Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

Mine have some threads exposed (a couple rounds) I've never had an issue.

A couple of threads isn't an issue. Mine had half an inch exposed and a lot of the threads were damaged. Couldn't get them off with a 80ft/lb air wrench.

 

[IslandTractor]

Actually, difficulty removing the nut is a good thing,,, right? :laughing: As far as the nylocks, or crimped nuts, they are supposed to be a one use, then throw away nut. Second or third use will almost insure the nut will fall off. New nuts are cheap, compared to lost blades,,,,, and flat tires!! :confused2:

Agree. I never reuse nuts or bolts. Cheap insurance.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Finished up my Flail mowing for the year today after welding the pto shaft back together. There are a few things I will do to it before using again next summer.

1. I will probably build a new pto shaft. The one on it now is a little bent and after it broke yesterday I found out that it had broke and been welded before I got it. I will build one considerably stronger than whats on it now.
2. I am going to add some sort of guards over the bearings and shaft ends. I scarred several of my trees trying to get too close which it does cut very close to a tree. Going to make like a side mounted skid to push the machine around the tree.
3. Will probably add some balancing beads inside the rotor to see if it helps any at all. It is not so bad out now that it shakes too bad.
4. Will add a belt guard.
I'm not getting near the grass build up on the blades as I was before even though I didn't do anything to correct that.
I did use much more diesel than I normally would have but I had to go much slower at a higher rpm in the thicker stuff. Brushy stuff didn't slow me down at all but thick grass would.
I did notice that I can't turn very tight corners or it really starts rattling the pto shaft which may be normal I don't know.

Overall I am very very impressed with the job it has done on my fields. I really like the mulch it puts down. Very glad I decided to rebuild it as a flail and not just rob parts for another project.

Thanks to all that have gave advice and ideas along the way.

 

[CADplans]

Finished up my Flail mowing for the year today after welding the pto shaft back together. There are a few things I will do to it before using again next summer.

1. I will probably build a new pto shaft. The one on it now is a little bent and after it broke yesterday I found out that it had broke and been welded before I got it. I will build one considerably stronger than whats on it now.
2. I am going to add some sort of guards over the bearings and shaft ends. I scarred several of my trees trying to get too close which it does cut very close to a tree. Going to make like a side mounted skid to push the machine around the tree.
3. Will probably add some balancing beads inside the rotor to see if it helps any at all. It is not so bad out now that it shakes too bad.

Before burning a rod welding,, watch eBay,, frequently, you can find a brand new pto shaft for $100 delivered.

That is what I did when I needed one for a rear finish mower.
I was ready to buy the parts, cut, weld, hope the safety shield fit,,, etc,,,
I happened to check eBay, there was the EXACT replacement for $100 delivered.
They are not there all the time, but, heck, you got all winter for one to pop up.
You can have eBay email you each time a pto assembly is added for sale,,

I doubt the beads will do anything. they will be too close to the center of rotation.

Think how far the beads are from center in a car tire, like 10 times as far.
The effect is probably a square function of distance, so the effect is probably like 100 times greater because of distance.

 

[Steave]

Finished up my Flail mowing for the year today after welding the pto shaft back together. There are a few things I will do to it before using again next summer.

1. I will probably build a new pto shaft. The one on it now is a little bent and after it broke yesterday I found out that it had broke and been welded before I got it. I will build one considerably stronger than whats on it now.
2. I am going to add some sort of guards over the bearings and shaft ends. I scarred several of my trees trying to get too close which it does cut very close to a tree. Going to make like a side mounted skid to push the machine around the tree.
3. Will probably add some balancing beads inside the rotor to see if it helps any at all. It is not so bad out now that it shakes too bad.
4. Will add a belt guard.
I'm not getting near the grass build up on the blades as I was before even though I didn't do anything to correct that.
I did use much more diesel than I normally would have but I had to go much slower at a higher rpm in the thicker stuff. Brushy stuff didn't slow me down at all but thick grass would.
I did notice that I can't turn very tight corners or it really starts rattling the pto shaft which may be normal I don't know.

Overall I am very very impressed with the job it has done on my fields. I really like the mulch it puts down. Very glad I decided to rebuild it as a flail and not just rob parts for another project.

Thanks to all that have gave advice and ideas along the way.

Sounds like a good winter project. Don't forget to let us know how the balancing beads perform if you decide to try that. Know what you mean about the sharpe turns with a pull type implement but I still like the way a pull type works. You don't get as much vibration back to your tractor as something that's hanging on the 3ph.

Putting your bumpers on the side you might could use a roller mounted vertical on the sides. That might not tear up your trees much.? It would have to be heavy built whatever you put on there. If you have to you could stagger 2 or 3 rollers as that might soften the blow on the mower and the tree.

I don't know of anything you can do about putting the pto drive shaft in a bind except run straighter. There is probably some kind of gizmo somebody has come up with but I don't know of one.

