Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[arto98607]

My Alamo SH74 is just getting flat worn out, replaced main bearings last year and blades and now other stuff is going wrong.

Found some Alamo, Befco, and Caroni flails on Marketplace for $2000 or so. Any brands to stay away from? The 88" Befco for $2000 needing new blades is about the best deal I can find, but another Alamo is about the same cost. Also found a Diamond Flail as well for $2000.

Any opinions?

Since you asked:

I suspect 1988 $2000 Befco flail mower "needing new blades" will likely need bunch of other work also?

If they are selling it as is with worn our blades, it indicates it probably been neglected for many years.


Photos of your Alamo SH74 would be helpful.

 

[toolslinger]

Well, it's been a long, sometimes frustrating, and pricey process, but I got the Mott 72 back together... Been raining for a day and a half on and off, so it's all wet and messy... Once I had it together though, I had to try it on the 3' tall field grass.

Holy crap. It's now worth all the headaches. I can now feel good about making a belt guard, and some more welding on the sheet metal... It took that grass in, and left very nicely shredded remains. It's set at it's highest, and I believe it'll do better set lower after I go through the fields once where it is. The Massey 135 didn't pause, or bog down at all cutting while pulling up the hills in 3rd gear. I'll give it a little time in the morning to dry a bit, and then we'll see how she does in 4th. I doubt it'll go in 5 or 6, but 4 would be great on the bigger flatter fields... Will go through the hardware tomorrow morning after running it for the 15 minutes today in case something got loose. Had an unnerving shake at some point below 540 pto rpm, but settled down once past that. I imagine the shaft isn't perfect at this point with the various welds. It's perfectly straight (well, within .002"), but the welds might have killed the balance. Even it it doesn't survive for a decade, I now know it's the machine I need, and I wouldn't hesitate to drop the money on another.

 

[LouNY]

Here are a couple of pictures of my new ditch bank flail mower,
it's a Victory Brand seems to be working well and seems well built.

It was mowing at about 45 degrees up a bank and about 45 degrees down today with a bit of flat ( no pictures of the flats)

 

[dieselscout80]

What tractor are you running it on.

I really want

 

[LouNY]

What tractor are you running it on.

I really want

Branson 8050 and it is not too much tractor for it, i wouldn't mind another couple of thousand pounds, the mower can bounce it around a bit hanging in the air and swung all the way over.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

I spent 1600 on it last year replacing all bearings and blades including the one that just decided to let go, i’m starting to get frustrated that every time I touch this thing something seems to break so maybe one that is less worn out would be a better starting point even if it needs a little work.

In my mind there's only 2 failures which would make me to consider replacing my Alamo mower. One is a bent rotor. The other is a blown up gearbox (and not just gears, I mean case explodes). Even then I'd seriously consider repairing over replacing. You just don't get any better built machine than the Alamo mowers. Mine was used to mow the tollway around Chicago. It is very beat up, and the blades were junk when I got it. I also had to replace the roller last year, but it was worth it. You can see serious dents in the hood from rocks, but it is still a very solid unit.

As others have said, the other units might need just as much or more work. I'd rather have a piece of machinery that I know what was replaced and what needs replacing than going in blind. I've been burned before by used equipment that needed more work than what I thought when purchasing.

My personal opinion is $2000 for a well used Befco seems high. Then again the market in your area is likely different than mine.

If you absolutely must purchase a replacement, get the Alamo. You are familiar with them, and you can steal parts from your old one.

 

[Number15]

1988 BEFCO is going to be hard to get parts for I think. I have a 2020 and it's not super easy to source parts.

If the 88 is the same as the 2020 they are made in Italy by Rotomec. Not positive about that but 98% sure

 

[nittanyjd]

Well after years of searching and losing out on auction bids and responding to ads too late, I finally found one. Can't wait to put it to use this summer once I learn more about settings and all. JDParts has some info on it but its an earlier model so not everything is on the site. 1st stop is a manual. All flails are there and look good, greased and new gear oil. Sounded good on test run. Its missing a few things like the shield in front of the gear box. This on should be round and its one thing jdparts doesn't show due to old model. I'll post up pics once I start mowing.

I need to look back through all the pages on setting this up for height. I know I saw it in there one time.

 

[diesel85]

Looks like a really nice flail mower!

I really like flail mowers, they do such a great job.

 

[leonz]

Well after years of searching and losing out on auction bids and responding to ads too late, I finally found one. Can't wait to put it to use this summer once I learn more about settings and all. JDParts has some info on it but its an earlier model so not everything is on the site. 1st stop is a manual. All flails are there and look good, greased and new gear oil. Sounded good on test run. Its missing a few things like the shield in front of the gear box. This on should be round and its one thing jdparts doesn't show due to old model. I'll post up pics once I start mowing.

I need to look back through all the pages on setting this up for height. I know I saw it in there one time.

Hello nittanyjd,

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


If you have good sod and want to keep it do this adjustment on asphalt or concrete PLEASE;


1. place a small torpedo level on the gearbox with the narrow edge facing the seat

2. adjust the top link to the point where the gear box is level

3. measure the "actual" height of the flail knife bottom edge above the ground

4. if it is 2 inches in cutting height YOU WILL NOT have to adjust the rear roller by raising it up

5. if the side slicer knife is higher than two inches YOU WILL NEED TO LOWER the rear roller one bolt hole on each side


Setting the rear roller at the 2 inch cutting height and adjusting the top link to "LEVEL" assures the flail mower will:

1. create enough pressure gradient/suction/vacuum to lift the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor and back down to the ground.

2. with the proper adjustment you will be able to recut the clippings a second time to make them dissolve even faster and avoid creating
dead spots in the lawn from grass clumps

AS long as the engine on your mule is running at the required PTO engine speed to run a rear implement flail mower rotor is spinning at 2,200+ RPM and creates enough lift to carry the clippings it will sound like a high end household vacuum cleaner and you will have a great lawn.

Did you grease the fittings under the V belt guard????

Are the belts in good shape?? If Rubber flakes off in your hand they need to be replaced with an equivalent V belt with Kevlar thread; Kevlar V belts are easy to obtain.

You should have a V belt tension gauge to adjust the V belt tension properly on your flail mower. The V belt tension gauges are available at amazon or larger automotive supply stores.



Happy mowing



"Once you go flail you never go back"