Mowing JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT?

   / JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT? #1  

Dirk Lately

Bronze Member
Joined
Jul 21, 2008
Messages
52
Location
near Portland, Oregon
Tractor
Kubota L3000DT, Bobcat 341, Taylor 414ce
I found a 90" John Deere flail used. Online specs look like they require a 40hp tractor, other places say 30hp. My L3000DT is 32hp, and I think 28hp at the PTO.

I have heard (likely here) the rule of thumb is that you get 1ft of width for every 5hp of tractor.

So what will happen to me if I try to run this 7.5ft flail with my poor little tractor? Will it make my tractor hate me? :(
 
   / JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT? #2  
Check with Leonz, he knows a lot about flail mowers as does Bird and some others; only names that come to mind. You might check the "attachments" section as there was a thread on there about flail mowers.
 
   / JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT?
  • Thread Starter
#4  
Many thanks to Leonz, who has been very helpful! :thumbsup:
 
   / JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT? #5  
Greetings and to catch up,


Did I ask you if you have ballast in the rear tires
of your tractor?

Candidly I have been a tad too busy and dont remember if I did ask:eek:

leonz
 
   / JD 390 Flail on my L3000DT? #6  
A 90 inch flail is pretty big. I'd roughly equate flails and rotary mowers (bush hogs) for size/hp requirements. If you think you could run a seven and a half foot rotary mower then you could run the 90" flail. I'd worry it is too much mower for anything but lawn type cutting and it would bog down the tractor in anything more than a foot or so high. I'd be pretty comfortable recommending a 6ft flail for a 30hp tractor but not much more.

I run a 75 inch flail on a 41hp tractor which has more power than needed for all but the thickest grass/brush when running at 2100 rpm (less than PTO speed) in medium range HST. For the thickest stuff I need to drop to low range and bump to PTO range RPM.
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

BUSH WACKER ST-180 ELITE BATWING ROTARY MOWER (A51406)
BUSH WACKER ST-180...
2011 Kenworth T300 Jerr-Dan 21WSRB Rollback Truck (A49461)
2011 Kenworth T300...
2001 GMC W4 CRANE TRUCK (A51222)
2001 GMC W4 CRANE...
2011 TRAIL KING LOWBOY TRAILER (A50459)
2011 TRAIL KING...
2010 Case 660 Trencher (A50322)
2010 Case 660...
2007 JOHN DEERE 624J WHEEL LOADER (A51406)
2007 JOHN DEERE...
 
Top