Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[AlanB]

I wrapped this canary reed grass around mine, stopped it cold. Anybody have a technique for 6' tall grass??

Bush hog?

Sorry, could not resist.

 

[Builder]

I wrapped this canary reed grass around mine, stopped it cold. Anybody have a technique for 6' tall grass??

Bigger tractor-more PTO HP

 

[davitk]

Smart axes I was wondering whether hammer type blades (vs Y) would be helpful?

 

[allen in texas]

How fast were you moving?
What RPM were you turning?

Move slow and spin the RPM up.

Other'n that, I got nothin'

Closest I have here like that grass is Johnson grass, It'll get 6 ft but I eat it up like nobodys business.

 

[davitk]

How fast were you moving?
What RPM were you turning?

Move slow and spin the RPM up.

Other'n that, I got nothin'

Closest I have here like that grass is Johnson grass, It'll get 6 ft but I eat it up like nobodys business.

This is the material that ate up my first set of belts. So, this was my first run with the new belts, snugged up tight, spent about an hour mowing knee high stuff, no problems and the belts stayed cool. I then move to the tall stuff, raised the mower so the rear roller was about 2" off the ground, went to crawl speed (low turtle to allen in texas ) but soon after I hit this (hasn't been mowed yet this year as it is a vernal wetland and finally dried out due to our "wet" spring), in just a matter of moments the cutter shaft bearing began to smoke so I pulled up to the shop and cooled it with the air hose (no damage to the belts but the grease continued to smoke.

I pulled the bearings from the cutter shaft cleaned them up, lubed and retorqued everything; later that afternoon went back to the knee high stuff and the machine worked fine.

Although it desperately needs mowing, I'm scared too go out in that field again w/o sound tecnique Wish me luck

 

[texbaylea]

You may have to wait until it goes dormant and dries out. It should be more brittle then allowing the flail to knock it apart.

It is a very slow process but you might try backing into it 2"-4" feet then cutting forward. I use this for tall but light brush.

Vernon

 

[Nuru]

I wrapped this canary reed grass around mine, stopped it cold. Anybody have a technique for 6' tall grass??

Going slow, or bush hog 'em first!

 

[Silver_Knight]

This thread just cost me a total of $2,267.90. TM1900 and a 2000lbs boom from Agri-supply.

 

[sunspot]

Welcome to the Caroni club.

 

[IslandTractor]

This thread just cost me a total of $2,267.90. TM1900 and a 2000lbs boom from Agri-supply.

Welcome aboard. We forgot to tell you that you have to eat spaghetti each time you mow.

"Everything I am I owe to spaghetti" --Sophia Loren

 

[Silver_Knight]

ooh, I love spaghetti!

 

[slaveToHorses]

Would one of this thingies work on Ivy?
or would it end up looking like Davitk's broom?
I have enough Ivy around here to pass for a college.

 

[IslandTractor]

Would one of this thingies work on Ivy?
or would it end up looking like Davitk's broom?
I have enough Ivy around here to pass for a college.

It goes through briar and creeping vines like a hot knife through butter. I cannot imagine how ivy would give it any problem.

 

[IslandTractor]

ooh, I love spaghetti!

Just watch your bust size. What works for Sophia might not work so well on the rest of us.

 

[Brahmus]

Finally, it only took me a week to make it through this thread. I'm looking for a cutter for my Kubota L4240. I used my fathers 72" Bush Hog this weekend but I really like the idea of the Flail if I can do both brush cutting and lawn cutting. I haven't seen a sound "Yes, with this hammer/knife you will get an excellent lawn and still beable to cut pasture etc." We don't have alot of woods or super overgrown around down here. Most of what we use a bush hog for would be pasture or fields. The stuff I cut this weekend was some of the thickest I've dealt with in a while and was near 18" tall. The Bush Hog was working hard and the tractor was creeping. I left lots of balls of grass clippings that I'm thinking the flail would help eliminate while speeding up the process. I have my fingers crossed that one of you guys can tell me I can buy a flail instead of a finishing mower and a Rotary cutter.

