Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

Haven't read the whole thread guessing been almost a year since I checked in. What are you guys calling "Hammer blades" I have two John Deere 25A's one with ducks foot and one with Y blades but first I heard of hammer blades. I don't see allot of difference between them, both leave a strip of grass where the wheel mashes it down. Been so wet this year I have only been able to mow once, after it dry's out I'll have a better chance of seeing how the Y blades do.

Hammers are basically 5lbs cast steel duck foot blades. Same basic shape as the duck foot blades but WAY heavier. The extra weight makes them stronger & smashes heavier thicker woody material better. Light knives bounce at some point when encountering heavy material. Heavy hammers will bounce way later on heavy material.

 

[Boxman]

Hammers are basically 5lbs cast steel duck foot blades. Same basic shape as the duck foot blades but WAY heavier. The extra weight makes them stronger & smashes heavier thicker woody material better. Light knives bounce at some point when encountering heavy material. Heavy hammers will bounce way later on heavy material.

Hammers are 800g or approx. 1.5lbs for the typical chinese flail mower.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Mine for the Van Wamel "Perfect Ditch Mower" are more than five pounds.

 

[bruceha2000]

I have a FM62H. Got it late last summer. It cuts my 3 acres of field very well. I have Y blades. It does not cut as well as my lawnmower. But is good enough for field cutting. If I had it to do over again I would have gotten the FM78. This will give me the offset without needing hydraulics and a wider cut.
I just received a set of hammer blades. Will see what cut looks like when I get them changed this week.
I had been cutting field with a JD rotary cutter for years. Took over 3 hours. Flail cut that time in half.
Only problems I had was paint scratched off and nicks in guide bar from PTO clutch not being properly covered for shipping. Service sent me a can of paint to fix paint. I cleaned up nicks in guide bars. My call to service was if they approved my plan to remove nicks.
I do not use my SpeeCo Quick Hitch. Have a concrete floored barn. Used metal frame that mower was shipped in. Added caster wheels to make a dolly out of it.
I have a WM8H Chipper from them also. It's quality has been good also.

You are a good 8 HP shy on PTO HP for the 78. The sales guy said my just shy of 25 HP wouldn't be sufficient. I offered slower mowing to compensate, he was adamant.
Since I wasn't able to get one last last fall (first on the waitlist) I got one this March. The vertical distance between the top and bottom pins is ~ 19" when it should be 15" therefore while advertised as Cat I QH compatible it is not. Is yours the same or did they do some redesign and screw it up? Presumably a redesigned arch will be coming my way soon so I can use the mower. Can't use it with the QH and I don't think I could attach it to the tractor without extendable bottom links which I do not have. I will find something good to do with that shipping "crate", very sturdy. It would be nice if I had your concrete floor and could do the caster wheels mod, I bet that makes things pretty easy.

 

[ronjhall]

You are a good 8 HP shy on PTO HP for the 78. The sales guy said my just shy of 25 HP wouldn't be sufficient. I offered slower mowing to compensate, he was adamant.
Since I wasn't able to get one last last fall (first on the waitlist) I got one this March. The vertical distance between the top and bottom pins is ~ 19" when it should be 15" therefore while advertised as Cat I QH compatible it is not. Is yours the same or did they do some redesign and screw it up? Presumably a redesigned arch will be coming my way soon so I can use the mower. Can't use it with the QH and I don't think I could attach it to the tractor without extendable bottom links which I do not have. I will find something good to do with that shipping "crate", very sturdy. It would be nice if I had your concrete floor and could do the caster wheels mod, I bet that makes things pretty easy.

I put a set of hammer blades on my 62" last week. It sure made a difference in power needed to cut my fields. No way could I run a 78" with hammer blades.
I have not modified anything on my flail mower to get hitch to work. I do have a top link that is only used on flail mower. I have marked on it the dimension to extended it to get proper height setting with roller on ground.
I find the hammer blades chop the cuttings up more than the Y blades.
My Speeco quick hitch has adjustments for top link from 15" to almost 19".
SpeeCo Products

 

[bruceha2000]

Interesting that the SpeeCo has that much range, it means it has Cat 1 or 2 pin size brackets but Cat 1/2 and 3 vertical spacing. Definitely makes it more versatile. Do you have the top hook in the top 2 holes? That is what I would need to add to use my HF QH to work with the arch on the 62H I received. Did you have to remove the hoses and run them through holes in the arch then reattach? I just looked at the website and it shows that as being necessary for 2018 and before as well as 2019 models but the arch that came with mine has an oval slot that the hoses were already run through, not two holes. The instructions also mention what size wrenches are needed and far as I can tell that applies only to the gearbox, totally different size wrenches needed to mount the arch to the mower.

I got the Y blades because that is what the sales guy recommended when I told him what I would be mowing. Looks like ~ $200 to get the hammers, though given I'm just mowing weeds in a 4 acre field, I don't suppose I'm going to care too much how smooth the cut is. I've had it cut by a farmer neighbor with a 6' sickle bar mower for several years (before I had a tractor) which left everything just laid down. How ever the knives on the 62H cut, it will be far better than that.

