Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

Great roller straightening rig! A picture definitely worth a thousand words.

 

[sgtboz]

Hat tip to my fellow Okie in Catoosie. That straightening rig is ingenious!

 

[powerscol]

First time poster and new member of the nation here, I've read parts of this thread as I researched different types of mowers over the past couple of months, just finally settled on a flail for sure. Wanted a Caroni TM1900, but with $390 for shipping I didn't want to spend that much total ($2300). Ordered a Value Leader EFG-175 yesterday, Betst has too many in stock and they are actually cheaper than the EF-175 right now with heavier bearings and more volume. Came to about $1620 with liftgate delivery and $100 extra for 2 more years of warranty. Should be here early next week, can't wait! My questions are more about my tractor as it's my first and I haven't hooked anything to it yet. I bought a '53 Ford Golden Jubilee and I've been learning all I can about the pto, clutch, hydraulics, etc.. Since I have 3 pt. hydraulics with no down pressure, once I put the mower on the ground I'm thinking it will pretty much follow ground contours up or down? I'll have a lot of fairly flat areas, but there are a couple of ditches and septic mounds where I think if I back up and set the mower down either at the road edge or top of mound and drive forward it will hopefully just follow the curve of the ground. That sound right? The learning curve will ramp up sharply next week, but if anyone has any info or advice it would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

Thanks,
Dan

Dan
Can you please take close up photos of the units construction when you get it and let us know on the performance. I was looking at their units too, but was concerned on the Chinese quality. I was looking at this one http://www.value-leader.com/65-ditch-bank-flail-mower-w-hammers-installed-agl165/
Thanks

 

[LouieJunior]

Also new kid here, actually old geezer but what the heck.

Welcome to the forum - more proof that one mans trash is another mans treasure.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Well I finally have a bit of good news on my project mower. I made sure all the bolts were tight that I had replaced and done a few more weld repairs yesterday along with changing out the gear box oil.

I had cut a little area with my rotary mower a few days ago and there was some places where the grass had stood back up and of course the windrows from the brush hog. I absolutely can't stand those windrows.

I thought I would hook up the flail and take it for a test run. I hooked it to the draw bar on the lift arms and checked the height of the cutters on the concrete. Went to the cut area and was pleasantly surprised at how smooth it ran. There still may be a slight vibration but it is much much better than before. It sure took care of the grass standing up and the windrows. I am still pondering adding the balancing beads to see how that works.

I am mostly going to use this machine for seeding food plots into killed grass or cover crops and I think it is going to do an excellent job. The even distribution of the clippings is what I'm after for a mulching effect. It will get tested on that in the next week or so.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ozarks, my Caroni vibrates and
Makes a racket so it's not like flail mowers are supposed to behave like sewing machines. They vibrate more than finish mowers because they have more rotating mass. I'm used to normal vibrations and can tell when I lose a couple of knife sets because the vibration changes.

 

[Steave]

Ozarks, Glad you got your mower going I sure do like the cut quality of mine and sounds like you can see the difference too. It's slower operating than my rotary cutter or finish mower but I feel as you do about those wind rows, hate them. With the wind rows it's looks better before I cut but with the flail it's looking better everytime I cut. The old field roads are starting to look like runways almost.:thumbsup:

 

[Dan in MN]

Dan
Can you please take close up photos of the units construction when you get it and let us know on the performance. I was looking at their units too, but was concerned on the Chinese quality. I was looking at this one
Thanks

Will do. I was more concerned early on, but found enough info to not really be worried about it. Betst stocks repair parts, and as long as they stand behind the warranty it comes with 2 years and for $100 you can add 2 more years. Delivery is scheduled for Tuesday. :thumbsup:

 

[Jack Yuan]

I've called the driveline shops here and they say they don''t have a balancer big enough.

I have a question, how much RPM when their balancer test rotor shaft? Same 2200RPM as working mower? Or less?

 

[Jack Yuan]

Well I could make it move with a small amount of weight. I cut all the weights off that looked like they were not factory to get it ready for the dynamic balancing I thought I was going to get. I imagine most of my problem was the wrong bearing. It was letting the shaft get up into the shroud even.

I put the new bearings on and installed the shaft today. I couldn't turn the rotor as one of the grass guards was bent and dragging on the rotor. I will work on that tomorrow sometime. I called all over today looking for someone to balance it with no luck. I'm going to start trying to static balance it and see how close I can get.

To be honest, the static balancing which you are doing is totally unacceptable for industry. This way cannot check out many other issues which will affect rotor shaft balance, like hammer bracket condition, aligned holes for the bolts on hammer bracket, weight and centrifugal force difference of hammers, etc.