It obviously works tell in the tall, overgrown stuff but has anyone perfected the lawn cutting? I don't have rocks here and I don't need a golf course. Does the Caroni offer forged hammers that were just spoken about leaving a cleaner lawn vs. the y type knife?

 

[IslandTractor]

The Caroni TM1900, as imported by AgriSupply in the US, does not come with hammers, only the double knife set up (two Y knifes back to back on each shackle). I believe Caroni does make that model with hammers but it is not imported here.

I use the TM1900 for much the same purpose you are describing but with an emphasis on pasture and brush and less concern about lawn. It does a fine job with the pasture and brush. I would hesitate to make a strong statement about lawn as I just don't really look that critically at the "lawn" cut. It can cut very low and pretty clean without any clumping etc but I haven't got grass that is dense like a manicured suburban lawn.

 

[kthompson]

I wrapped this canary reed grass around mine, stopped it cold. Anybody have a technique for 6' tall grass??

If you have one you can reverse the rotation of the rotor of it often will unwind such itself. Realize that PTO models have no such option. It does puzzle me that some brands who make the hyd models especially on booms will tell you the need for a certain direction of rotation for such as brush or grass and then on the pto models it seems they don't hold the same concern.

Looking at the cable that was picked up by someone else the thought was back in my mind, what would happen if the cable were across the tractor, how much damage might the driver suffer? This is true with a rotary cutter also.

I purchased one the Caroni flail mowers for lawn use, DID NOT like the Y blades finish at all. Agri Supply does have one model that has different blades or hammers on it. If the details are anywhere on a web site I have failed to find it. Does anyone have a web site for Caroni fail mowers with real details? kt

 

[Brahmus]

The Caroni TM1900, as imported by AgriSupply in the US, does not come with hammers, only the double knife set up (two Y knifes back to back on each shackle). I believe Caroni does make that model with hammers but it is not imported here.

I use the TM1900 for much the same purpose you are describing but with an emphasis on pasture and brush and less concern about lawn. It does a fine job with the pasture and brush. I would hesitate to make a strong statement about lawn as I just don't really look that critically at the "lawn" cut. It can cut very low and pretty clean without any clumping etc but I haven't got grass that is dense like a manicured suburban lawn.

Do ONLY Caroni knives and hammers fit or can you use "aftermarket" or other brands if Caroni doesn't offer them? I think if I'd swap out the Y knives I'd get a cleaner cut?

And I'm not real worried about a golf type lawn, our grass grows so fast and thick down here the in 2 days you can't tell it was cut anyway. Just trying to get a good sense of function.

 

[Brahmus]

So the Caroni "Y" types are good all around but not perfect on the lawns though it might be possible for a knife/hammer change to fix this. What about the BETST? What's the final verdict on this unit for lawn?

Anyone have more lawn pics with their flails?

 

[IslandTractor]

Do ONLY Caroni knives and hammers fit or can you use "aftermarket" or other brands if Caroni doesn't offer them? I think if I'd swap out the Y knives I'd get a cleaner cut?

And I'm not real worried about a golf type lawn, our grass grows so fast and thick down here the in 2 days you can't tell it was cut anyway. Just trying to get a good sense of function.

The knives/hammers are held on by pretty standard shackles so I'm sure other brand hammers would fit. The issue is more the dynamic balance and how that would be affected. I have no experience to relay on that topic. I don't think Caroni has a hammer model.

Caroni does have a website that shows the different types of knives. Caroni S.p.a.

It looks to me like you might be interested in the FTM1900FSC model which has 112 knives instead of 56 on the model that Agrisupply imports. That would require a different rotor so it is not a feasible owner post market adjustment but you might be able to get one via Agrisupply when they order a new batch. I'd guess that model would do a finer job of cutting lawns but would probably bog down earlier in the field or with brush. It also doesn't have shackles holding the knives so there would be less protection against hard objects as one might encounter clearing brush. Life is a series of compromises.