 

[ronjhall]

I installed everything as WoodMaxx had in their manual.

Reading up on 3PH dimension my SpeeCo quick hitch fits in to Cat 1 dimensions. I do not use my quick hitch on 3ph. I modified it to be used on FEL. I use it when BH is on tractor. Most often with landscape rake.

 

[dnw64]

Well, as Leonz says, I am joining the Flail Nation. Ordered a Caroni 1900 today.

Sold my 5' finish mower with my GC2300 and needed a new mower. Figure that my lack of real rotary cutter needs will allow me to also sell my 5' brush hog and do it all with one implement. Supposed to be here next Wednesday, which is really good, as I have not mowed my field at all this year (mostly due to being gone the last 4 weeks...) so am looking forward to spending next Saturday converting rain-fed grass to mulch.

 

[Molalla1]

Well, as Leonz says, I am joining the Flail Nation. Ordered a Caroni 1900 today.

Sold my 5' finish mower with my GC2300 and needed a new mower. Figure that my lack of real rotary cutter needs will allow me to also sell my 5' brush hog and do it all with one implement. Supposed to be here next Wednesday, which is really good, as I have not mowed my field at all this year (mostly due to being gone the last 4 weeks...) so am looking forward to spending next Saturday converting rain-fed grass to mulch.

:thumbsup: . . . good dnw64 . . . did the same many years ago but saved my brush hog for the more "wild" areas around here.

 

[metalbender]

Personally I wouldn’t dump the bush hog. Use it for rough cut areas. Both types have their place.

 

[dnw64]

I don't think I have any really rough areas that I will want to cut, but I may hold onto the brush hog for a year or so in case I do. Really the only thing I can think of is some trails in my 30 acres of managed forest, but they are in pretty decent shape now so as long as I keep after them once a year or so I think I should be ok with the flail.

 

[hunt4570]

I agree with the others, keep the brush hog, I did not and every once in a while sure wish I had it. You will like the 1900, had mine about 4 years now and it works well... don't forget the grease zerks !

 

[ronjhall]

I don't think I have any really rough areas that I will want to cut, but I may hold onto the brush hog for a year or so in case I do. Really the only thing I can think of is some trails in my 30 acres of managed forest, but they are in pretty decent shape now so as long as I keep after them once a year or so I think I should be ok with the flail.

Sold my rotary cutter a month ago. Now the flail mower sets in area it was stored.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

New tractor, new flail mower. I sold my 5' Ford 917 to upgrade (new tractor is a foot wider then the old tractor) and found a Alamo SHD88. I have new blades on the way from Flailmaster and I will be up and running by the end of the week. This mower was a former Illinois Tollway unit. It's beat up, but seems like it was fully maintained. All the bearings are tight and there's no play in the gear box. The housing has several dents in it, but no holes. The roller is also dented up, but still rolls straight.

 

[troverman]

What are you pulling the new mower with for a tractor?

 

[mred2]

I ordered new hammer blades for my mower. Working the past weekend, I went over an area that had not been cut. A lot I had rented to someone a few years ago. Someone had set up a flower bed with large rocks around it. Grass about 4 four high. By the time I raised the mower and killed the pto the blades were done for. I am not even sure that they can be sharped. Most have a lot of metal gone. Maybe I need to mow with the bush hog first and clean some of the area up. These rocks were about a foot across.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

That's where the Y shaped blades are nice. They just bounce off of rocks. I've hit several rocks with my 917 with the Y blades and the blades were still in good shape when I sold the mower. If you're not doing woody brush I recommend the Y blades or the scoops. If you need to do woody brush or anything over an inch diameter then definitely the hammers are the right blades.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

What are you pulling the new mower with for a tractor?

MF 2706E. 57 HP on the engine, 46 HP at the PTO (not sure why such a drop in the HP between there...). The tractor didn't grunt at all when I did some mowing with the dull blades through tall grass.

 

[sodamo]

I installed everything as WoodMaxx had in their manual.
View attachment 609301
Reading up on 3PH dimension my SpeeCo quick hitch fits in to Cat 1 dimensions. I do not use my quick hitch on 3ph. I modified it to be used on FEL. I use it when BH is on tractor. Most often with landscape rake.

I did that as well. Mostly to mount the 3 point boom pole w/ extension when we were building the house. Hitch didn’t weather well so I’d like to remove from quick attach plate and remount a new hitch. Found the landscape rake quite useful mounted in place of FEL

 

[ronjhall]

I did that as well. Mostly to mount the 3 point boom pole w/ extension when we were building the house. Hitch didn’t weather well so I’d like to remove from quick attach plate and remount a new hitch. Found the landscape rake quite useful mounted in place of FEL
View attachment 609696
View attachment 609697

I have boom pole also that with fit quick hitch. Will reach almost 15'.