Kubota M8540 flail mower

[SRSeedBurners]

Recently inherited my Dad's M8540 tractor. I requested quotes from JD and Kubota for a 'ditch bank' flail mower:
JD - Frontier FL1272S at $11,175.
Kubota - Land Pride OFM2678 $18K

The reason I'm considering an ditch bank mower is we have a pond with a pretty high damn as well as the front of our property has your typical roadside ditch. My neighbor has been graciously mowing the road front with his giant batwing rotary but now that I have a tractor I want to take this off his load. Wondering what else I can research as these prices are pretty steep!

 

[big bubba]

welcome to this forum. great tractor you have, guess i'm partial. can't help with info on flails, & yes indeed they do get pricey. maybe you can post some images of the pond & degree slopes you're facing for mowing. & the overall distance that requires mowing.

i have 3 adjacent pond dams or banks that require mowing. although i'm at later life stage, i do those dams with a walk behind zero turn 36" mower. i will not subject my tractor or even rider zero turn to those slopes.. just a thought. be glad to post the model i have. but if you can afford that kind of flail purchase price, wish you the best, regards,
as a footnote, the 18k flail price you're looking at is slightly more than 1/2 the price of what i paid for my tractor in '08. sure glad i bought then, you have an excellent pre Tier 4 machine.

 

[RjCorazza]

You may want to price the Del Morino ditch flails. My 62" (smaller than you are looking at) was $7500 2 years ago.
Del Morino is a quality product.

 

[big bubba]

if you go w/tractor & flail, you may want to also invest in a tilt meter depending on degree slope. i would proceed cautiously before purchasing send images of the task at hand

 

[ning]

If it's been mowed with a batwing and you've been happy with the (rough) cut, perhaps a boom mounted sickle bar mower would work for you. I suspect they're a bit safer on steep banks.

 

[1 Old Man]

The Frontier is about 1500#. The cutting head itself probably weight 5 or 600#.
Now, fully extend that out from the tractor on a steep bank and you'll get a pucker
factor of +75 puckers. I use a 6' ditch bank flail for tanks, trimming back road
foliage, and destroying underbrush besides just mowing the pasture.
Get comfortable using the flail before mowing a steep bank. And then gradually
ease into the bank mowing thing. Number 1 bank mowing tip, go slow, very slow.
I'm partial to the Italian flails. Several good brands available. Del Morino, Peruzzo,
Acma, Machio, Ventura etc
JD and K charge extra for the paint color. YMMV. Good luck.

 

[oosik]

I'm guessing - you probably have quite a few uses for the M8540. I suggest a self-powered walk behind. If you "loose" it - you won't be loosing a $40K piece of equipment.

A picture of my ten acre lake. There is a self-imposed 25 foot "no fly" zone around my lake. It's a 25 to 40 foot drop to the water. The water is 35 to 40 feet deep - right at the cliff faces.

It's not just that I could loose the tractor. The oil/grease from a tractor would contaminate my lake for years on end.

 

[leonz]

Recently inherited my Dad's M8540 tractor. I requested quotes from JD and Kubota for a 'ditch bank' flail mower:
JD - Frontier FL1272S at $11,175.
Kubota - Land Pride OFM2678 $18K

The reason I'm considering an ditch bank mower is we have a pond with a pretty high damn as well as the front of our property has your typical roadside ditch. My neighbor has been graciously mowing the road front with his giant batwing rotary but now that I have a tractor I want to take this off his load. Wondering what else I can research as these prices are pretty steep!

Does the 8540 have an all weather cab?

The only safe way for you to manage this is to invest in a bat wing rotary cutter if you really intend on doing this.
Leaving the pond banks un-mowed will not ruin anything in the scheme of things and keep the soil more stable.

You have to keep in mind the soil on the bank is continually in a weakened condition due to percolation and seepage of water into the soil at all depths and can and will slide.

You have a mule that has enough power to handle a European made rear mounted flail mower with either 2 or three sections BUUUUUT;
it has a ground clearance of 18 inches and this increases the height of its center of gravity and it is only 78" wide.

Please give this idea a hard pass and pay your neighbor for mowing it if you want a groomed pond wall. Keep in mind that high weed growth will keep people away from the waters edge.

 

[big bubba]

`"I'm guessing - you probably have quite a few uses for the M8540. I suggest a self-powered walk behind. If you "loose" it - you won't be loosing a $40K piece of equipment." oosik
yes to this, & if it gets away from you, just walk away...

 

[SRSeedBurners]

Does the 8540 have an all weather cab?

The only safe way for you to manage this is to invest in a bat wing rotary cutter if you really intend on doing this.
Leaving the pond banks un-mowed will not ruin anything in the scheme of things and keep the soil more stable.

You have to keep in mind the soil on the bank is continually in a weakened condition due to percolation and seepage of water into the soil at all depths and can and will slide.

You have a mule that has enough power to handle a European made rear mounted flail mower with either 2 or three sections BUUUUUT;
it has a ground clearance of 18 inches and this increases the height of its center of gravity and it is only 78" wide.

Please give this idea a hard pass and pay your neighbor for mowing it if you want a groomed pond wall. Keep in mind that high weed growth will keep people away from the waters edge.

Hi leonz,

The neighbor only mows our pastures and the front roadside which is a very gentle slope. I have never had him mow the pond. I have been doing it by hand with a push mower. Takes all day. My only intention for the pond was to mow the top and down the sides as far as the ditch bank mower will reach. The rest will be mowed by push mower as I have always done. I won't even take a ride-on mower on the sides as some guy I hired a few years ago and TOLD him to stay off the slopes nearly ditched his multi-thousand dollar mower. I was able to run over and grab hold to keep it from teetering off into the pond and then got my tractor on top and pulled it back out of danger.

