drum mulcher vs rotary mulcher

searcyfarms · May 2, 2021

Hey guys,

Just finished running 75 hours on a rotary mulcher unit. ( vail ) after doing this job was wondering how a drum mulcher would fair in productivity - I was cutting primarily 1 to 4 inch trees and then scattered cedars, wild plum thickets, multiflower rose bushes, so had a lot of rotary cutting and I have to say the mulcher did a bang up job on the smaller stuff and didnt have to change heads.

The teeth wore down and dulled a lot trying to scalp the stobbs off at the surface. Very few rocks so would have been a good area for a mulcher head in the thicker/bigger stuff possibly.

My big question is does a drum mulcher head do very good just mowing and not having to scalp and back drag?

Also, how long do the teeth on a drum mulcher last vs this tooth type on a rotary mulcher from all the back dragging and dirt contact.

Tones · May 2, 2021

A few things to consider in regards to tooth life on a drum mulcher.
1, the operator
2,the ground conditions
3, tooth quality
I have never run a rotary mulcher but have seen them work and TBH I wasn't impressed with the quality of the job, seemed to leave a lot of big timber on the ground.
A good operator on a drum mulcher keeps the head just off the ground but they do suck up dust and that wears the tooth just below the tungsten tile.
Ground conditions are what they are and nothing survives rock but a lot of care helps.
As for tooth quality there are heaps of aftermarket teeth around and my understanding is some are rubbish. Even expensive stuff can be bad
Having a hydraulic operated door IMO is a must have., depending on the type of vegetation 1 forward and 1 reverse pass may be sufficient.

treemuncher · May 3, 2021

searcyfarms said:
My big question is does a drum mulcher head do very good just mowing and not having to scalp and back drag?

Also, how long do the teeth on a drum mulcher last vs this tooth type on a rotary mulcher from all the back dragging and dirt contact.

1: Drum mulchers never do well on grass or light material unless the cut height is at grade level and/or the teeth are still sharp. A forward-only cut will always leave a lumpy finish product. A second pass back dragging cut will result is the best quality finish but you generally can't just do a back cut and expect it to look good. Some jobs require me to double or triple cut to get the right finish product. A front gate/door can make a big difference on speed of proper finish quality and how the material is spread about.

2: Ground conditions make all of the different. A flat farm field results in fewer contacts with the soil vs logged off property that has skidder ruts everywhere or constantly changing elevations with lots of lumps. Soil type is also a factor - exposed flint rock will beat those carbides into ball peen hammer tips in no time while a silt loam soil will allow those same tips to stay sharp for weeks.

I have no experience with a rotary mulcher disc, the only rotary that I've ever used was a Davco 705 with 4 free swinging blades . It would outperform a similar drum mulcher in speed and efficiency on lightweight jobs with 2" and smaller materials and especially grasses/weeds. Think about the cut on grasses - a shear style cut is perfect for light material. Unless your carbides are sharp, drums suck on grasses/weeds unless cutting directly at or below grade and always require a back cut to look decent.

Carbides last me anywhere from 75-500 hrs depending on where and what I am cutting. Exposed limestone, sandstone and flint rock dull the edges fast and rapidly wear away the holding metal. Mulching root balls with these materials is even worse. Heavy sand soils will allow you to watch the holding metal wash away from under the carbide bits on a daily basis. The only stuff that allows carbide teeth to wear forever is silt loam soils that are light, fluffy, have no rocks and no sands in them - those are a rare treat that keep soft knives sharp for a week or more and carbides for eternity.

Teeth are going to wear out. Get over it and price it into the job. I charge an extra $25-$50 per hour on rocky jobs if I need to. You will also be wearing out the internals of your cutter and your undercarriage and much faster rates, too. If you are new to mulching you better be willing to become a great mechanic and an excellent welder or bend over for the repair shop.

searcyfarms · May 3, 2021

treemuncher said:
1: Drum mulchers never do well on grass or light material unless the cut height is at grade level and/or the teeth are still sharp. A forward-only cut will always leave a lumpy finish product. A second pass back dragging cut will result is the best quality finish but you generally can't just do a back cut and expect it to look good. Some jobs require me to double or triple cut to get the right finish product. A front gate/door can make a big difference on speed of proper finish quality and how the material is spread about.

