I've been wanting to get into the mulching business for a while now! I've seen several people go down trying to be successful in this industry around me because people can get loaders and dozers to come in cheaper than the mulching rate. Because of this I bought me a bigger excavator last year (bobcat e55 20 gpm aux). I was interested in a high flow ctl with a mulcher but I went with the excavator because I was pushing my cat 303.5 to its limits all the time and I knew that I would have work for the new excavator. I do a good bit of bushhogging and mowing in my services. I own a tractor and 6' bushog, and bobcat t190 low flow and CID extreme brush cutter. I usually get between 2-3 20 acre tracks of 5 year old cut overs to clear each year and I get by with my t190 and the CID mower. I run into steep banks some and can't mow them, which really doesn't matter that much because they don't have to be mowed but I'd like to get more money for doing them aswell. These brings me to my point. I'm wanting to buy a some sort of mower for my excavator and I'm willing to buy a mulcher for it like a torrent but I'm having trouble deciding if dollar for dollar it is worth the extra money over a flail like the USA mower and rockhound? Same situation on weather to buy the flail over a normal rotary cutter? I know that the rotary can do nearly all the steep banks that I run into, but if the flail mower or the mulcher is efficient enough to get me more work then I'll spend the extra. How would y'all classify the efficiency of these three classes of mowers vs there same design on a skid loader (torrent mulcher on excavator vs mulcher on high flow skid steer)? Sorry for dragging it out long, I just wanted to try to give y'all an idea of the situation I'm in! Many thanks to any advice!!
I wouldn't use a rotary cutter as my primary on an excavator. Too much stuff can fly back towards the cab. Flail vs mulcher... What's your average material size and what's the max size you're concerned with? I have a Rockhound Hammerhead on my KX57. I will likely get a mulcher, but at this exact moment it isn't a priority. I have some video up on my YouTube channel. www.youtube.com/RutherfordConLLC Feel free to ask any questions! Carl
The biggest that I frequently run into is 6" sweet gum and pine. I know the pine is pretty soft but that sweet gum is tuff crap!
6" is definitely mulcher territory. Gum isn't as bad as oak, but you're right, pine is easy. My theory is that a mulcher would give up performance quickly in under 2" material. Also, the hp available says that a mulcher won't be a beast in 6" material, although it should be able to do anything you have patience for. My plan is to get the Rockhound F26 Defender (fixed tooth mulcher) to go with my 40EX.
jca, what type excavator cutter did you go with and how satisfied are you with it? best wishes slwbid
Just remember you can mow grass with a mulcher but you can't mow trees with a flail mower or a brushhog. Just saying
Hey guys. I ended up starting off with a blue diamond Bushog. It's a good mower and works good on small trees (4" and smaller). The only negative is its tight in trees because it's so wide and whoever manufactures the hook up mount needs to beef it up more. The end of this past year I baught a torrent ex30 mulcher. This thing is a beast and handles 8" soft woods when I take my time! Torrents customer service is top notch and it's built like a tank. I would post some pictures but I can't figure out how to on my phone.