Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[jthibodeau89]

The wildlife love it when I mow. Plovers, magpies, grass parrots and quail all follow my mowed areas. Must be lots of bugs to gobble up.

We have a couple red tailed hawks that watch the mowed area for field rats or other rodents or snakes.

 

[JWR]

Hmmmmmmmmmmm,, how about some Country "Engineering"??
Why not treat those new flails sorta like a rotary lawnmower blade,,,
if the new ones are a little too heavy,, "adjust" the weight with your angle grinder.
Pick a spot that is not too functional, and grind away the excess weight.

All's well that balances well!!

... and a year from now when ONE of the paired hammers you put on that matches none of the rest on the mower gets busted or replaced and then again later another and very quickly you do not know which is which and you cannot find the different weight culprit. I hope it shakes your teeth out. And it will.

There is ingenious country engineering and then there is short sighted admiration for what should be a very short term fix.

 

[CADplans]

... which is which and you cannot find the different weight culprit. I hope it shakes your teeth out. And it will.

Why not let us know what you really think??

 

[Fallon]

... and a year from now when ONE of the paired hammers you put on that matches none of the rest on the mower gets busted or replaced and then again later another and very quickly you do not know which is which and you cannot find the different weight culprit. I hope it shakes your teeth out. And it will.

There is ingenious country engineering and then there is short sighted admiration for what should be a very short term fix.

To bad he couldn't toss the mystery hammers on a scale if he needed to.

Grinding to balance is perfectly reasonable. How many flywheels & driveshafts have a hole drilled on one side or tab welded on from the factory? I'm sure the rotor itself was balanced with one of those.

You want to get it reasonably close on balance, but it's not a Swiss watch. At any given point in time the dynamic weight of grass & stuff bouncing around under the hood is going to be causing similar balance issues.

 

[papachaz]

To bad he couldn't toss the mystery hammers on a scale if he needed to.

Grinding to balance is perfectly reasonable. How many flywheels & driveshafts have a hole drilled on one side or tab welded on from the factory? I'm sure the rotor itself was balanced with one of those.

You want to get it reasonably close on balance, but it's not a Swiss watch. At any given point in time the dynamic weight of grass & stuff bouncing around under the hood is going to be causing similar balance issues.

yeah if they were all exactly the same weight I could see his point. I did ask for advice, so I won't knock anyone for giving their opinion, however 'I know it all' it might sound. I don't usually put my teeth in while I'm on the tractor anyway, so no worries about them getting shaken out

I did put two blades on the opposite ends of the same rows that I put the newer blades on. If these were already worn significantly, I'd just replace all of them, but it's literally new with less than 5 hours on it. I'll keep an eye on it, and if I have to buy some more to match, I can and will, OR I could just grind the new ones down to match the weight. on the 3 OEM blades I took off, there was a half ounce difference from one to the other, and as someone up there said, they're going to pick up some chunks of grass/mud occasionally until it slings off there's going to be a bit unbalanced anyway.

maybe, instead of grinding the new ones, I could just add a washer or two on all of the original hammers, there's a tad bit of space in there to do so. so as I buy more replacements, I won't have to grind them. I will make sure to keep the belts checked and the fittings greased, bearings aren't that hard to replace

 

[dieselscout80]

We have a couple red tailed hawks that watch the mowed area for field rats or other rodents or snakes.

We have Mississippi kites that put on a great show while we mow pastures.

 

[JethroB]

These are wildly high prices. I would go to the nearest Alamo parts seller (there are many because it dominates the highway / roadside market) and take an old knife from your flail with you. See if they match up and get some prices. At least in north central WVa that happens to be the largest JD dealer in the area. Middltown Tractor. Has to be one not too far from you.

Ordered a set of Caroni blades for $1.85 yesterday from Flail Master. $7.99 at Agri Supply. Nice folks.

 

[Alien]

A lot of mowers have very light blades compared to my Hayes. My neighbour breaks one on his flail mower every time he uses his just mowing grass. Maybe he should try knives. Might mention that to him. Mine can cut through lantana bushes without a problem.

 

[JethroB]

I compared a new Caroni brand Y blade weight to the compatible Flail Master made ones. Both 4.4 oz according to the nice lady at the post office. If you are searching for flail parts call FM. Some items aren’t in their online catalog. Made mostly in Tennessee too.

 

[Alien]

I just weighed one of my hammers. It is 1 3/4 lb.

 

[papachaz]

I just weighed one of my hammers. It is 1 3/4 lb. View attachment 743028

those are the exact ones Titan sent me, and like mine, they weigh 1 lb 12 oz with a slight variation from blade to blade of 12.25 to 12.75. The OEM blades I took off and weighed were 1 lb 10 oz, with that same 'slight variation' of up to a 1/2 oz. These are the blades I'll replace with when they all need to be replaced, and at no point in my original 'question' post did I in any way indicate running different weight blades was my 'long term solution' for that one who seemed to think it was

 

[Alien]

I paid $20 au each papachaz. How much were yours?

 

[leonz]

Seeing the photo image of the mowing perked my interest.

If the knives are fairly sharp they should have about a 37 degree edge on them.

The hammer knives may very well not be overlapping when they are spun up to
speed for mowing.

 

[Alien]

Mine have the bevel leonz

but no idea what angle.

 

[Number15]

Added a side shift flail to my collection today. I have a ditch bank mower on my Branson but wanted a dedicated flail for my AC.
Befco D90 72" this thing is a tank

 

[Racenut]

Loving my flail mower. Got the Novatractor MFZ with 3lb hammer/bear claws. It's a beast. I thought I'd have to rip out berries and them mow what was left.. nope, it just eats it up. Before and after, different angles, but same area. When I first got it, I accidentally hit an old 8 inch stump in the grass. While I don't recommend this, that stump is no longer a problem We're calling it the "park maker" because it makes rough areas look like a park. So far it has been great, no belt slippage, no teeth breakage, nothing more than grease at the spin spots.

 

[JWR]

Ordered a set of Caroni blades for $1.85 yesterday from Flail Master. $7.99 at Agri Supply. Nice folks.

In any flail pricing I have talked about on here I have been talking prices I pay for the "Y" stamped steel blades (under $2 each.) They are described as the heavy duty version of the "Y" knives since there are thinner lighter ones probably only for cutting grass. I realize other folks have heavy brush cutting flail mowers with cutters that are cast metal and may weigh 3lbs or more each. Whole different ball game. Obviously those are much more expensive.

 

[Alien]

Man those a wild looking hammers Racenut!

 

[JWR]

Man those a wild looking hammers Racenut!

I agree ! With some searching I find the NovaTractor products are from a Houston TX company. But the very foreign tractor in their YouTube videos looks to be a Chinese (??) machine. NovaTractor flails appear to be very new and not on the market long. Wonder what the whole story is ? Impressive looking mowers.

 

[JethroB]

Finished up refurbishing my Caroni with all new Y blades and associated hardware today. Cry once. NOT something I would want to do often. Learned a lot though, particularly that a cutting wheel on an angle grinder is your friend and that there is a reason Caroni originally used 75mm length bolts, not 80mm. Flail Master treated me well.