Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[milesvdustin]

I am going to look at that alamo one with the rear wheels on Friday. Does it really need the rear roller if in fact its missing? Also, what are some must-check items before I make an offer on it or go through with the purchase? Just want to make sure there arent any show stoppers.

 

[kenmbz]

Looking at the Betstco 48" heavy duty flail with hammers.
Any opinions?

Would be doing trail clearing post tree/large brush knockdown and my 8 or so lawn areas. Maybe an acre of grass.
Would like reasonable cut, don't need golf course quality.

Lawn tractor is falling apart, main tractor has a bit less than 20 PTO HP on a 25 HP engine, HST.
Have 5 acres forest and 1 acre open with house.

 

[arto98607]

I am going to look at that alamo one with the rear wheels on Friday. Does it really need the rear roller if in fact its missing? Also, what are some must-check items before I make an offer on it or go through with the purchase? Just want to make sure there arent any show stoppers.

The roller keeps the flails from "scalping" the ground in uneven areas, I don't think a flail mower needs it otherwise so the two wheels should be fine on reasonably leveled ground.
The roller also makes mowing in reverse almost useless so it should work little better in reverse direction without it, which is not a big deal.

 

[Hofzer]

My tractor is 66 inches wide, but only 28hp at the PTO

FWIW, my tractor is also 28hp at the PTO and, so far, has had no trouble with a 74" Ford 917, with a fixed offset. I agree 100% with Alien's post above.

 

[Kevrobster]

Does anyone know anything about this model of flail mower? Never seen one by Woods. Are they any good? Any thoughts on what it should be worth? It's a 6' model.

 

[nmz787]

new 48" Titan ATV flail mower for $2700, or used 44" Swisher rough cut bush hog for $1200?

I've got slopes, some grass, blackberries, probably some 1-2" woody weeds, maybe old tree limbs and some rocks.

Looking for the ATV towable for now because I've already got the ATV, and am only a week in to owning acreage and haven't found what I want and a good deal to match yet on something larger.

 

[DieselBound]

I'm looking at flail mowers. My tractor is 66 inches wide, but only 28hp at the PTO, so a bit underpowered to run a flail wider than the tracks. I was looking at hydraulic adjustable offset so I could push it out past the wheels on one side for edges, fence line and around trees and stuff. This vs just having a fixed position that's maybe not centered but sticks out on one side a bit. I guess I'm asking those that have hydraulic offsets how often do you actually need it? Or those that don't, how often do you wish you did?

I've got a little less than 20 hrs on my new flail with side-shift (Nova Tractors MXZ220). ZERO chance I could run a flail without that feature: it's why it took me many years to make a decision on getting a flail (I won't go into all the details other than to say that I put a LOT of time into research, something I always do, and the result is that I got EXACTLY what I was after).

I've got trees, lots of trees to work around: sometimes the trees are such that I have to center the flail, back in, then pull ahead and cut; fixed offset would NOT work. I have ditches. And fences... I can run along with the flail shifted hard to the fence and then feather it away as I come to the fence posts. Oh, and I can center the flail and pull it into my work bay (still attached to the tractor!). I use the side-shift CONSTANTLY.

I'm running a flail that's spec'd for 60hp (to 90hp?) on my 55hp Kioti. Does it push my Kioti? Yes! Tractor is 67" wide and the flail's 86" wide (and 1,200 lbs). After operating it it's exactly as I figured. I figured I could overcome the 5hp deficiency by going slower. Reality is, with all my trees and such, I can't go fast anyways! If my ground was more even and there were less trees I'd likely have made a different decision.

WHAT you're cutting matters, a LOT. I'd in no way try to run my Kioti and its flail at my neighbor's, where there's this really nasty, thick grass that's like trying to cut huge clumps of steel wool! I've cut 10'+ grass at my place and that's easier to cut than that neighbor's stuff! I've also got plenty of wood debris, in which case I opted for a flail with hammers instead of knives: I'm amazed that I haven't broken any hammers; something that makes me feel even better about my selection because I believe that the flail will hold up just fine for me. I suspect the cutters are also going to make a difference in power requirements.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Would you folks pay 3k for a nice Alamo SH96? Would this flail be useful for brush mowing and trail cutting in woods?

