Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Jack Yuan]

Thanks! Woodmax actually recommends that the front of the mower be tilted up 10-15 degrees. Its designed that way. I'll see if I can find where I read that.

It's wrong, flail mower is not designed work in that way, make it horizontal with the ground. They don't understand flail mower as deeply as you thought.

 

[def38]

When i lived next to the trailer park, the lawn genie was only thing that kept their garbage they threw over the fence in check and ate the sycamore tree leaves...Glad I sold that place 20 year ago.

Folks here in Alabama haven't yet been introduced to waste baskets or trash containers. The roadside is used for trash disposal. Trashing Alabama will cease only when LEOs begin issuing citations. I live on a rural road in Blount County and I mow the roadside adjacent to my land. Beer cans, plastic beverage bottles and other trash get mulched when I mow.

 

[AGTtactical]

Folks here in Alabama haven't yet been introduced to waste baskets or trash containers. The roadside is used for trash disposal. Trashing Alabama will cease only when LEOs begin issuing citations. I live on a rural road in Blount County and I mow the roadside adjacent to my land. Beer cans, plastic beverage bottles and other trash get mulched when I mow.

Wow...pretty crappy thing to say about 4 million people, and not even remotely accurate. I lived in NJ for 4 years, pretty much the worst litter I've ever seen.

Given the "Folks here in Alabama haven't yet been introduced to waste baskets or trash containers" comment, maybe the people that know you just are throwing trash on your property on purpose because they don't like you. I can see why.

 

[def38]

You ought to see the roadsides here in rural Alabama...they are a mess. I moved here from "Don't mess with Texas". Texans seem to care about their state's roadways...very little trash on the highways there. It has nothing to do with whether people like me or not...is has to do with the personal values and common sense.

The flail mower takes pretty good care of the roadside trash in and around my land.

 

[bruceha2000]

Stupid question I'm sure and maybe answered somewhere I've not found.

My tractor has rear remotes for the backhoe which has its own controls. How do you control the side shift on a flail? The hoses connect to the rear ports on the tractor but that doesn't give you any control. Does someone make a "control box" of some sort that you can connect to the rear ports and connect the flail hoses to that? I know some people get long hoses and "steal" the bucket dump from the loader control. Wondering if there isn't maybe a cleaner solution, small box with a single lever control or something.

Thanks

 

[aczlan]

What you're looking for would be called an Open Center valve.
Your tractor probably needs one that is rated for around 8 gallons per minute, something along the lines of this: 1 Spool 8 GPM Prince MB11B5C1 DA Valve | Directional Control Valves | Hydraulic Valves | Hydraulics | www.surpluscenter.com
Depending on if you have two or three lines that would connect your backhoe, you may also need a power beyond kit for that valve.
The way the hydraulics on your tractor work, the hydraulic pump is always pumping fluid through the system, the valve diverts the flow from being pumped through the open loop to going into your cylinder to extend it or retract it depending on which way you move the valves.
When it does that, the pressure will rise from the 100 to 500 PSI that it is at when you're not doing anything to whatever your system relief pressure is or whatever pressure is needed to move the cylinder whichever is lower.

Aaron Z

 

[RoyJackson]

What do you guys do to store your mowers (mine is a Caroni) over the winter?
I'd love to store it inside....don't think I'll have the room for it

 

[bruceha2000]

Thanks Aaron.

There are 3 hoses. The manual says that the female hose connecter must be put into the male connector (lower in the picture) when the BH is removed to "keep the tractor from going over the main pressure relief". The female is on a hose that comes out past the fixed connectors on the back of the tractor and goes down under the BH footwell

Of course there is then the question of where to put the spool valve. Starting to wonder if it isn't easier to just steal the loader dump function. 2 hoses about 5' -6' long each.

 

[def38]

What do you guys do to store your mowers (mine is a Caroni) over the winter?
I'd love to store it inside....don't think I'll have the room for it

Roy,

Given your climate, clean away any mowing debris, pressure wash the mower and allow to dry thoroughly, spray paint any areas that might rust, set the mower well off the ground on cinder blocks, cover with a tarp (Use the grommets and some bungee cords) after greasing everything well. Put the PTO shaft in the basement after a good greasing. Also, don't forget to grease the tractor and mower PTO shaft stub. I would also relax the mower belts, maybe even remove them and bring them indoors.

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy,

Given your climate, clean away any mowing debris, pressure wash the mower and allow to dry thoroughly, spray paint any areas that might rust, set the mower well off the ground on cinder blocks, cover with a tarp (Use the grommets and some bungee cords) after greasing everything well. Put the PTO shaft in the basement after a good greasing. Also, don't forget to grease the tractor and mower PTO shaft stub. I would also relax the mower belts, maybe even remove them and bring them indoors.

Thanks for the response!
I'd already pressure washed and greased the unit and the PTO driveshaft is in the garage. I'll tarp it this weekend, when it dries up a bit. Oh, and the mower is setting on a pressure treated pallet...I guess that'll work.

 

[ronjhall]

Thanks for the response!
I'd already pressure washed and greased the unit and the PTO driveshaft is in the garage. I'll tarp it this weekend, when it dries up a bit. Oh, and the mower is setting on a pressure treated pallet...I guess that'll work.

