Land Pride Flail mower duckfoot blade replacement question

[GinNB]

I bought a used Land Pride FM2160 flail mower and it's time for new blades. It uses a scooped "duckfoot" blade when I'd prefer something like a Mott/Maletti style rock blade (two Y knives hanging from a swinging D-ring) but the dealer says there's only that one option available. Has anybody tried to adapt another brand or type of blades to this mower with any success? Either equivalent aftermarket or a system like the Y knife picture attached. I'd prefer to adapt to the Y knife setup if possible but a cheaper duckfoot setup would also work, but the blades are stunningly expensive to be wearing quickly on rocks. I've attached two pics- the one with the "F" part number is the stock Land Pride blade and the other is the type of blade I'd prefer.

 

[vlcakc]

My experience with Landpride flail mowers is with the FM25xx series not FM21xx, so this may or may not apply. On the FM25xx mower line 3 blade types are offered: Duckfoot, Y blades and hammer blades. Y blades and hammer blades will mechanically interchange, however, Landpride does not recommend doing so because of potential rotor balance issues and excessive vibration. I swapped the factory installed Y blades on my FM2584 flail for hammer blades successfully with no balance problems. (YMMV) The Duckfoot blades use a different mounting pattern and are not interchangeable with either Y or hammer blades. A Duckfoot to Y blade swap according to Landpride requires a rotor replacement besides the blade change. Since this post is the usual un-helpful internet reply, I will add that if you are successful in finding Y blades that are mechanically interchangeable you may experience balance problems or have poor cut quality due to insufficient number or improper placement of blades. Sorry I could not pass on more helpful info.

 

[part-time-Farmer-NC]

I have the titan flail mower, the blades look very much like the landprides. It came with the hammer blades installed. After a year or so I swapped them out for the Y blades. For my cutting the Y blades did a poorer job. I am going to sharpen the hammer blades and put them back on pretty soon. I have a lot of saplings to chomp through. The hammers did better even in grass to me.

 

[dieselscout80]

I don’t have a Landpride flail rather I have a Ford 917.

And I have swapped between duck foot and Y type knives with no issues.

As long as each station/mounting point has a knife or pair of knives (based on knife type) I don’t see how there would be a balance issue.

 

[leonz]

I bought a used Land Pride FM2160 flail mower and it's time for new blades. It uses a scooped "duckfoot" blade when I'd prefer something like a Mott/Maletti style rock blade (two Y knives hanging from a swinging D-ring) but the dealer says there's only that one option available. Has anybody tried to adapt another brand or type of blades to this mower with any success? Either equivalent aftermarket or a system like the Y knife picture attached. I'd prefer to adapt to the Y knife setup if possible but a cheaper duckfoot setup would also work, but the blades are stunningly expensive to be wearing quickly on rocks. I've attached two pics- the one with the "F" part number is the stock Land Pride blade and the other is the type of blade I'd prefer.

If you do not mind calling south of the border contact the Flail Master folks for
a price for these "scoop knives" as they are not cast hammer knives.

Make sure you mention whether the land pride flail mower is actually built by
Kubota or if it is the original imported MACHIO brand with metric nuts and bolts
that was painted in land pride colors.

If it has metric parts and a trash discharge door it is an original Maschio flail mower from Italy.

Opening the trash door fully allows the end user to mow heavy tall brush or corn stalks and
discharge them quickly without plugging and stopping the flail mower.

 

[vlcakc]

Looking at the Landpride parts manuals the FM2160 and FM2560 rotors are quite different.


FM2160 Rotor and duckfoot blade.

A Y blade replacement would have to be very short to fit. A Y blade with D ring might be too long to fit?

As ususal leonz's suggestion is probably the best solution.

 

[404nouser]

Flail master just shipped new blades for my Ford 917.

 

[TractorTech]

Agree with the Flail Master and the F7 blade like the Ford 907/917

 

[GinNB]

Thanks guys. I ended up finding an alternative duckfoot/scoop type blade that I'm going to try after they come in on Monday. Hopefully they'll work because the price of original equipment knives is insane ($37 Cdn each). It takes 30. I can redo a much larger flail mower for half the price with Y knives. We'll see if the P66945 knives will work. Hopefully the shaft is inherently balanced so changing knife weight still works smoothly. I still plan to try some Y knives when I have more time to play with it though.

 

[workinonit]

Do those knives/hammers come in matched pairs? Sure would save a lot of time vice weighing them all.

 

[GinNB]

Do those knives/hammers come in matched pairs? Sure would save a lot of time vice weighing them all.

No,t hat's not really needed. With all new blades and mower should be balanced unless it's been damaged somehow. There are some rare mowers that have an unbalanced shaft that balances with the stock weight blades but not others. Most are balanced with any type of knife that fits. I've had shafts balanced before but unless something's way off it's a waste, IMHO. Hit a rock or 50 and it'll be out again. We've got lots of rocks so...

 

[leonz]

Do those knives/hammers come in matched pairs? Sure would save a lot of time vice weighing them all.

The side slicer knives are sheared, punched with the correct mounting hole, ground to a fine edge and then pressed to create the correct angle.
The scoop knives are created in the same manner with the knife forming done before the cutting edge is ground as far as before they are heat treated as far as I know.
The high quality heavy cast hammer knives have hanger holes that are drilled at a slow speed after the castings are cooled completely using a
cooling and cutting fluid as far as I know and the cutting edge is wet ground.

 

[workinonit]

No,t hat's not really needed. With all new blades and mower should be balanced unless it's been damaged somehow. There are some rare mowers that have an unbalanced shaft that balances with the stock weight blades but not others. Most are balanced with any type of knife that fits. I've had shafts balanced before but unless something's way off it's a waste, IMHO. Hit a rock or 50 and it'll be out again. We've got lots of rocks so...

My Maschio manual says the hammers need to be replaced in weighed pairs. As fast as that drum spins it makes perfect sense to me.

 

[404nouser]

My Maschio manual says the hammers need to be replaced in weighed pairs. As fast as that drum spins it makes perfect sense to me.

I think it's saying not to put a worn one with a new one.
But if you are replacing with all new you should be good.
If you are putting used ones on you will need to weigh them into pairs.

 

[workinonit]

My reading comprehension is not lacking. My flail has really heavy hammers on it. 1/2 oz here and 1/2 oz there placed it the wrong places and you have an out of balance rotor. You guys put your blades wherever you want. Hammers are a different matter altogether.

 

[Torvy]

Hammers are awesome unless you want a lawn.

 

[GinNB]

Longterm update on knives for those with this Land Pride mower. The P66945 scoop/duck bill blades work fine and are way cheaper from my local Deere dealer than what the factory blades list for. It's a pretty crazy difference at about five bucks a blade from my Deere dealer in packs of 10 and Land Pride lists them at $37 a piece. I still haven't tried to adapt it to the Y knives but they probably won't work very well because they aren't listed as an option from Land Pride.