Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[StuartDK45SE]

I guess I have about 20 hours on my Woodmax FM78 now. Cleaned it up last night and inspected things before I put it back in the barn. Didn't notice anything out of place or unusual. I'm happy so far. It will leave some tall clumpy weed stragglers sometimes, but most grass it cuts up fine and the clippings decompose quickly which is what I was looking for. The knives are going to last a LONG time just mowing grass, especially since I can flip them around at some point.

PS, the 6ft Modern Manufacturing Super Sunshine brush hog is for sale. Like new. Will deliver in the Houston area.

 

[otus_branch]

Excellent photos & description, StuartDK45SE, thanks!

What have you experienced so far with the "solid state" (as described at the Woodmaxx site) belt tensioner? I wonder about the longevity of such a device in a tractor implement subject to the acidic grass residues, shocks, and vibrations that a flail mower experiences. On the other hand, a lot of tractor components are solid state these days...

Nice Bush Hog you have for sale there, but I'm too far geographically, and too far down the flail mower path to be your buyer. Good luck!

-otus

 

[ericm979]

Unless I missed it. The poster purchased a 54" model that did not have rear door and tensioner. My FM-62H has all the features that come on a Woodmaxx. It is little over a month old.

Yea, that's the one. The point I was trying to make is that Woodmax shipped a unit without those features. They may be changing designs. So if those features are important it'd be a good idea to verify with them that the unit you order has them. The new one sounds a lot closer to the generic chinese EFGC units that you can get from a number of resellers.

Also Woodmaxx's minimum HP for their woodchipper is way lower than what I'd consider the real minimum. They rate my 8H at a minimum 19 pto hp. I have 32 and when chipping larger material I have to set the feed very slow. It's an 8" chipper but at 19 hp you're not going to be chipping material anywhere close to that size. While there's reasons to have an 8" chipper for chipping much smaller material, their min HP rating gives the impression that it'll be fully functional but slow. To me fully functional means chipping material close to the capacity. They may have the same low minimum for the flails. I'd compare with other manufacture's ratings for units of similar cutting width. It's not possible for one to be radically more efficient than others of the same design.... physics is physics.

 

[StuartDK45SE]

Excellent photos & description, StuartDK45SE, thanks!

What have you experienced so far with the "solid state" (as described at the Woodmaxx site) belt tensioner? I wonder about the longevity of such a device in a tractor implement subject to the acidic grass residues, shocks, and vibrations that a flail mower experiences. On the other hand, a lot of tractor components are solid state these days...

Nice Bush Hog you have for sale there, but I'm too far geographically, and too far down the flail mower path to be your buyer. Good luck!

-otus

I took the cover off the belts a while back an everything looked okay with no signs of slippage and the pulleys and belts were remarkably clean. The tensioner feature is one of the reasons I chose this model.

 

[Fallon]

Hmmm... Fallon's got me reconsidering the 84" Del Morino as a potentially viable choice...

-otus

It got things done. Not fast, but it covered equal acres per hour to the 5' rotary cutter. For comparison the track on my L3200 was 5', the mower is a 7' (working width I think).

Probably going to dig it out of retirement next week. Have a rocky/trashy mowing job comming up again. Its survived it before with minimal knife damage (and I have 30lbs of half worn knives). I wont feel too bad if the mower takes a beating. New hammers on my Peruzzo aren't going to be cheap, nor do I want to damage my new mower. I expect the Y knives will take a lot less damage from rocks too.

 

[ronjhall]

Are you still happy with it Ron? I’m still “looking” at the FM-78H for my LS XR4155HC. It came with three rear remotes so, I won’t have to disconnect top or side tilt cylinders, to use the side shift.

I’d really like the FM-88H but, I’m 6 PTO HP shy of the minimum 50 HP required. My 3-point is CAT2.

I keep hearing rumors that LS understates their PTO HP and that one or more dealers have actually done dyno tests on some models.

Haven’t been able to run that down so ........ that’s my excuse for sitting on my hands and not getting an FM on order.

Still happy after about 20 hours of use. If I was to second guess my purchase. Maybe I should have gotten the 78” model without slide. My 22 PTO HP tractor handles the 62H with no problems. Cut 3 acres today in half the time it took with rotary cutter. Plus it looks much better.
My tractor has 3 remotes. So no problem with slide option.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Still happy after about 20 hours of use. If I was to second guess my purchase. Maybe I should have gotten the 78” model without slide. My 22 PTO HP tractor handles the 62H with no problems. Cut 3 acres today in half the time it took with rotary cutter. Plus it looks much better.
My tractor has 3 remotes. So no problem with slide option.

Thanks Ron, glad it’s working for you. Your thoughts of maybe you should have bought a bigger FM is what has held up my decision. There are few (actually none that I’m aware of) flail mowers in my area so, no local help and none of the local tractor / equipment dealers know anything about them. I’m getting all my knowledge here.

Did your B-2910 come with rear remotes or did you add them? I had B-2710 and I had to add remotes.

 

[ronjhall]

Did your B-2910 come with rear remotes or did you add them? I had B-2710 and I had to add remotes.

I added the remotes. 2 valves are mounted under FEL valve. They have front and rear quick connects. Third valve is mounted on fender behind 3ph lever. Do not use them a lot. But do have top and tilt. Set them up for my rear blade. Third valve is for a cylinder to change blade angle.

 

[otus_branch]

I took the cover off the belts a while back an everything looked okay with no signs of slippage and the pulleys and belts were remarkably clean. The tensioner feature is one of the reasons I chose this model.

The Woodmaxx belt guard does look better than guards on some other companies' models, and I'm glad to hear that everything underneath looked good!

 

[davemhughes]

I noticed on my Woodmaxx 78 that after running it the main roller flail shaft is pretty hot the touch right near the belt driven bearing area. I greased it up but I plan to watch it as I do not want a bearing failure on a new tool....that would irritate me to no end.