My flail sure come in handy this week. Getting food plots ready for winter greens and some cover crops too. Before I turned the ground the flail cut and mulched everything in the fields and made it easy to turn the ground. Years past when turning there would be clumps of grass left by the rotary mower that would make things difficult.

Hope all the work you'll be doing on it turns out good and whatever you do you already know it'll be well worth it. I don't anticipate any major repairs on mine so it'll just be a tune up this winter of course we have lots more grass cutting before winter.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Where I spread Wheat I sprayed with Roundup a week or so before spreading and then cutting. I put Rye Grain down on a 2 acre place and just spread and cut. I think the Rye will work out good but will have to wait and see on the wheat.

 

[DavesTractor]

Finished up my Flail mowing for the year today after welding the pto shaft back together. There are a few things I will do to it before using again next summer.

1. I will probably build a new pto shaft. The one on it now is a little bent and after it broke yesterday I found out that it had broke and been welded before I got it. I will build one considerably stronger than whats on it now.
2. I am going to add some sort of guards over the bearings and shaft ends. I scarred several of my trees trying to get too close which it does cut very close to a tree. Going to make like a side mounted skid to push the machine around the tree.
3. Will probably add some balancing beads inside the rotor to see if it helps any at all. It is not so bad out now that it shakes too bad.
4. Will add a belt guard.
I'm not getting near the grass build up on the blades as I was before even though I didn't do anything to correct that.
I did use much more diesel than I normally would have but I had to go much slower at a higher rpm in the thicker stuff. Brushy stuff didn't slow me down at all but thick grass would.
I did notice that I can't turn very tight corners or it really starts rattling the pto shaft which may be normal I don't know.

Overall I am very very impressed with the job it has done on my fields. I really like the mulch it puts down. Very glad I decided to rebuild it as a flail and not just rob parts for another project.

Thanks to all that have gave advice and ideas along the way.

On the PTO shaft rattling, this can be a big deal. If your sway chains are a little loose, when you turn the tractor the mower will shift an inch or two or more one way or the other. So your driveshaft must stretch or compress. Same thing happens when you lift or drop it. If it cannot slip freely, it puts a huge stress on the shaft, and more worrisome it stresses your tractor PTO. It can cause some expensive damage. So whether you build your own or buy one, make sure the shaft is true and can compress/extend easily. Also make sure it is the correct length where you get plenty of engagement but where it can never compress fully. If it fully compresses then gets into a situation where it needs to compress a little more in a turn or something, you might just find yourself with a snapped PTO on the tractor.

On high horsepower applications it is good to let off the power a little when turning. If you have a 100 HP tractor and a 15' flail (common in orchards) and you are totally spooled up and turn a corner sharp, the driveshaft must slip a little, but it resists slipping when under a big load. Keeping it greased helps.

As for hitting trees....well, stop it! I flail 8 acres regularly with maybe 200 trees. It has been years since I hit a tree. After a while you just know how close you can go and you can get within just a few inches pretty comfortably. My problem is that I buy a new flail every year and if I change models, width, offset or tractor then I lose my auto-pilot in my brain for a while until I retrain myself. But once you have it, it is amazing how close you can get to stuff without hitting. I always do the close stuff on the right side since the drive mechanism is on the left. (I'm a dealer, so I sell my new Vrisimo flail every fall and buy a new one. Someone gets a great deal, and I always have a new mower). I run a 10' Super Series currently, but I am thinking about going to 12' Low Pro and part of my hesitation is that I'll have to go slow and careful for a while until I get used to the width.

Good idea on the belt guards and safety stuff.

I agree with CADplans that the beads may not help much due to their proximity to the center.

 

[Steave]

On the PTO shaft rattling, this can be a big deal. If your sway chains are a little loose, when you turn the tractor the mower will shift an inch or two or more one way or the other. So your driveshaft must stretch or compress. Same thing happens when you lift or drop it. If it cannot slip freely, it puts a huge stress on the shaft, and more worrisome it stresses your tractor PTO. It can cause some expensive damage. So whether you build your own or buy one, make sure the shaft is true and can compress/extend easily. Also make sure it is the correct length where you get plenty of engagement but where it can never compress fully. If it fully compresses then gets into a situation where it needs to compress a little more in a turn or something, you might just find yourself with a snapped PTO on the tractor.

Ozarks Landowner has a pull type flail. I think that's where the pto shaft gets rattled if you will and a little harder to dodge the trees.

 

[DavesTractor]

Ozarks Landowner has a pull type flail. I think that's where the pto shaft gets rattled if you will and a little harder to dodge the trees.

I must learn to read before posting!

 

[Zerker]

I was greasing up my Ford 907 today and I noticed that I was missing my tensioner spring! It must have flown off while I was mowing last week. I walked around the fields a bit but I had no luck. I'm going to walk them a little bit more over the weekend. I went to Messicks to look up a new one and saw that it was 50 bucks. Yikes! I'm sure I could get something at Lowes right? Does anyone with a 907 know how big of a spring I should be looking for?