Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

PatMcD · Jun 30, 2019

Looks like your typical Alamo SH88.

dnw64 · Jun 30, 2019

My new Caroni TM1900 arrived on Tuesday, 1 day ahead of schedule from Agri Supply, but I was not able to bring it home until Saturday. I was not able to lift it out of the back of my pickup with my tractor (I could have, with some finagling if I had put some ballast on), so I called my neighbor and he came over with his 50HP TYM and forks.

He's retired road crew and was very interested in the mower - he used boom mounted flails to trim road sides. He just wouldn't leave - made me get it off the pallet, set up on the tractor, and when the PTO shaft was too long took me back to his place so we could cut it down. Helped me adjust the skid shoes, took off the scraper blade and lowered the roller too. Also topped up the gearbox even though the level was acceptable, at the low end of the range.

So far (a short half hour or so test session) I am totally amazed. This mower has much lower HP requirements than my old RFM. I was mowing thicker/taller grass than I would have ever dreamed of with my RFM, and this mower is a foot wider, and I was able to maintain faster speed (as fast as comfortable on my no-quite-golf-course terrain) except for maybe two small areas where it was super thick.

Link to short video:
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=cbad9b53c3548613ff5d457bace41994&oe=5DB7192C

One quick question: he suggested leaving the roller 1" higher than the skid shoes. However I am getting lots of torn sod in the corners, I assume that lowering the roller would help and that would be the normal recommended position (roller and shoes at the same height). I did not find any manual with the mower.

leonz · Jun 30, 2019

Alamo Industries flail mower/Reggio Retail Group as far as I can tell.

leonz · Jun 30, 2019

2040 Reggio Rey Italy as far as I can make out

G 94 may well be the plant(G) and the build year(1994)

Alamo industrial has several plants in the European Union and headquarters in Great Britain/England

leonz · Jun 30, 2019

dnw64 said:
My new Caroni TM1900 arrived on Tuesday, 1 day ahead of schedule from Agri Supply, but I was not able to bring it home until Saturday. I was not able to lift it out of the back of my pickup with my tractor (I could have, with some finagling if I had put some ballast on), so I called my neighbor and he came over with his 50HP TYM and forks.

He's retired road crew and was very interested in the mower - he used boom mounted flails to trim road sides. He just wouldn't leave - made me get it off the pallet, set up on the tractor, and when the PTO shaft was too long took me back to his place so we could cut it down. Helped me adjust the skid shoes, took off the scraper blade and lowered the roller too. Also topped up the gearbox even though the level was acceptable, at the low end of the range.

So far (a short half hour or so test session) I am totally amazed. This mower has much lower HP requirements than my old RFM. I was mowing thicker/taller grass than I would have ever dreamed of with my RFM, and this mower is a foot wider, and I was able to maintain faster speed (as fast as comfortable on my no-quite-golf-course terrain) except for maybe two small areas where it was super thick.

Link to short video:
https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.ne...=cbad9b53c3548613ff5d457bace41994&oe=5DB7192C

One quick question: he suggested leaving the roller 1" higher than the skid shoes. However I am getting lots of torn sod in the corners, I assume that lowering the roller would help and that would be the normal recommended position (roller and shoes at the same height). I did not find any manual with the mower.

==========================================================================================================

Hello and good morning dnw64,

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

Your neighbor means that the roller needs to be one position lower(creating a higher cutting height) than the skid shoes.
The torn sod is a result of the side weldments digging into the ground as you turn while the Flail Mower is in the float position

The skid shoes are there to protect the flail mower rotor, flail mower knives and each mounting station from impact damage
in the event the mower tilts forward with no top link control i.e. if a length of logging chain is used to allow it to follow the contour
of the ground closer.

Now;

You need to make sure that the gearbox is level on the three point hitch so if you have a small bubble level or torpedo level you can
be sure that the flail mower is level from front to back by adjusting the top link in or out.

About greasing; You have to be careful to not over grease it as it will blow out the inner seal and
you do not want that to happen ever.

Four or five pumps of grease every eight hours of continuous mowing in the Flail Mower Rotor Bearings and
five pumps of grease in the Flail Mower Rear Roller bearings every 8 hours of mowing.

