Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

Hello Houser,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the "Flail Mower Nations" from the Great State of North Carolina.

A couple of things to help you along with your new Toy er work horse er flail mower, AKA your forever mower.

Please understand I want to help you get the most out of your new toy, er mower.

Sorry to hear that you lost your V belts, they were destroyed by traveling at too fast a ground speed while mowing

The "Key" to knowing your flail mower is running well and making tiny clippings is this:
When your PTO engine speed is set at 540 RPM and your flail mowers cutting height is set at 2 inches or lower your flail mower is going to sound exactly like a high end vacuum cleaner as it is creating a pressure gradient in front of the flail mower rotor where it is slicing the grass and brush at 2,200 RPM+ and at the same time recutting the same clippings as it advances into the brush in front of the flail mower.

In heavy brush or tall grass one must drive a bit slower when mowing for the first time in heavy grass and brush with a flail mower that is not a crop shredder with side slicer knives or cup knives.

Please be advised that there will be no consoling your rotary cutter as its days are numbered once you have the Caroni Flail Mower mowing regularly at the lower mowing height.


Welcome to the Flail Mower Nations, we are a very happy lot of flail mower owners and "any" questions can be answered or answers found here on the forum.


LeonZ

 

[houser52]

Hello Houser,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the "Flail Mower Nations" from the Great State of North Carolina.

A couple of things to help you along with your new Toy er work horse er flail mower, AKA your forever mower.

Please understand I want to help you get the most out of your new toy, er mower.

Sorry to hear that you lost your V belts, they were destroyed by traveling at too fast a ground speed while mowing

The "Key" to knowing your flail mower is running well and making tiny clippings is this:
When your PTO engine speed is set at 540 RPM and your flail mowers cutting height is set at 2 inches or lower your flail mower is going to sound exactly like a high end vacuum cleaner as it is creating a pressure gradient in front of the flail mower rotor where it is slicing the grass and brush at 2,200 RPM+ and at the same time recutting the same clippings as it advances into the brush in front of the flail mower.

In heavy brush or tall grass one must drive a bit slower when mowing for the first time in heavy grass and brush with a flail mower that is not a crop shredder with side slicer knives or cup knives.

Please be advised that there will be no consoling your rotary cutter as its days are numbered once you have the Caroni Flail Mower mowing regularly at the lower mowing height.


Welcome to the Flail Mower Nations, we are a very happy lot of flail mower owners and "any" questions can be answered or answers found here on the forum.


LeonZ

Thanks for the encouraging words. I have read through just about everything you posted on flails and you have been most helpful.

I will experiment more with the cutting height and speed to see how things work out with the flail. I am looking to decrease mowing time not increase that time by slowing down or having to mow more often. That would defeat my purpose of buying a flail in the first place.

The Caroni TM1900 that I bought had never been sold but I suspect it had been sitting on the yard for awhile because the idler had rust pits under where the belts were. I now have it cleaned and polished. I assume that the belts had deteriorated some from sitting there too. Hopefully the new belts will last a lot longer.

I have been using a brush hog for 50 years on the farm and some commercial applications. I know how to use it in about any environment but using a flail is new to me.

 

[leonz]

Hello and good afternoon houser52,

If you have maneuvering room you can mow in spirals and save time, fuel, brakes and just plain work.
Once you get that jungle down to 2 inches or less you will spend much less time mowing.

if you have time to recut it you will have much less dead grass and brush to deal with as it will have
rotted back into the top soil.

Dad used his JD25A behind his ford jubilee to reclaim 12 ares of overgrown pasture that had 12-15 foot goldenrod etc.
and once he had it all knocked down he mowed the three 4-acre blocks every 2 weeks with the JD25A mower set at 2 inches in cutting height.

Once you have it all knocked down you will spend less time mowing and fretting about mowing as the weedy brush will gradually disappear.



No worries, we can and will help you.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Hello and good afternoon houser52,

If you have maneuvering room you can mow in spirals and save time, fuel, brakes and just plain work.
Once you get that jungle down to 2 inches or less you will spend much less time mowing.

if you have time to recut it you will have much less dead grass and brush to deal with as it will have
rotted back into the top soil.

Dad used his JD25A behind his ford jubilee to reclaim 12 ares of overgrown pasture that had 12-15 foot goldenrod etc.
and once he had it all knocked down he mowed the three 4-acre blocks every 2 weeks with the JD25A mower set at 2 inches in cutting height.