I have considered a rotary mower (brush hog) but I would buy quite a bit smaller one than my neighbor has and don't really see the point as it will not get up close to my fence lines. At least a ditch bank flail would side shift so I can get right up to the edges. I will also mow my dead flat pastures when needed so my neighbor won't have to bother any more.

Still recommend a hard pass with the additional info? Do you have any recommendations for a flail besides the Kubota/JD offersings?

Edited to add: ROPS cab only - not enclosed cab.

 

[leonz]

Hard pass, only because leaving the grass and weeds secures the pond banks.

Short of having an excavator to trim the walls of the pond to less than a 15 degree
slope would make it much safer if you intend to seed it and mow it.

Maschio but you need loaded tires, wheel weights on the left wheel and a full
rack of front suitcase weights.

When you are running around with a boom mounted side shifting flail shredder
you have to understand that you have little to no over center control of the mower
and that weight is hanging out there following the ground.

Youi need to think of it like this; imagine you have a pail of gear oil hanging on the end
of a 16 foot 2 by 6 and you are trying to hold it level. That weight is acting on you and
wants to tip you over before you tilt the mower down to mow.

 

[TerryR]

I have a Peruzzo ditch and bank mower, and I think one will work great for you, as long as you do as you say and keep the tractor at or near the top of the bank. You will find it does well for other tasks as well, like actual ditches and banks, and including mowing flatter areas with it offset so you don't run over what you are about to cut.

Yes, it does make your tractor less stable when you lift the mower with it extended all the way to the side, especially if it's on the down-hill side of the tractor. The solution is simple -- don't lift the mower in that situation, but leave it resting on the roller.

I chose the Peruzzo Fox Cross because it's lighter than many others. It's well built. One disadvantage is you won't find a local dealer. There's only one in the US. Buying such an expense toy by mail order is a concern, but I found them responsive during purchase and when I needed parts.

 

[D&D]

Recently inherited my Dad's M8540 tractor. I requested quotes from JD and Kubota for a 'ditch bank' flail mower:
JD - Frontier FL1272S at $11,175.
Kubota - Land Pride OFM2678 $18K

The reason I'm considering an ditch bank mower is we have a pond with a pretty high damn as well as the front of our property has your typical roadside ditch. My neighbor has been graciously mowing the road front with his giant batwing rotary but now that I have a tractor I want to take this off his load. Wondering what else I can research as these prices are pretty steep!

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[1 Old Man]

According to specs the M8540 is about 6,000#, 80+hp. Plenty of power, but I think
the issue here would be weight of tractor. You might consider a slightly smaller
cutting head, like a 60" or 63" etc keeping a FEL implement on all the time and
maybe wheel weights or tire ballast. And the obvious, keep the tractor on top of the bank,
and go slow.
TerryR has a good post ^.

 

[dieselscout80]

Hard pass, only because leaving the grass and weeds secures the pond banks.

Short of having an excavator to trim the walls of the pond to less than a 15 degree
slope would make it much safer if you intend to seed it and mow it.

Maschio but you need loaded tires, wheel weights on the left wheel and a full
rack of front suitcase weights.

When you are running around with a boom mounted side shifting flail shredder
you have to understand that you have little to no over center control of the mower
and that weight is hanging out there following the ground.

Youi need to think of it like this; imagine you have a pail of gear oil hanging on the end
of a 16 foot 2 by 6 and you are trying to hold it level. That weight is acting on you and
wants to tip you over before you tilt the mower down to mow.

I regularly mow around my pond and in the worst places it’s 22 degrees without issue.

That said I won’t mow it if it’s wet as it would be bad if I slid my tractor in the pond.

 

[HorsPower]

Del Morino (Italy) is definitely the gold standard in flail / ditch fail mowers, but my use is infrequent and I couldn’t justify the high cost for my application.

Resultantly I recently purchased a Ironcraft ditch flail mower. I didn’t want a china built mower. The Iron Craft mowers are made by Cosmo (Italy). I’ve only used it for a short time, but it appears to be well constructed for a budget option ($4,500). Might be worth considering depending on how often you are going to use it.

My mower is a FRF-165. (165 cm / 65”). I’m running the mower behind a Kubota L5740 with filled rear tires and max wheel weights. It handles the mower very well.

Could be a more budget option for you.

 

[SRSeedBurners]

Del Morino (Italy) is definitely the gold standard in flail / ditch fail mowers, but my use is infrequent and I couldn’t justify the high cost for my application.

Resultantly I recently purchased a Ironcraft ditch flail mower. I didn’t want a china built mower. The Iron Craft mowers are made by Cosmo (Italy). I’ve only used it for a short time, but it appears to be well constructed for a budget option ($4,500). Might be worth considering depending on how often you are going to use it.

My mower is a FRF-165. (165 cm / 65”). I’m running the mower behind a Kubota L5740 with filled rear tires and max wheel weights. It handles the mower very well.

Could be a more budget option for you.

Thanks. Mine will be lower use as well. Can you share where you bought this from. That's more in my price range.

 

[HorsPower]

Thanks. Mine will be lower use as well. Can you share where you bought this from. That's more in my price range.

I bought mine from Messick’s, they said it was the last one they had in stock at the time (December).

Miller tractor has one in stock:

Pardon Our Interruption

 

[oosik]

You can see by the pic I uploaded - post#7 - my little lake is nothing to fool around with. The near side of the lake is the same as the far side. The "shore line" is from 15 to 40 feet deep. You can smash out thru the cattails on either end OR claw your way up the valley across the lake.

No matter your choice - you best be a good swimmer.

I've only had one or two parents allow their children up near the bluff edge. With a high thermocline and deep lake - the surface water will only get "warm" in late August.