You will need to remove the V belt guard to look at the V belts and brush away any rubber dust, grass dust and wipe up any grease
to keep it from building up on the side weldment.
Please make sure that there is a grease fitting on the snubber pulley as I believe it has a bronze bushing/bearing-I have not looked at the manual for a long time so I am going by memory here. If you cannot find a grease fitting on the back side or on the front of the pulley it has a sealed bearing.
Use a good flash light to check for any grease fittings.
The left Flail Mower Rotor Bearing can be greased while the guard is on the mower from what I remember of it.
The Flail Mower Rotor Bearing on the right side of the Flail Mower has a guard protecting the grease fitting so you have to do a little
maneuvering to get the grease gun hose on the fitting.
As far as the V belts go you only have to worry about them if they burn up or start slipping and screeching as by that time you
will have almost surely caused the rubber to become glazed.

As long as the Flail mower sounds like a high end vacuum cleaner/shop vacuum it is creating the pressure gradient(suction) to provide enough lift
to lift the clippings over the flail mower rotor and back down to the ground.
You will be able to make a second pass and recut the clippings once more if you wish and they will dissolve more quickly into the sod.

Call Agrisupply on Monday and ask for Rodney Barbour and tell him you did not receive a an owners manual/parts manual for your mower in the crating.

Have the serial number/information on the identification plate in your hands when you call to
avoid all the issues with identifying it in detail. Make several good copies of it to have on file and in the mules tool box if it has one.

You could download the manual it but its better to have the original manual for it as it avoids any potential
issues with the diagrams not being complete and legible.

Happy Mowing.

JWR · Jun 30, 2019

PatMcD said:
Looks like your typical Alamo SH88.

That is my tentative conclusion as well. Alamo archives manuals and sent me PDF copies covering the most likely model(s.) Best I can home in on is around a 1994 SHD88.

The 88 being inches cutting width, I measured inner wall to inner wall and that is 90" and with a 1" margin on each side that fits with a 88" mowing width.

Leonz also says "Alamo Industries flail mower/Reggio Retail Group as far as I can tell." That probably fits in that the word "Italy" is one of the few plain things on the scratched up nameplate. Reggio being in Italy ? MATTER OF FACT, now that you mention Reggio, I can make out Reggio on the nameplate on the same line just prior to "Italy." There are a few letters between Reggio and Italy but I cannot make them out. (image on my post #6080.)

Anyway probably a Reggio Group Alamo model SHD-88 until proven otherwise.

bruceha2000 · Jul 1, 2019

leonz said:
.....

Now;

You need to make sure that the gearbox is level on the three point hitch so if you have a small bubble level or torpedo level you can
be sure that the flail mower is level from front to back by adjusting the top link in or out.

....

Is this just to make sure the gear oil level is proper?
The closest thing I have to level ground is the road in front of my house, if the mower is supposed to be level other than for gear oil checks, I have no idea how that can be achieved since the tractor holding it will never be level. If it is only supposed to be level fore and aft, I guess setting it with the tractor on a slight side slope that doesn't have much front/rear pitch would work.

Thanks

troverman · Jul 1, 2019

The flail mower should be resting on the rear roller, with the skid shoes off the ground slightly, but parallel to the ground beneath them. This is for best cutting. Ideally, the gearbox would be level when you have the top link adjusted to make the skid shoes level to the ground.

As for gearbox oil level, they really should be anywhere from a quarter to a half full, or oil running out of the check plug on the side. Mine has a self-venting pressure fill cap, so if the oil gets really hot it can escape. Some certainly has escaped, my gearbox was almost dry. I was in the field and the only thing I had was chainsaw bar oil. I filled it back to about a third full and it seems to be fine.

Riddlewitz · Jul 1, 2019

Couple questions

Curious if anyone can recommend sources for blades and how many blades I should buy to handle our pasture/field grass?

I have two working machines both are Mott. One is a five foot Mott PTO drive and the second is a self powered 4 foot Mott. All of the blades are needing replacement.

Is this project likely to take a full day?

Thanks

TheFarmerInAdell · Jul 1, 2019

Riddlewitz said:
Couple questions

Curious if anyone can recommend sources for blades and how many blades I should buy to handle our pasture/field grass?

I have two working machines both are Mott. One is a five foot Mott PTO drive and the second is a self powered 4 foot Mott. All of the blades are needing replacement.

Is this project likely to take a full day?

Thanks