To Flail or not to Flail

[IslandTractor]

Use the money your saving and invest in the hydraulic side shift. It is something that you will be glad you added as an option.
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If you are mowing fence rows or along ditches I would agree but as the option is not cheap and can easily be installed later, I would hold off otherwise. I've managed without for three years. There are times it would have been very handy but most of us survive without the hydraulic side shift. You can manually shift the mower in about half an hour to see if it would make a big enough difference to justify the expense.

 

[Builder]

Use the money your saving and invest in the hydraulic side shift. It is something that you will be glad you added as an option.

As my friend Island Tractor has said you can obtain the spare knives from
www.flailmaster and spare bolts and nylock nuts from Grainger Industrial Supply - MRO Supplies, MRO Equipment, Tools & Solutions or wwwmcmastercarr.com

Happy mowing and you wiill be pleasantly surprised in how well it mows ofr you and how much safer it is to use when mowing.

Be sure to buy replacement kevlar belts from NAPA or TSC (not expensive) to have as spares and I believe they are B53's, thank goodness bearings and V belts are metric.

Another convert to the flail mower nation with many more to go.

I still have to post picture here of our lawn genie when I have the time.

YES! I have the side shift on my John Deere MX-8 and probably wouldn't buy another fixed mower without it. It's awsome. :thumbsup:

 

[SonomaCountyGentleman]

Hi guys thanks for your input. Here's another question. My new tractor will have 59.8 inch width at rear tires. A Caroni TL1500 has a 59 inch cutting width. Seems to me like a perfect match or is it better to have the mower wider than tire footprint. The tractor I'm considering has 23hp at the PTO. I don't need more power for any other task. If I get the TM 1900 with a 74 inch cut I'll need to jump to the next size up in tractor which adds $3000 to my costs. The difference between mowers is only about $200. So if I can save some $$ and buy the smaller mower and smaller tractor all the better for me. So what do you think about the mower being same width as rear tires?

 

[SonomaCountyGentleman]

In my previous post I should have mentioned that I am in Northern California where all the grasses go to seed and turn brown in June when it stops raining until fall. So my mowing task is a once or twice a year job. I've got 15 acres of tall grass on former grazing land with slope to 30 degrees. the new tractor will either be a Mahindra 3016 with 28hp (23 hp PTO) or Mahindra 3616 with 36 hp (30hp PTO). Except for the hp all other specs on the tractors are pretty much equal. $3000 difference in price. Although it would be nice to have a 6 foot flail on the stronger tractor I think I'd be just as happy with a 5 foot flail on the 28 hp model. I could put the savings into top and tilt hydraulics for the 3 point hitch and still have $$ left over for another implement. Just need to know if it's OK for mower to be same width as rear tires???

 

[IslandTractor]

The TM1900 and TL1500 are actually quite different mowers. Their basic design is very similar but the 1900 has a rotor that mounts a smaller number of clevis mounted heavy duty knives while the 1500 is set up as a lawn mower with a larger number of lighter duty knives directly mounted to the rotor. Look carefully at the model rotor diagrams on the Caroni website literature and it will be clear. The bottom line is that the TM1900 is designed for field, pasture and brush cutting while the TL1500 is designed for lawn maintenance. Think of it like the TM1900 is a bush hog while the TL1500 is a finish mower.

If you are not actually cutting brush but just cutting tall grass once a year, I imagine the TL1500 would work but there is not much question that the TM1900 is the model designed for that type of work.

 

[Builder]

I'm looking for another 8 foot flail.....you oughta see how expensive they get!!

 

[IslandTractor]

Be sure to buy replacement kevlar belts from NAPA or TSC (not expensive) to have as spares and I believe they are B53's, thank goodness bearings and V belts are metric..

Just checked. The TM1900 belts are B43 size.

 

[Perplexed]

So the flail owners posting here have praised these implements. I'm wondering what the drawbacks are when it comes to owning and operating a flail to mow a turf lawn? Hey, there has got to be a drawback or two - nothing's perfect

 

[IslandTractor]

So the flail owners posting here have praised these implements. I'm wondering what the drawbacks are when it comes to owning and operating a flail to mow a turf lawn? Hey, there has got to be a drawback or two - nothing's perfect

More moving parts equals more maintenance time and costs. That would be the main downside. The rotary cutters just have a gearbox and a couple of blades to maintain. For a bush hog that can mean almost no maintenance other than fluid checks and even a finish cutter just requires occasional attention to belts and blades. A flail has lots of knives that can need sharpening or replacement and also has more bearings that require frequent greasing as well as occasional attention for belts and gearbox. Each time I lose a set of blades/clevis (hitting rocks too hard) it costs me about 10-12 bucks for replacement. I live in a rocky area and spend about $50/year on replacement knives etc. The belts seem to last about two or three years and they cost about $50 for a set of three too.

Also, compared to a bush hog, when you are backing into thick brush with a flail you really are almost in the brush when the cutting starts. With a bush hog the cutting starts about six feet or more further back so you are a bit better protected from branches etc.

 

[beppington]

Also, compared to a bush hog, when you are backing into thick brush with a flail you really are almost in the brush when the cutting starts. With a bush hog the cutting starts about six feet or more further back so you are a bit better protected from branches etc.

And, the rear roller kind of tramps down the stuff-to-be-cut, & even kind of holds it down somewhat (especially longer stuff), while backing, so cutting in reverse isn't great. Of course you can lift the flail, back over the stuff to be cut, lower it & drive forward. But a bush hog is better at cutting while backing in IMO, since you can just back right in & it cuts just as well in reverse as forward.