Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[thoner7]

Anything over 40 PTO HP should be enough to run that 88".

In what kind of grass tho? Thick 16" grass?? Tall weeds??

I believe my current tractor is 38 horse at the PTO. I don't believe that 10% more would be enough.

 

[thoner7]

Do Y blade use less power than the airplane wings??

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

In what kind of grass tho? Thick 16" grass?? Tall weeds??

I believe my current tractor is 38 horse at the PTO. I don't believe that 10% more would be enough.

I was running a 40HP tractor on 62" Ford 917 through 3 foot tall grass and it ran fine without bogging down. I run my 88" on 52 PTO HP and I don't bog down at all in 3 foot tall grass. I also have fresh blades on it. I run slower in the tall stuff anyway so I don't run over any surprises and so everything gets well cut.

The only TO-20 tractor I know of is the old Ferguson ( TractorData.com Ferguson TO-2 tractor information ). That shows 20-25 HP.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

Do Y blade use less power than the airplane wings??

Y blades I think use less power. Lighter weight blades will use less power than heavier blades. So if you replace all your airplane wings with Y blades go with the standard or heavy duty blades instead of the extreme duty blades from Flailmaster. I use their FM-7 blades.

 

[thoner7]

I was running a 40HP tractor on 62" Ford 917 through 3 foot tall grass and it ran fine without bogging down. I run my 88" on 52 PTO HP and I don't bog down at all in 3 foot tall grass. I also have fresh blades on it. I run slower in the tall stuff anyway so I don't run over any surprises and so everything gets well cut.

The only TO-20 tractor I know of is the old Ferguson ( TractorData.com Ferguson TO-2 tractor information ). That shows 20-25 HP.

How slow do you run in tall grass?

 

[Fallon]

Y blades I think use less power. Lighter weight blades will use less power than heavier blades. So if you replace all your airplane wings with Y blades go with the standard or heavy duty blades instead of the extreme duty blades from Flailmaster. I use their FM-7 blades.

All things being equal heavier blades shouldn't take much if any more power to get keep spinning, but would take more power to spin up. The larger frontal surface area of duckfoots & hammers compared to Ys would tap a bit more HP to combat the aerodynamic drag though. Personally I didnt notice any huge difference between my old 917 with Ys & the new Peruzzo with hammers. Well at least in any big HP related ways on a quick back to back comparison on minimal dead grass in the middle of winter a few years back when I upgraded.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

How slow do you run in tall grass?

I have hydrostatic so I don't know an exact speed, but I'd guess it to be around 3 mph. I'll have to get a GPS speedometer app to check next time. In short grass I run probably 5 mph, only limited by the rough terrain.

All things being equal heavier blades shouldn't take much if any more power to get keep spinning, but would take more power to spin up. The larger frontal surface area of duckfoots & hammers compared to Ys would tap a bit more HP to combat the aerodynamic drag though. Personally I didnt notice any huge difference between my old 917 with Ys & the new Peruzzo with hammers. Well at least in any big HP related ways on a quick back to back comparison on minimal dead grass in the middle of winter a few years back when I upgraded.

When the heavier blades make contact with something and slow down a little it takes more to ramp the speed back up again. There's where the extra draw comes from.

 

[jthibodeau89]

The right way is to have the mower in front of the tractor.

Please ID this tractor. Love it....

 

[CADplans]

The right way is to have the mower in front of the tractor.

That is the right way,,, if you like the taste of bugs and dust,,, IMHO,,,

 

[AGTtactical]

The right way is to have the mower in front of the tractor.

BS...not a big enough difference to matter. 99% of the mowers out there are on the rear, and they all do a more than adequate job. Its also much easier to damage a mower from a lowing lying stump or rock with a mower mounted in front...its just simply too hard to see what's lying in the brush. A tractor with a rear mounted mower will pass over an obstruction harmlessly, pushing aside the brush so you can see the obstruction before impacting the mower. You often feel such obstructions as the wheels roll over them too. And a good brush guard will protect the front of the tractor from harm...while its nearly impossible to do so with a mower lying on the ground in front. And, how much damage does a tractor with a front mounted mower take from things getting shot out the rear? It happens...

 

[AGTtactical]

That is the right way,,, if you like the taste of bugs and dust,,, IMHO,,,

Good point...I can't imagine how bad that would be. I wear googles when mowing during dry days because it gets so bad when the wind is blowing dust forward from behind the tractor. Driving into it all the time would be murderous.