Once you have it all knocked down you will spend less time mowing and fretting about mowing as the weedy brush will gradually disappear.



No worries, we can and will help you.

Going in spirals? I feel like I spend half my time going in circles.

I'm guessing your point is, that in straight line cutting, you should raise the mower when making a 180 degree turn, at end of a row?

 

[houser52]

Going in spirals? I feel like I spend half my time going in circles.

I'm guessing your point is, that in straight line cutting, you should raise the mower when making a 180 degree turn, at end of a row?

That's how I have to mow.

Most all of my mowing is rectangular areas or the perimeters of two tracts of planted pine trees. Also, when mowing at the in-law's old home place I have a few pecan, crepe myrtles fig trees to navigate around. I also have to take my time around the old farm house and an old pole shed with quite a bit of backing up and pulling forward. It's so time consuming. Ugh. The good thing is that all of it is grass but it is thick, lush grass.

 

[leonz]

Hello Rick,

there is no need to raise the mower unless you are transporting it or the hydraulics are weak and the lower links sink with out locking them to keep the mower level.

What I mean is that you start in the center of the plot and mow outward gradually overlapping the mowed area slightly and you eventually come to the boundary point and you are left with mowing the small patch that is left on each side of the plot

 

[Hunhunt]

I received my Caroni TM1900 yesterday and got it set up and on my MF135. Set-up went smoothly thanks to all the information I've gleaned from this discussion. I set the rear roller at the middle position which gave me about a 3-1/2" cut height. Shortened the pto shaft using the excellent video on the Tractor Tools Direct website for reference. My top link works but I'll probably pick up a little bit longer one as this one is at it's maximum extension. Checked the gearbox lube (just above the lower indicator line), greased all the zerks and checked belt tension and I was ready to roll. I mowed a small rocky pasture of alfalfa. The alfalfa was about 20" high and just about bloomed out so the stems were getting pretty tough. The mower worked great for the couple of passes I made before lunch. I only hit one rock (no damage to the mower cutters) so I feel like this cutting height is going to work well. Did some additional rock picking and finished mowing without hitting any more rocks. I ran the tractor in low range 2nd gear (supposedly around 2.5 mph) at 1600-1700 rpm (1700 rpm gives 540 rpm at the pto). Some of the alfalfa stems did lay down on the first pass so I did end up running over the pasture a 2nd time in the opposite direction which resulted in a near manicured lawn look. Outstanding. Tomorrow I will check belts, grease again and check for any loose fasteners. One problem I'm having is finding the Gates Kevlar belts that have been recommended in this discussion. Island Tractor and others have recommended Gates Kevlar B43 belts obtained from Amazon but the only Gates belts I'm finding are the Gates High Power and High Power II belts which do not appear to be Kevlar. I have found BK43 (5LK460) Kevlar wrapped belts that are D&D Power Drive Brand Belts. Anybody have any advice?

 

[CADplans]

I have found BK43 (5LK460) Kevlar wrapped belts that are D&D Power Drive Brand Belts. Anybody have any advice?

We have a Woods RM59 behind a 24HP tractor.
in our experience,, the black belts are just as strong as the blue Kevlar ones.
Kevlar may help resist wear some, but, I do not believe the internal cords are any different.

My SIL is just learning, and the mower does not have a slip clutch, or shear pin.
The belt just snaps in half when you hit a rock, or log,,,

After about 8 belts in two seasons,, I think he has "found" most of the rocks in his 3.5 acre yard,,,

:laughing:

 

[ShowroomShine]

I'm really having a hard time with the recommended 2" cutting height. When I got my Alamo it was set at 2.5", and I scalped everything in sight and really damaged a portion of my fescue pasture with that height.

Right now it's set at 4" and may go down to 3.5" soon. First cuttings of the year will be 6" height.

I'm just not sure 2" cut height is the best recommendation for the health of the grass.

 

[CADplans]

Right now it's set at 4" and may go down to 3.5" soon. First cuttings of the year will be 6" height.

I'm just not sure 2" cut height is the best recommendation for the health of the grass.

I just picked up a Woods RD72, it was set at 4",, so I just mowed.
The grass looks spectacular!! :thumbsup:

My JD 390 flail has always been set at 4", so that is what my pastures have been cut at for over a decade.

I have lawn mowed at 3-3.5 inches,, but, I think I will readjust everything to 4 inches for next year,,