seen people buy these, as I did, with the expectation of clearing saplings and other bigger material, and it just doesn't work well.

Next I got a bigger excavator (8 ton) and this time got a flail mower. I had never owned one before, and I have to say it was the biggest disappointment. Like the rotary mower, it's really only good for grass, vegetation, and light brush. The advantage over a rotary mower is that it chops up the material better, and leaves a more finished cut. So if you are mowing road sides, or stream or pond banks, and want a finished cut, it's probably the best choice. But it's even worse at woody material than the rotary mower, so make sure you only need to cut light stuff. Also, the flail mower was very heavy - frankly too heavy for the excavator. It was a very heavy duty attachment, and the attachment/excavator weight relationship will vary widely from case to case, but this is something to keep in mind with any of these attachments.

The majority of my clearing work involves some amount of woody material. Brush, saplings up to 4-6", and a lot of lighter vegetation, but being able to cut the heavier stuff is essential. For that, nothing beats a fixed tooth mulcher. I'd say it does better with everything except for grass, and for grass it's about the same as a rotary mower. Not quite as good, but pretty close. If you have anything other than grass and light brush, or need to do finish cutting, don't waste your time on any of the other attachments - go straight to a mulcher. They are more expensive, but it's where you will end up sooner or later.
You are very correct, the typical over-use on flail mower is that people use it to mow too much real brush. For the heavy duty flail mower, it can mow a little brush sometimes even diameter up to 4", but it's not good idea let the flail mower always mow such size brush, only mulcher can work it out.
I m curious what mulcher will you purchase. We are developing a tractor PTO mulcher for two years, still not finalize it, an entry-level mulcher, the mulcher is really big machine, such small machine its weight can be more than one ton easily.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #8  
I wasn't intending to watch it, but it popped up in my video playlist on Youtube yesterday afternoon and I see this post.


I watched all 46 minutes of it and I thought it worked well for what they were doing with it. Especially with such small excavators. Both were underrated for the attachment by the sounds of it.

Although, I can't imagine what they were using it for was good for the bearings. Especially the one scene cleaning up around the pond. They were submerging it.

But hey, I was pretty impressed with it.
in the end of this video, he is using flail mower to cut those trees, well he is over-using his flail mower, the worst thing is this flail mower won't cut the tree clean enough, there is always several inches stump leave on the ground. Obviously he need a mulcher.
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher #9  
some I REALLY enjoyed your thread hayden!

I am considering a mulcher for my Kubota KX-040 mini excavator. It seems to definitely be a bit smalls terms of flow and weight for a mulcher, but there are some Youtube videos that show folks successful doing it.

FAE makes a really (expensive) nice unit with a variable transmission and a drum designed to limit how fast material can be feed to the chipper teeth. Is this hype or worthwhile?

Any thoughts on mulchers to consider/avoid? Other than being really careful, any ideas on limiting the impact (pun intended) of using a mulcher in rocky areas?

FYI: I'm a retired old geezer that prefers using my mini excavator than my chainsaw/weed whacker/handheld pole saw...
 
   / Flail vs Rotary cutter vs Mulcher
  • Thread Starter
#10  
some I REALLY enjoyed your thread hayden!

I am considering a mulcher for my Kubota KX-040 mini excavator. It seems to definitely be a bit smalls terms of flow and weight for a mulcher, but there are some Youtube videos that show folks successful doing it.

FAE makes a really (expensive) nice unit with a variable transmission and a drum designed to limit how fast material can be feed to the chipper teeth. Is this hype or worthwhile?

Any thoughts on mulchers to consider/avoid? Other than being really careful, any ideas on limiting the impact (pun intended) of using a mulcher in rocky areas?

FYI: I'm a retired old geezer that prefers using my mini excavator than my chainsaw/weed whacker/handheld pole saw...

Mine is an FAE, but it doesn't have the bite limiters. It's been fine without them, but I haven't used a mulcher with limiters, nor have I used anything other than the FAE. So I don't know what I don't know. I run mine on a KX080 which is a good bit bigger than an 040. I could see the value in the bite limiters on a 040, but I don't have first hand experience with it.
 
 

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