Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

If you can purchase a heavy duty flail that has only been used seasonally all the better as
it will have plenty of life in it as the steel used to build it is much heavier.
You also need to be able to raise it with the 3 point hitch on your mule.

Just be sure to check the welds onn the flail mower shroud with a hammer-the steel will
not vibrate much if the welds are still good and the steel is not rusted through.

 

[leonz]

Yay I love it when a plan comes together.

PRCWI if I have not welcomed you as a new member of the Flail Mower Nations
I am doing so now.

 

[PRCWI]

Thanks, my only regret about owning a flail mower is that I didn't purchase one sooner.

I have two bush hogs gathering dust that I need to get sold or trade in or something. I do wish I had a slightly more powerful tractor to run my flail but it's good to give my old Oliver 770 a workout every summer.

And thanks for this thread and all the participants...tons of great knowledge here!

 

[morgart40]

Can someone tell me how long the Caroni TM1900 is? I am trying to compare its length to a woods rotary chopper. I am leaning towards the Caroni if Agrisupply gets them back in stock soon but I am concerned about being able to mow high enough with it. I want to clip my pastures with it but the lowest I would want to go is about 6" after the cattle go through it. I also sometimes need to go in and clip the seed heads in front of the cattle and at that time the grass is waist high and I would only want to just take the tops off so I would like to mow at 12" or as high as possible. Can the Caroni handle this? Will it be able to cut the grass behind the tire tracks? I also mow some CRP ground and around the pasture so it would get some light to slightly medium brush use.

 

[IslandTractor]

Can someone tell me how long the Caroni TM1900 is? I am trying to compare its length to a woods rotary chopper. I am leaning towards the Caroni if Agrisupply gets them back in stock soon but I am concerned about being able to mow high enough with it. I want to clip my pastures with it but the lowest I would want to go is about 6" after the cattle go through it. I also sometimes need to go in and clip the seed heads in front of the cattle and at that time the grass is waist high and I would only want to just take the tops off so I would like to mow at 12" or as high as possible. Can the Caroni handle this? Will it be able to cut the grass behind the tire tracks? I also mow some CRP ground and around the pasture so it would get some light to slightly medium brush use.

Not sure what you mean by "long". The cutting width is 1.9 meters or 75". It sticks out behind the 3PT pins about 3 feet or so.

I occasionally run the flail lifted off the rear roller. It certainly still cuts but doesn't mulch then. If I wanted to do that routinely I would adapt some sort of rear guide wheel arrangement to allow the weight and mower to follow the ground better. It can be pretty bouncy on rough terrain when the 3PT is carrying all the weight. I do it all the time when transporting on a dirt road though. Seems to me that a couple of 2x2 receiver hitches welded to the top or side would permit removable wheels to be used when actually mowing.

 

[morgart40]

It sticks out behind the 3PT pins about 3 feet or so. .

That's what I was looking for. The rotary chopper is nearly 10 feet long so there is a considerable amount of space saving when I go to store them. When you mow with it lifted off the rear roller how does it cut behind your tire tracks? Is it able to lift and cut the grass or is the grass smashed down too much and is missed? I'm not too worried about it getting bouncy, I can go slow if need be. I just want to make sure it is cutting the seed heads.

 

[IslandTractor]

That's what I was looking for. The rotary chopper is nearly 10 feet long so there is a considerable amount of space saving when I go to store them. When you mow with it lifted off the rear roller how does it cut behind your tire tracks? Is it able to lift and cut the grass or is the grass smashed down too much and is missed? I'm not too worried about it getting bouncy, I can go slow if need be. I just want to make sure it is cutting the seed heads.

Good question about the tire tracks. Cannot answer clearly. When I raise the mower to cut it is nearly always in brush not grass. And the only time I do it in grass is in very thick grass as a first pass before recutting lower. With the mower up at a foot above ground I'd say there would be little if any vacuum effect to raise the grass. That said, it probably depends on the grass type and moisture so hard to predict if the mower will cut seed heads cleanly in tire track.

