bushhog VS flail mower?? any thoughts

I need to replace BOTH of my hogs,, or do a lot of work to at least one,, I really like to have two around,, I was looking and see a flail mower for sale,, I have never used one before,,

I have heard that they SHOULD do the same job as a hog?? is this true??

will they knoock down small saplings,, and high grass/weed???

and do they use about the same power as a hog,, I am running the hogs with my TN55 about 50+ horsepower??

any thoughts or experience on them,, also are the rocks and stuff easier on teh knives since they really arent fixed to the shaft,, thansk for the help, I know some of you used them ,, pat

They use less horsepower. I think the 6’ needs about 30+ HP. Less noisy. Not prone to scalping. Less parking area needed. You can reverse the blades when one side gets dull. High grass and weeds are easy. Cutting saplings depends on what you buy. The low end models will cut 1”. A bit cleaner cut than a RM.

Cons: you need to grease the shafts every 8 hours. Higher price than a brush hog. It may or may not cut as fast as a RM. It uses belts.

That’s all I can think of for now. Maybe some others will chime in.

I think of a flail as between a finish mower and a brush hog.

A flail will struggle with tall or thick grass. While it is true they will knock down the saplings and tall grass, my experience is that it won't cut them and they stand back up after the mower passes. Hard to beat a good working rotary mower.

I have used both in an orchard setting. The flail mower we had was all gear driven, no belts if I remember correctly. It would chew up tree prunings very well. It mowed the edges of the drives just as well as a rotary mower. We didn't have a lot of thick brush tough/sapplings to mow though. I would say both had about the same effect on rocks and small stumps. If you hit them, you know it. I liked the flail better because it was shorter, you could get into tighter places easier, and you could park three of them in the barn where a hog would only fit 1.

Some of the others have a totally different experience with them then me. I don't want to ever use a brush hog type mower again after using flail mowers. I had some older Ford types and I could mow over brush and small saplings no problem,high grass no problem as long as you had enough HP to keep the RPM's going strong as they use more HP than other type mowers in heavy conditions. They chop it all up and leave a nice finish and don't leave wheel tracks like a brush hog does. You can even mow your yard with them and get a nice finish too. Flail mowers also don't tend to throw objects out that you hit. that's why they used to use them around schools and roads alot.
If you buy one try it out first and make sure it doesn't vibrate from a bent rotor. While they don't usually tear theirselves up from hitting stuff some people do tear them up. The older Fords I had were not that expensive to buy. New ones are really pricy.

I would think rocks would do more damage to a flail mower and cost more to repair?

The knifes hang from a chain and are not real heavy so on most hard stuff they can bounce off and swing out of the way. There are also several styles of knifes/blades ? some are more stout then others.

Pat,

I own both. 7' flail. 6' brush hog. Really depends on what you are trying to do.

Flail:
Almost finish mower cut.
Doesn't throw rocks.
Doesn't do well in tall weeds.
Likes a lot more HP.

I use mine running down tree rows. Eats up the trimmings off a tree no problem.

Brush Hog:
Rougher cut.
Throws rocks or anything else it hits.
It will eat trees up to 1 - 1 1/2"
Easy on the HP.

I use this for heavy field mowing.

Neither do well on rocks and stumps if you hit them just right. Lots of experience there. They just make different noises!

Rick

There are two schools of thought for flail mowers. Most people either love them or hate them. I am on my second one in 30+ years. I use the Mott 5' CLB 60 series powered by a 154 Cub lo-boy tractor tht was a pitiful excuse for a tractor, but did handle the flail mower that was designed for it very well. When I finally found a sucker to buy the tractor the guy wouldn't buy the tractor unless he got the mower. Took me a couple of years to locate another 5'one in good shape. I use the 5' Mott with a 650 compact diesel John Deere tractor which is really a Yanmar painted Green. the 650 is rated at 14 hp and has adequate power for the mower. These mowers are really designed more for parks and some golf course use. The greatest thing about them is that they don't throw rocks, broken bottles or anything The worst thing is when a rope, wire or some thick vine gets wrapped around the drum and it will choke the machine down if you don't get it out of gear fast enough. The other advantage is that the blades are reversible for longer wear. I am going to get almost 16 years out of mine before I replace them this winter. The down side to this is there are 120 on my drum and cost around $1.50 each. But consider thet they have lasted lasted 15+ years that makes them fairly cheap. There are several types of blade configuration from rock blades that swing back when they hit something to finish cut rated blades for lawn use. I use the rough cut for mine. I have used mine many times for shredding limbs up to a diameter of 1-1/2 inches and small saplings and brush. The secret to a clean cut is to keep the drum whistling and you get a clean cut if you get the ground speed right. I take mine once a year and run it over our back yard lot shredding all the small limbs and pine cones rather than have to rake 2 acres. I don't intend to buy another rotary mower if I can help it.

I have both a 4 foot brush hog and a very old 6 foot Mott flail. Which one I use depends on the job. The flail mower gives a great finish on grass because it can pick up the grass that the tractor tires have run over. But any heavy stuff and and the flail starts losing knives. Parts are expensive for the flail, so it's a bad idea to abuse it.

My Ford 4000 is around 45 HP, and in heavy grass the fail mower needs every bit of it.

I use the brush hog for any heavy brush cutting, but never on grass.

i only used flail for chopping corn stalks, always did good job, but need the HP to keep it spinning, but any time u hit a big mound of dirt or rock, you through a knife and had ot replace it.

the rotary, i never have a problem with tire tracks, i have 6' howse and mow in 1st gear, 71 ford 3000, it does a beautiful job cutting and not bad at mulching either. and that was in a 12 foot high stand of briars, on land i just bought.

i find cutting looks better the more time u take, never a hurry when enjoying a nice old tractor and appreciating the peace and quiet of working with equipment.