Tractor is a Kubota m5-111

 

[Rebeldad1]

i doubt a 96" offset flail mower would make a good trail mower. unless it was a road.

 

[Fallon]

Would you folks pay 3k for a nice Alamo SH96? Would this flail be useful for brush mowing and trail cutting in woods?

Tractor is a Kubota m5-111

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Side slicer knives are light & good for grass. For brush you need heavy hammers. My old 917 with side slicers stopped doing much but stripping bark on woddy things much bigger than finger sized. Compare those light knives to the 5lbs hammers on my machine.

I spent 5.5 hours yesterday with my Peruzzo Brush Bull. Never hit a blade of grass, just wrist sized scrub oak. Property owners were ecstatic at the reclaimed land & how well it mulched. Scope kept changing as they saw how fast & well it was cutting. But it is an hourly job so no problem with logging more hours. Will grab photos tomorow.

 

[milesvdustin]

Went and looked at the one with tail wheels today. Rear roller is missing and there was a lot of glob welds patching things back up. The side slicer knives were very badly worn to where the little angled part was almost worn away entirely. And the input seal on the gearbox was leaking. The blade rotor was deeply rust pitted. I passed on it.

 

[arto98607]

Would you folks pay 3k for a nice Alamo SH96? Would this flail be useful for brush mowing and trail cutting in woods?

Tractor is a Kubota m5-111

It's 2 - 3 feet too wide for "trail cutting in woods" I think.

If I was trying to buy it I would want to negotiate the price down due to PTO shaft needing repairs (shield missing) and a complete set of flails to replace the worn ones.

Yes I know the flails can still be used some as is and the PTO shaft can also be used as is...

 

[leonz]

No, you do not need the rear roller you will be fine without it.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

It's 2 - 3 feet too wide for "trail cutting in woods" I think.

If I was trying to buy it I would want to negotiate the price down due to PTO shaft needing repairs (shield missing) and a complete set of flails to replace the worn ones.

Yes I know the flails can still be used some as is and the PTO shaft can also be used as is...


View attachment 698680

I think I need a hammer knife flail for what I'm needing. I'd prefer a flail at least 84" to match my front bucket width but it's not a sticking point.

There's also a rough looking seppi smo 225 within a few hours drive for $2400 and I think maybe a Deere 25a looks like new for $2k a few hours away.

 

[leonz]

Yes and with a 100 horse power mule you should have no issues with
mowing with that flail mower.
Your just going to have to be more aware of your mowing area.


If by trail cutting are you referring to knocking down thick brush
or saplings along with old growth brush?

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Hoping to knock down the 2" and under stuff with.the fel then run it over with the flail lol. I've seen videos of some serious brush cutting power with these. Anything bigger I'll remove ahead of time

 

[dieselscout80]

milesvdustin, that is an Alamo flail mower.

 

[MoMower]

Looking at the Betstco 48" heavy duty flail with hammers.
Any opinions?

Would be doing trail clearing post tree/large brush knockdown and my 8 or so lawn areas. Maybe an acre of grass.
Would like reasonable cut, don't need golf course quality.

Lawn tractor is falling apart, main tractor has a bit less than 20 PTO HP on a 25 HP engine, HST.
Have 5 acres forest and 1 acre open with house.

I just ordered one, should be here tomorrow, I’ll let you know!

 

[milesvdustin]

milesvdustin, that is an Alamo flail mower.

Yep but it was rougher than I expected or wanted to mess with. There are quite a few Alamo 88" mowers I found but they are all 5 hours away

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

I think I might hold off on buying a used flail up here in New England everybody wants top dollar for basically what looks like junk. I'm even seeing Chinese imports like sundown units where people are asking more money than what the brand new unit cost delivered to your house.

I think now I'm going to look at WoodMaxx vs betstco with hammer knives as big as I can get and something in the 84 to 96-in range. An 84-in unit will be cheaper and just be as wide as my tractor.