 

[Fallon]

My Ford 917 does a poor job at mowing my tracks at 5-6" high when the grass is knee high or higher. I doubt any flail will do that well at a foot high. The grass is squished down by the tires & won't spring back up for a day at least. So it won't get cut.

All the turbulence from a rotary or flail will pull some up, if the blades are pretty low. But not a foot or higher off the ground.

 

[morgart40]

How easy is it and how long does it take to adjust the roller height? I usually mow the pasture and a horse riding area right after one another and I try to keep the riding area mowed short.

 

[IslandTractor]

How easy is it and how long does it take to adjust the roller height? I usually mow the pasture and a horse riding area right after one another and I try to keep the riding area mowed short.

Remove two bolts, swing roller, reinstall bolts. The last photo from inside under mower shows a curved plate with holes that pivots on the rear of the mower housing and is attached to the roller. One on each side. There are five possible holes to put the bolts through depending on desired height.

 

[Jelf]

Here is an update on my experiment mounting scoop knives (aka duck foot) on a Caroni TM1900. The mower has the standard 'B' rotor (28 mounting stations).

My initial report from last year is in 3 parts starting at
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...talk-flail-mowers-post4531161.html#post453116
Note that I mounted the scoop knives on shackles.

There was a record setting amount of rain in the Seattle area this past monsoon season. But just because the ground is too soft for the tractor doesn't prevent the grass from growing. This spring I mowed our pasture twice with an ancient self-propelled walk-behind bush hog type mower. By the time the grass had grown back again the pasture was finally dry enough to use the flail mower.

After hooking up the mower and doing the servicing I pulled off several sets of the scoop knives to check for wear. So far I cannot see any significant wear on any of the components. But it is still early days since the mower only has the equivalent of about 20 acres worth of use.

Another question for this experiment was whether any of the 'bow tie' cotter pins would get knocked out. So far the answer is "no"? Removing this type of cotter pin requires force in two directions. And I am always careful to insert the pin so the closed end of the pin comes around the rotor first when it is spinning.

I mowed several days ago and do have a stylish mohawk cut. A combination of weight (non-removable FEL), wide bar tires, 3 inch cut height, speed, grass type and height, likely all contributed to the grass under my wheel track not being cut as short as the grass I did not drive on. Do I care about the mohawk look? Nope. I have always cut at a 3 inch height and the pasture grows back nicely. Nor do I have any interest in slowing down since there are always other chores waiting their turn for my time.

Finally, if anyone else has mounted scoop knives on a TM1900 I would enjoy hearing about your experience with this setup.

 

[madpuma13]

I pulled the trigger and got the used alamo shd74 I came across.

Got a chance to use it a little bit today and so far ok not as impressed I was hoping to be with the cut.

Knives don't look to be extremely dull or anything. I was mowing grass that was 4-5 ft tall. The cut was similar, maybe a hair better, than the rotary. It still left some of the more woody weeds mostly standing.

So there are a number of settings on the flail that I'm wondering what to do with to achieve a better cut.

First there are the rear wheels. What's the purpose of them? After reading this post, I thought the flail should ride on the rear roller? Anyway, what setting should I aim for for the rear wheels.

Next is the roller adjustment. My understanding is the roller is your true cutting height adjustment. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Finally the top link adjustment. Am I aiming to have the shoes be parallel with the ground? Is that the best way to measure the adjustment for the top link?

 

[PRCWI]

I pulled the trigger and got the used alamo shd74 I came across.

Got a chance to use it a little bit today and so far ok not as impressed I was hoping to be with the cut.

What kind of issues are you having with the cut?

 

[madpuma13]

What kind of issues are you having with the cut?

Sorry I submitted the post before it was complete. Find more info above.

 

[leonz]

I pulled the trigger and got the used alamo shd74 I came across.

Got a chance to use it a little bit today and so far ok not as impressed I was hoping to be with the cut.

Knives don't look to be extremely dull or anything. I was mowing grass that was 4-5 ft tall. The cut was similar, maybe a hair better, than the rotary. It still left some of the more woody weeds mostly standing.