2: Ground conditions make all of the different. A flat farm field results in fewer contacts with the soil vs logged off property that has skidder ruts everywhere or constantly changing elevations with lots of lumps. Soil type is also a factor - exposed flint rock will beat those carbides into ball peen hammer tips in no time while a silt loam soil will allow those same tips to stay sharp for weeks.

I have no experience with a rotary mulcher disc, the only rotary that I've ever used was a Davco 705 with 4 free swinging blades . It would outperform a similar drum mulcher in speed and efficiency on lightweight jobs with 2" and smaller materials and especially grasses/weeds. Think about the cut on grasses - a shear style cut is perfect for light material. Unless your carbides are sharp, drums suck on grasses/weeds unless cutting directly at or below grade and always require a back cut to look decent.

Carbides last me anywhere from 75-500 hrs depending on where and what I am cutting. Exposed limestone, sandstone and flint rock dull the edges fast and rapidly wear away the holding metal. Mulching root balls with these materials is even worse. Heavy sand soils will allow you to watch the holding metal wash away from under the carbide bits on a daily basis. The only stuff that allows carbide teeth to wear forever is silt loam soils that are light, fluffy, have no rocks and no sands in them - those are a rare treat that keep soft knives sharp for a week or more and carbides for eternity.

Teeth are going to wear out. Get over it and price it into the job. I charge an extra $25-$50 per hour on rocky jobs if I need to. You will also be wearing out the internals of your cutter and your undercarriage and much faster rates, too. If you are new to mulching you better be willing to become a great mechanic and an excellent welder or bend over for the repair shop.

GREAT INFO - I have to say from running the rotary unit I was VERY pleased with the experience and results. I wore out several teeth in 75hours however on the rotary it gets the bottom 1/4 and front 1/4 sized of the tooth so u can rotate it and get the other sides used up.

i dont think I would like the drum as much for the particular job i was doing as I had to cut some grasses/crp stuff. There are not blades on this unit, only TEETH but it mowed like a dream too.

searcyfarms · May 3, 2021

Tones said:
A few things to consider in regards to tooth life on a drum mulcher.
1, the operator
2,the ground conditions
3, tooth quality
I have never run a rotary mulcher but have seen them work and TBH I wasn't impressed with the quality of the job, seemed to leave a lot of big timber on the ground.
A good operator on a drum mulcher keeps the head just off the ground but they do suck up dust and that wears the tooth just below the tungsten tile.
Ground conditions are what they are and nothing survives rock but a lot of care helps.
As for tooth quality there are heaps of aftermarket teeth around and my understanding is some are rubbish. Even expensive stuff can be bad
Having a hydraulic operated door IMO is a must have., depending on the type of vegetation 1 forward and 1 reverse pass may be sufficient.

thanks jonas, the stuff I was doing was 2 to 4 inches mainly, the larger stuff was cedars - some at 12 inches base, i just cut them at ground level and piled them at field edges for critters.

The other stuff was green trees like black locusts, wild plum, volunteer oak, with sharp teeth it cuts off at ground surface, with duller teeth at the end i was mowing it high so stobs would just fold over when driving around and not poke a tire.

it will all get sprayed with brush killer shortly then start the rotting/decay process then top it with batwings in the fall.

Devon wyatt · May 5, 2021

A couple of interesting points with respect to tooth life on a drum mulcher.

1, the operator
2,the ground conditions
3, tooth quality

Tones · May 5, 2021

Something else for you to consider. A flail mower. I owned one and was mounted on a Bi-directional tractor so it pushed the mower. The mower had a hydraulic offset so I never had a problem with punchers. The way that mower worked was like back draging a mulcher so everything was a 1 cut pass.
The tractor was 100 hp at the PTO and the mower had a 84" cut and 3 to 4 times faster than a 140hp dedicated forestry mulcher in light going. One some jobs working those 2 machines proved to be very successful where the vegetation was larger than 4 inches in diameter but less than 8 inches, one cut pass each machine.
For the work you are looking at and wanting low profile equipment, Antonio Carraro or BM Tractors would be well worth looking at.
Gees, I wish I was younger by a lot. I'd be in like Flynn on that job

drum mulcher vs rotary mulcher

searcyfarms

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Tones

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treemuncher

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searcyfarms

Well-Known Member

searcyfarms

Well-Known Member

Devon wyatt

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Tones

Senior Member