Rotary Cutter Rotary Cutter questions

[tallyho8]

I am planning on buying a new light duty 6' rotary cutter soon. I have been looking at the Howse, King Kutter and Bush Hog Squealer. My main concern is that I want one that spreads the cut grass out instead of leaving it piled up in a row behind the cutter. I would also like one capable of cutting at a 2" height at times. The Bush Hog site says it will cut as low as 2" but the Howse and King Kutter each say 4" is as low as they go. I would appreciate any info on cutters that spread the cut grass well and other low cost, light weight brands.

I am just cutting light pasture grass with this mower and do not want a heavy expensive mower. My present mower leaves the cut grass piled high in a row behind the mower and this kills the grass underneath and leaves strips of dead grass down my pasture.

 

[Luremaker]

Sounds like you may want a finishing mower not a rotary cutter... finishing mowers will cut the grass into shorter pieces and will spread those pieces around nicely. If your pasture is nice and smooth a finishing mower would work great.

 

[Ben3130]

I agree with Luremaker. I have a 5' KingKutter and it just leaves a line of grass behind it. The thicker the grass, the thicker the line. The way I understand things a rotary cutter is not designed to cut grass like you're looking for. It's just designed to smash anything it comes in contact with, and doesn't care what happens to it after that.

Another option to consider is a flail mower. I don't personally know anything about them, but I've read several threads about people considering them as an alternative to rotary cutters when all your cutting is grass (no brush, saplings, etc.)

 

[SkunkWerX]

Flail mowers are sometimes pretty pricey, but are excellent mowers.

On many models you can install the flails for fine, medium and coarse cut.
For coarse cut they just don't overlap as much, and the model I was familiar with you left out some of the flails when you weren't worried about a pristine cut. So, they are more customizeable and allow for your specific mowing conditions.

I think their extra cost is a show stopper for most people.

For the purposes above, sounds like a finish mower is more suited, especially if you are lookig to adjust down to 2 inches.
I rarely go below 3 inches even on my front lawn.

 

[jimg]

Hi Dudley
Look around your area for local implement builders. In mine there are at least 3 and likely others I dont know about *yet*. Their prices are competitive and support/parts are local. In fact Im looking at a mower made locally that beats all other brands on price and quality (for the $$). Im told by my dealer its a 'mom/pop' shop who's more than willing to talk directly w/ customers. I also bet they'd modify a stock machine to your requirements. So, take a look around and ask some questions to see whats available over there.

 

[chrisjbell]

The gang is right - a rotary cutter is designed to whack stuff down. They aren't good at niceties like not leaving stuff behind them and while you can adjust them to cut short they aren't really made to do that, either. They're only supported by the 3PH and a wheel (or two, on some) in back, but a mower designed to cut low to the ground needs anti-scalp wheels to prevent the blades from grounding out.

For what you're looking for go for a rear mounted finishing mower or a flail mower. The RFM will probably cost less and will be less maintenance.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I've got about 8 acres of "lawn" around the house. Less than 1 acre gets finish cut with a riding lawn mower. The balance I cut with a Bush Hog 286. It does a fair job. I can cut to about 2" or 2-1/2" without scalping. This is rolling to hilly ground. I'd imagine the results would be even better on flat ground. I've found by mowing in a counter-clockwise pattern, I get better distribution of clippings. Clock-wise seems to leave a small windrow along the left side of the cut. It does better when I DON'T let the grass get very long. (Clippings less than 2") Also, results are better when grass is REAL dry. You need to keep blades in good shape if using a bush hog style cutter to "finish mow". Still, no matter what, you won't get nearly as good of a cut as you would with a finish mower.

I've got a couple Woods mowers too. Results aren't nearly as good with them. Also I can't get them to cut as short without scalping or skids digging in.

 

[mlauk]

Something you might try on your current shredder is to set the deck level instead of lower in the front. Also slowing down will help.

 

[tallyho8]

Thanks!!!!!!! Lots of good advice here. I already have an 8' flail mower and two 4' rotary mowers. I use my flail mower in my pasture a few times a year but in our summer rainy season the grass grows too fast and thick and by the time it is dry enough to cut my tractor can not handle it with the 8' flail mower. This is when I want the 6' rotary cutter. I would cut about 8 acres 4" high but I like to cut about 2 acres around my barn about 3". The pasture is too large to cut with my 4' cutters. I have a light duty 4' Razor cutter and it cuts low and leaves the grass looking nice but it builds up large windrows behind it no matter how I adjust it. My heavy duty 4' rotary cutter spreads the cut grass out nice behind the cutter but it only cuts as low as 5" and does not look good after cutting. I use this cutter for my heavy duty jobs when I am clearing land and cutting large saplings. I plan to sell my 4' light duty cutter when I get my new mower. I might look around at some 6 or 7' finishing mowers and see if they will do what I want but I know they are usually a fair amount more than the rotary cutters.