So there are a number of settings on the flail that I'm wondering what to do with to achieve a better cut.

First there are the rear wheels. What's the purpose of them? After reading this post, I thought the flail should ride on the rear roller? Anyway, what setting should I aim for for the rear wheels.

Next is the roller adjustment. My understanding is the roller is your true cutting height adjustment. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Finally the top link adjustment. Am I aiming to have the shoes be parallel with the ground? Is that the best way to measure the adjustment for the top link?

========================================================================================================================================================


Hello Mad Puma,

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

The skid shoes are there to protect the flail mower rotor from becoming damaged in the event of the mower tipping forward by mistake or falling against a ditch wall deep enough to let the mower float down into it.


First you should plan on mowing soon to recut the brush and new growth. if you have the side slicers on the Alamo you can recut the brush on the second pass if you want to mow more effectively.

The rear wheels help to stabilize the flail mower while mowing and and prevent it from rocking back and forth to have a good looking golf course lawn mowing job and they work together with the rear roller when mowing.

You are correct about the rear roller being the method used to adjust it. The cutting height is adjusted by first leveling the mower with the top link then measuring the height of the of the flail mowers side slice knife cutting edge in relation to the ground-preferably a patch concrete or black top to service and adjust it.
After you have adjusted the rear roller height you should then adjust the rear gauge wheels. Yours should have washers and a linch pin lock or nut and bolt to hold it all together.

What you want after adjusting the rear gauge wheels is a level flail mower from front to back in combination with the rear gauge wheels by adding or removing washers and stacking them on top under the bolt or linch pin clip.

First things first: The mower has to be leveled with the top link using a bullet bubble level on the top of the gearbox if it does not have the round bevel gear box. IN that case you need to put the level on the tubular weldment to level it.

Once you have it all dialed at a 2 inch mowing height it will be very effective in mowing and creating the proper pressure gradient to lift and carry the clippings over the flail mower rotor and back to the ground.

With the mower at that cutting height you will be able to recut the clippings to a very small size and they will dissolve quickly into the sod and you will have no clippings rotting on the sod.

 

[leonz]

Adding to what I have described above you should invest in a wet grinder from MicroMark to sharpen the side slicer knives to keep them sharp-if your mower has the scoop knives you can use it for them too as long as the cutting angle is maintained and the knives will not become hot and lose the temper. The last time I looked their wet well grinder was $99.00 plus tax and shipping.

Micro-Mark - The Small Tools Specialists

 

[PRCWI]

Adding to what I have described above you should invest in a wet grinder from MicroMark to sharpen the side slicer knives to keep them sharp-if your mower has the scoop knives you can use it for them too as long as the cutting angle is maintained and the knives will not become hot and lose the temper. The last time I looked their wet well grinder was $99.00 plus tax and shipping.

Micro-Mark - The Small Tools Specialists

Assuming you are talking about this one? Wet / Dry Utility Sharpener

I haven't sharpened my blades on my flail and it cuts fine but I had lighter weight blades and I was losing a lot of blades so my blades stayed fairly new, now that I have the HD blades on I almost never lose a blade so sharpening is likely in my near future.

I will need to get a sharpener as well.

Oh and thanks for the nice summary above, my SD88 doesn't have the rear wheels but what you described above is great and it took me time to figure all that out when I first got mine.

 

[leonz]

I am always glad to help anyone who owns a flail mower.
All I have to do now is convince Orec to reduce the price of their walk behind flail mowers.
I have to dig a bit more and find out who their German Manufacturer is sometime.
I really love the track drive models they have-nice and stable, I wonder if they have a sulky?

 

[Cataclysm]

I'm turning in my Flail Mower Nation membership card as I sold my Alamo SHD 88. As much as I liked it, my needs are better served by the new twin spindle 8" rotary cutter that now follows my tractor around.

Thanks for all the help everyone!

 

[madpuma13]

Thank you leonz, I will make my adjustments tomorrow and let y'all know how it turns out.