Pressure treated lumber can be very corrosive on metal.

 

[def38]

Thanks for the response!
I'd already pressure washed and greased the unit and the PTO driveshaft is in the garage. I'll tarp it this weekend, when it dries up a bit. Oh, and the mower is setting on a pressure treated pallet...I guess that'll work.

Sounds like you're way ahead of me.

 

[jonsstihl]

those airplane wing blades I've seen before and I do see the resemblance now I was thinking a single wing and not the entire delta wing concept. I would call that a regular scoop knife though. it is interesting that people have different opinions about the type of cutting versus the type of knife. I have a mott finish mower flail with side slicers but I don't particularly care about the finish it leaves in fine grass. I have my roller set at max height but the bottom of the knives are 2 1/2 inches off the ground at max height. I'm not mowing a fine lawn so I think that is low enough.

I would think scoop knives may do better at grass and brush because my side slicers don't hurt the brush much other than stripping the leaves off of it.

 

[EdwardB]

I am appealing to Flail Mower Nation for some assistance. I have a Mott 72 that had a bolt (#71 on the attached diagram) rattle loose that held the non-drive side cutter shaft bearing in place. This resulted in the bearing and a large washer working its way out and depositing themselves on the ground. The noise was not pleasant... However, the bearing is intact.

I have consulted the parts diagram which is lacking in detail. I have two questions.

First, what is the attached washer and where does it go? I don't believe it is #69, but perhaps the equivalent of #57 that is shown on the other side?

Second, what is the size of #69 Bearing Clamp Washer?

Thank you for any assistance!

Ed

 

[whirly]

The parts list says there are two #57 washers required. The diagrams only show one of each part regardless of the number required .... that's why you don't see 152 knives in the diagram.

 

[EdwardB]

Thanks Whirly. That makes sense, although I think I'd have still shown it on the diagram. Obviously, showing the 152 knives makes no sense.

 

[Dan in MN]

I prefer these...

Flail Mover Blade, Flail Hammer Blade | Steel Forging


They mistakenly call it a mover blade.

What an astonishing lack of proof reading on that page...not only do they have "mover" all over they mixed in "mower" a few times....

The airplane wings of the old jet aircraft like the B58 valkyrie and the jet aircraft fighters used during the vietnam war have the delta wing shape which resembles the stamped and folded scoop knives.

The sawtooth pattern noticed in good grass sod occurs due to mowing shorter and the mounting stations securing the side slicer knives in the vertical position as the mounting holes for the knives are punched circular mounting holes.

The proof of this "theory" is my 48 inch lawn Genie Pick up mower in my backyard under a waterproof tarpaulin.

The sharp long tapered edge of the old style side slicer knives creates lift and as a result the knives become horizontal when the flail mower rotor reaches 2200 rpm plus as the slotted mounting holes allow the knife to slide outward do to the centrifugal force and become airborne even though they are secure in the mounting station as it is a wide loop allowing the knives to become near horizontal due to the long tapered edge of the side slicer knife that is much longer than the current side slicer knives that are available.

If you look at the old gas powered carrier based aircraft they have the folding wings and when you see how they fold out flat you will see what I am describing as these airplane wings look like these flail mower knives when folded out and the tapered side slicer knives are horizontal.

I don't see any 'proof' in your examples. A delta wing aircraft just means a triangular shaped wing as viewed from above, has nothing to do with the leading and trailing edges of the wing that still define an airfoil shape nothing like the angled rise and drop of the side slicer knives. There hasn't been an aircraft that ever got off the ground without an airfoil profile to the wings. The side slicers when just hanging there in a pair are pushing inward against each other as the center of gravity of each knife is outside the mounting point. You would have to overcome that along with high amounts of centrifugal force from spinning a weight at 2000+ rpm. The faster you spin the pair the harder they are going to push against each other due to the center of gravity location. As far as airflow with an angled leading edge and without a proper trailing edge I think it more likely that the force of air cast off the blade actually pushes the knife outward from center, which is also what would be required (pulling air in towards center) to create any lift on the grass. I personally haven't experienced any real suction lift from either of the flails I've run with side slicers, and yes I've run them low and parallel with the ground. I've run the mowers over leaves in my yard hoping the mower would pick them up and mulch them, but they just lay there so there's little to no suction being generated (in my experience). On the other side even if the knife profile did generate a bit of lift on the knife itself, due to being attached to a rotor and pulled in a circular motion, the knife is already being yanked away in the direction the lift would try to move it. In short, this supposed 'airplane effect' where the side slicers move apart from each other just doesn't happen.

 

[def38]

It is doubtful that aeronautical engineers designed mower flails.

 

[leonz]

Hello Dan in Mn.,


The mounting stations on the mathews lawn genies are different in that they are a tool less spring tensioned mounting loop.

My original mathews knives have 2 long tapered trailing knife edges leading to a 1/2" blank end of the side slicer knife. This side slicer knife also has an oval punched mounting hole.

The side slicer pair has enough side movement when combined with the long length of the mounting loop to allow the knives to become an air foil and allow the knife pair to slice the grass at a level cutting edge.

 

[whirly]

It is doubtful that aeronautical engineers designed mower flails.

No but fluid dynamics is a big part of how they work.