 

[shvl73]

I've got a couple Woods mowers too. Results aren't nearly as good with them. Also I can't get them to cut as short without scalping or skids digging in.

Good to know, I thought the results with my BB-60 were more of an operator problem. Of course I wouldn't rule it out.

 

[HickoryNut]

Woods offers two or three blade designs for most models of their cutters. All I've seen came standard with the flat blade which is best for rough brush and will always leave the windrow of grass down the left side. I think a big reason these come with the cutters because they are less likely to throw projectiles with as much force. Then there is the uplift blade which provides a suction for a smoother cut in grass and tosses the cuttings around under the deck to be recut. Finally, for some models they have an uplift/offset blade which drops the cutting edge down about 1.5" for those that want a short cut w/o dragging the skids.

I currently have Woods cutters in 5', 6', and 8' models and the reasons I've never had anything but Woods are:
1. Superior engineering, right gauge of steel in the right places, gussets strategically located, I rarely have to weld on them
2. Quality of cut due to good deck design and fast blade speed
3. Ease of maintenance, blade attachment design is heads above anything I've seen on other products, serviceable bushings in the tailwheel assembly

A friend bought a new 6' Deere and it comes as close to the quality of a Woods cut as I've seen, good looking cutter except the tailwheel pivot looked awfully short/weak.

As Mlauk said, fore and aft height adjustment is crucial.. and like Skunkwerx mentioned, I don't ever mow my front lawn less than 3" and I just went to my mid-summer adjustment of 3.5" on my pushmower and 4" on my rider.

Tallyho, quality of cut is controlled by deck design, blade design, and blade speed, in that order in my experience.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Woods offers two or three blade designs for most models of their cutters. All I've seen came standard with the flat blade which is best for rough brush and will always leave the windrow of grass down the left side. I think a big reason these come with the cutters because they are less likely to throw projectiles with as much force. Then there is the uplift blade which provides a suction for a smoother cut in grass and tosses the cuttings around under the deck to be recut. Finally, for some models they have an uplift/offset blade which drops the cutting edge down about 1.5" for those that want a short cut w/o dragging the skids.

I currently have Woods cutters in 5', 6', and 8' models and the reasons I've never had anything but Woods are:
1. Superior engineering, right gauge of steel in the right places, gussets strategically located, I rarely have to weld on them
2. Quality of cut due to good deck design and fast blade speed
3. Ease of maintenance, blade attachment design is heads above anything I've seen on other products, serviceable bushings in the tailwheel assembly

I've TRIED the suction blades from Woods on a BB840. They made a bad situation far worse. (scalping) They didn't provide any better quality of cut, and they did tend to pick up rocks and beat the daylights out of the deck, which is no heavier than most competitive brands.

STANDARD blades that come OEM on Bush Hog medium and heavy duty mowers do a MUCH better job, and don't have the list of negatives as extra baggage.

I own a mowing business. Over the course of a year, we use a mower the equivilent of many years of "average use" for the average user. (pair or 6'ers and a 7'er with over 800 hours (each) logged this summer alone. 15' batwing with 500+ hrs since April) I've had "good luck" with Woods, but far better luck with Bush Hog mowers. The LAST of my Woods mowers go away after this season to be replaced by Bush Hog products. The Woods mowers have a history of gearbox issues. (seals repeatedly failing, excessive gear wear, lower bearing failures, ect) Comparable Bush Hog models have substancially less mechanical issues in same conditions.

The Woods blade attachment design is nice. With 4 mowers running full time, I've had the need to remove blades exactly ONE TIME, on ONE MOWER. Not a real "make or break" factor one way or the other.

Woods offers a good "consumer grade" mower for home-owners and light use, but for hard commercial use, their best is marginal compared to what Bush Hog and Alamo Group (Alamo/Rhino/Shulte) have to offer. VERY seldom, if ever, will you see commercial mowing contractors using anything but Bush Hog or Alamo products. Nothing else holds up like they do. And with Bush Hog, I haven't had the need to re-fit with optional blades to do satisfactory work. They come ready to work without any changes.