 

[leonz]

Front mounted flail mowers are a very large part of the mower market in the European Union where many 4 wheel drive
articulating tractors are four wheel drive and have both the front and rear three point hitches as a matter of machine design
for more utility in orchards and vineyards on steep slopes.

The front mounted flail mowers are typically set up with a three stub PTO shaft gearbox to allow the user to simply move the
three point hitch to the opposite side of the mower to allow the mower to be used in the front of the machine.

In this instance the flail mower has the rear roller in the front of the mower rather than in the rear. The flail mower discharges the grass clippings and brush forward over the rear roller. It is exactly the same direction that it would discharge the clippings if it was mounted on the rear of the mule.

Its been a while since I checked the market in Europe for tractors but the brands I remember are, Ferrari, Lombardini, Lamborgini, and Fiat.
I know the Ferrari's are still made and there is at least one more brand that I cannot remember the name of right off hand but the Ferrari importer in California carries that brand.

 

[jthibodeau89]

Owner is reclaiming the hill pasture adjacent to me with a forestry chipper mounted to the front of a tracked compact loader. Basically a flail mower on steroids. I had never seen a front mounted flail until today. It might be useful on my hill farm.

 

[AGTtactical]

Owner is reclaiming the hill pasture adjacent to me with a forestry chipper mounted to the front of a tracked compact loader. Basically a flail mower on steroids. I had never seen a front mounted flail until today. It might be useful on my hill farm.

I'm doing the same. I have a JD MH60 mounted on my high flow Kubota SVL-95.

I run the mulcher through everything before the first mowing (new property), before bringing my mower out. We logged some areas (thinned) two years ago, so lots of hidden stumps. Mulcher will grind a 12" two year old pine stump gone in about 5 seconds. Levels everything nicely, and wipes out anything which could be hazardous to my tractor or FM2572 Flail with hammers. But, the hammers on the flail are pretty tough in their own right. If you have lots of trees, a flail with hammers is really nice to have. I really thought hard about the hammer vs. other types of tools. Very happy with the hammers...really nice on mulching up sticks and branches.

 

[Xfaxman]

Owner is reclaiming the hill pasture adjacent to me with a forestry chipper mounted to the front of a tracked compact loader. Basically a flail mower on steroids. I had never seen a front mounted flail until today. It might be useful on my hill farm.

Here is my 5' front mount flail:

It goes on the TORO in place of the 6' rotary deck:

Or the smaller 54" rotary deck:

 

[lostcreekranch]

One of my neighbors has a land clearing business and has been nice enough to grind down a few stumps for me .... gratis.

 

[AGTtactical]

That's the same mulcher I have.

 

[leonz]

I do not think that my expressing an opinion or offering my 40+ years of experience with flail mowers in operating and maintaining them is of little use of little benefit to anyone that asks about them.

The simple fact that I own a smaller flail mower now compared to the JD25A that I used at my fathers place is of no consequence as the principles of operation for any flail mower are the same; no matter whether it is a forestry mower with conical knives or simple bolted carbide teeth mounted on the rotor knife mount or what the rated gearbox horsepower, blade type, hydraulic or belt drive, front or rear mount, width of flail mower, whether its a flail crop harvester with a cross auger to convey the clippings to the internal blower that fills the silage wagon, its useable cutting height or whether it is a orchard and vineyard shredder used to clean orchard rows of limbs and pruning debris or vineyard pruning's or whether it is used to mow down corn stubble, sugar cane stubble, cotton stubble, sugar beet tops prior to harvest, pineapple slash after harvest and many other crops.

I am fortunate to have friends here on the forum to whom I offered advice and have taken my advice and had wonderful results with their purchase and use of a flail mower and I have given anyone who asks advice and help with their flail mowers when they need it to help with a repair or tracking down the correct V belt or any other parts.

It is truly my loss if you feel that I know nothing about flail mowers, simply because the operating principal of the smallest 24 inch push flail mower, the 48 inch Caroni flail mower or the largest 20 foot cut Hiniker flail crop shredder or a hydraulic track driven self propelled Fecon Forestry Mulcher are still the same almost 60 years later after Mr. Mott patented his first flail mower.

 

[bruceha2000]

Agreed D2Cat.

 

[dieselscout80]

I would like to try a front mounted flail mower, that way all the grass is standing when the mower knives engage the grass.

I d dislike it when the pressed down grass from the tires springs up a day later after cutting.