Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[m5040]

The right way is to have the mower in front of the tractor.

 

[Creole]

Hello Flail Mower Nation! I’m new to TBN and I’m looking for a sanity check on my flail mower purchase plan. I’ve read a good amount of this thread, and I think my plan will work, but I’d appreciate any comments you all have…
1. Mowing requirements – mainly mowing lawn (cutting to a height of ~4”) and periodic clipping of grazed pasture (cutting to a height of 6-8” of sporadic weeds and tall grasses (18-24” tall))
2. Tractor – NH Boomer 25 with 27 net HP and 20 PTO HP
3. Flail Mower – Titan 72” (I’m looking at the titan because of their pricing and for their “hammer” knives/blades because, from my understanding, they provided the smoothest finish and can still handle ~1-2” thick weeds)
I’ve seen different replies on this tread that leave me thinking I shouldn’t have any issues mowing the lawn, although I will probably sacrifice mowing speed in the pasture with taller weeds/grasses (which I'm fine with)... Are my observations correct or should I be looking for a smaller/narrower mower? Also, any thoughts or concerns on Titan brand for this application?

 

[leonz]

Hello and good evening Creole,

The titan mower is too wide for your mule.
A five foot caroni flail mower with the F rotor with 4 rows of side slicer knives will be more
than enough mower for your mowing needs and you will have a great mowing job in all conditions.
A five foot caroni mower with the B rotor will work but you will not have the ability to recut your
grass clippings with the scoop knives and you don't want dead grass ruining a good lawn.


Time to turn in and send the guard sheep out on a search and destroy mission. :laughing::laughing:

 

[ronjhall]

Hello Flail Mower Nation! I’m new to TBN and I’m looking for a sanity check on my flail mower purchase plan. I’ve read a good amount of this thread, and I think my plan will work, but I’d appreciate any comments you all have…
1. Mowing requirements – mainly mowing lawn (cutting to a height of ~4”) and periodic clipping of grazed pasture (cutting to a height of 6-8” of sporadic weeds and tall grasses (18-24” tall))
2. Tractor – NH Boomer 25 with 27 net HP and 20 PTO HP
3. Flail Mower – Titan 72” (I’m looking at the titan because of their pricing and for their “hammer” knives/blades because, from my understanding, they provided the smoothest finish and can still handle ~1-2” thick weeds)
I’ve seen different replies on this tread that leave me thinking I shouldn’t have any issues mowing the lawn, although I will probably sacrifice mowing speed in the pasture with taller weeds/grasses (which I'm fine with)... Are my observations correct or should I be looking for a smaller/narrower mower? Also, any thoughts or concerns on Titan brand for this application?

A quick check on the spec's for the Titan 72" for minimum 30 pto HP. I have a 60" WoodMaxx, I could run it very well with my 22 PTO HP when it had Y blades. Switched to Hammer Blades. Takes a lot more HP to run this type of blade. I find tractor will bog down cutting with the hammer blades in area's where the Y blades did not.

 

[m5040]

When I used the Titan hammer blades I didn't like the quality of grass cut when compared to a multi blade rotary mower. It did work great on brush and if I ran it at a slow RPM it did ok with rocks too. (High [540] RPM cased visible damage to the blades, running it as slow as possible [just enough to cut the brush] caused little to no damage when rocks were encountered)

 

[Creole]

Thank you leonz, ronjhall, and m5040 for the quick feedback!

It appears I have my blades and their intended purposes mixed up (which I think steams from all the different manufacturing recommendations out there). What would you all say the intended design differences between the Hammer, Duck-foot, and Y-blades?



Also, which light duty/value brand of flail mowers would you recommend?

I've mostly been looking at Farmer Helper and Titan, because those have the strongest returns on my internet searches. Then I also have a bush hog for heavy brush clearing, so I'm mostly looking for a rugged lawn mower that can also go out into the pasture and clip underneath the electric fence...

 

[davrow]

Also, which light duty/value brand of flail mowers would you recommend?
I've mostly been looking at Farmer Helper and Titan ...

Since you are looking at Farmer Helper and Titan, you should look at the WoodMaxx Flail Mower, too. Their 62" says 20 to 45hp.

 

[leonz]

Thank you leonz, ronjhall, and m5040 for the quick feedback!

It appears I have my blades and their intended purposes mixed up (which I think steams from all the different manufacturing recommendations out there). What would you all say the intended design differences between the Hammer, Duck-foot, and Y-blades?

View attachment 624087

Also, which light duty/value brand of flail mowers would you recommend?

I've mostly been looking at Farmer Helper and Titan, because those have the strongest returns on my internet searches. Then I also have a bush hog for heavy brush clearing, so I'm mostly looking for a rugged lawn mower that can also go out into the pasture and clip underneath the electric fence...

The cast hammer knives are used for orchard and vineyard shredding of limbs and both large and small pruned grapevines and berry canes.

The scoop knife is an all around mowing knife.

The side slicer is the best knife for mowing good sod and brush as you can recut everything on the second pass.


Getting a lawn mower to clip under the electric fence will require you to invest in a boom mounted flail mower and nothing less as an offset flail mower will not prevent you from ripping out the fence line.

If you have less than 15 foot between posts and a very low lower wire you can forget using a boom mounted flail mower.

you will be better off flaming the weeds with a propane roofing torch in the fence line as long as you keep the torch down.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

I've mostly been looking at Farmer Helper and Titan, because those have the strongest returns on my internet searches. Then I also have a bush hog for heavy brush clearing, so I'm mostly looking for a rugged lawn mower that can also go out into the pasture and clip underneath the electric fence...

If you can swing the cost, the WoodMaxx 62H would be the ticket. With the hydraulic side-shift you can mow along the fence line and slide the mower in and out under the fence as you go along. This would require remote hydraulics.

The Y blades are a good course blade that doesn't leave a perfect finish, but will still cut heavier materials. The fine cut mowers use about 3 times as many narrower Y knives and achieve a better finish. The duckfoot blade is kind of an in-between of course and fine cut. It will leave a nicer cut than the course Y blades (flat top grass, not V shapes), but will still cut heavier grass when needed. The Hammer is good at what it's name implies- hammering. It will cut down small trees given a big enough power plant to run it. It will also cut grass, but it does require more HP to run it. They are also more brittle when hitting rocks.

It is difficult to find a newer mower that uses the duckfoot blades. It sounds like this is the kind of blade you are looking for. I would suggest looking for a used JD 25A or a Ford 917. They use similar blades - JD uses the duckfood, Ford uses an airplane wing. Both have some parts availability, but avoid mowers that are in very rough shape and missing major components.

Otherwise I think a used Mott or Alamo fine cut would serve you well, You will need to go slower on the taller grass, but it will leave you a lawn finish. I would suggest staying under 5 feet wide with your limited HP.

I've heard bad things about the Titan mowers, but good things about their customer service. Their mowers are Chinese imports, as well as Farmer Helper.

After looking at the Farmer Helper, if you go with the standard duty mower it has the option of "mulch blade" which appears to be the duckfoot blade.

 

[bruceha2000]

If you can swing the cost, the WoodMaxx 62H would be the ticket. With the hydraulic side-shift you can mow along the fence line and slide the mower in and out under the fence as you go along. This would require remote hydraulics.

A caution on that statement. My tractor is a bit wider than 5'. With the WM shifted all the way right I can mow up against a fence but I'd be hard pressed to cut under a fence without running the rear wheels into the fence itself. That is why I wanted the 72H but I don't have the PTO HP to run it.