Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

No. You must engage at idle speed. Sorry if I misread your original question.

I'll disagree a bit...

You SHOULD always engage your PTO at idle speed. Engaging it at higher RPM is very doable but very hard on clutches, PTO shafts & the whole gear train.

I've never had issues disengaging PTO at any RPM. I always waited until there was no load on the PTO train or what not though.

In old machines with a live PTO something spinning the PTO would keep moving as if you had the clutch in gear regardless of the clutch being in or out. I don't think they have made machines like that in the past decade or 2 though. Some new HST machines are like that, but the HST intrinsically makes that problem moot as it won't transmit power unless you hit the go pedal. I think my L3200 was that way, but never actually tried to propelled with the clutch in & go pedal down based on the kinetic energy stored in my rotary cutter.

 

[innrkid]

All,

I feel I've achieved a milestone by reaching page 230 of this thread and feel confident enough now to ask a question or two and ask for some friendly advice.

Here we go. I will be taking delivery of an L6060 cab as soon as Kubota decides to ship it to my dealer. I currently have a Woods 72 inch rotary mower which I will be selling if a flail mower is in my future.
I cut the following: large yard, field edges, road edges with slight to around 18 degrees of slope. There are times I knock down undergrowth in portions of the woods that is primarily various weeds and starter saplings not exceeding a half inch diameter. There are times that limbs will fall from trees that may exceed that, however, I take the time to move them vs testing equipment capability. There are rocks that are always found but it's not terrible and I know most of the bad locations. I would like something durable enough to deal with the small saplings, small roots from cleared areas and not simply a finish mower.
I have considered used but the nearby inventory is limited (north west Illinois but the property is in southwest Wisconsin) The side shift would be important to me to avoid damaging the cab with field edge overhang and yet get reasonable cutting into woods on field edge.

Questions:
Based on the above I am considering this unit. FM-78H Flail Mower | Flail Mower Attachment | Tractor Mower | PTO Mower | -WoodMaxx™
Any thoughts on applicability? Alternatives?
What knives, based on the above, would you recommend? (Assuming a flail would meet my needs)
Also open to hearing "keep the rotary"

Thanks for any insight and advice. now, back to trying to finish this thread!:thumbsup:

 

[IslandTractor]

Innrkid, there are a number of TBN members with Woodmax mowers and my impression is that they have worked well. You might want to compare the Caroni TM1900 with hydraulic shift kit as an alternative. About the same price. The Italians make excellent flail mowers and have for a long time. The Chinese are much newer in this game.

 

[Fallon]

All,

I feel I've achieved a milestone by reaching page 230 of this thread and feel confident enough now to ask a question or two and ask for some friendly advice.

Here we go. I will be taking delivery of an L6060 cab as soon as Kubota decides to ship it to my dealer. I currently have a Woods 72 inch rotary mower which I will be selling if a flail mower is in my future.
I cut the following: large yard, field edges, road edges with slight to around 18 degrees of slope. There are times I knock down undergrowth in portions of the woods that is primarily various weeds and starter saplings not exceeding a half inch diameter. There are times that limbs will fall from trees that may exceed that, however, I take the time to move them vs testing equipment capability. There are rocks that are always found but it's not terrible and I know most of the bad locations. I would like something durable enough to deal with the small saplings, small roots from cleared areas and not simply a finish mower.
I have considered used but the nearby inventory is limited (north west Illinois but the property is in southwest Wisconsin) The side shift would be important to me to avoid damaging the cab with field edge overhang and yet get reasonable cutting into woods on field edge.

Questions:
Based on the above I am considering this unit. FM-78H Flail Mower | Flail Mower Attachment | Tractor Mower | PTO Mower | -WoodMaxx™
Any thoughts on applicability? Alternatives?
What knives, based on the above, would you recommend? (Assuming a flail would meet my needs)
Also open to hearing "keep the rotary"

Thanks for any insight and advice. now, back to trying to finish this thread!

My 5' rotary ran off with my old L3200. Used my ancient Ford 917 once with my new L4060. Given the age of my 917 I've seriously been thinking about replacing it, or at least getting a backup & the WoodMaxx is high on my list. I keep eyeing the biggest Cat1 hydraulic sideshift they have.

Pretty sure the only difference in our machines is you have 20hp more & a Cat2 3pt, maybe bigger tires. You likely want to look at the 2 bigger Cat2 mowers if you go with WoodMaxx. Think the 78 is a Cat1. My 32hp 3,500lbs loaded L3200 ran my 7' 917 fine, although a bit slow in high dense stuff. My L4060 actually ran it as well as my L3200, but it was really tall winter grass with a touch of snow in places when I mowed the once so far. 20 extra HP & no altitude issues (turbo on the L6060 even if you are near my 6,500') means you'll be able to spin a fair bit more mower in denser stuff than me.

I really don't bother clearing branches & have intentionally ran & mowed over several dead Christmas trees & similar sized standing trees. The rotary ate them up better, but the 917 did an OK job despite a bit of noise. The grass side cutters just bounced off the heavier trunk making a little racket & mulched the rest. Duck foot hammers would have likely eaten a lot more of the trunk. If you go slow you should be fine mulching reasonable sized branches.

My 917 with grass side slicers has mostly heald up to occasional mowing of woody brush & occasional Yucca (imagine dipping 2-3 pair kid size blue jeans in plastic & calling it a cactus, would be slightly easier to mow than Yucca). I did blow a rotor bearing on a gig last year. But the flail is as old as I am, so I can't blame that failure on pushing it.

 

[innrkid]

My 5' rotary ran off with my old L3200. Used my ancient Ford 917 once with my new L4060. Given the age of my 917 I've seriously been thinking about replacing it, or at least getting a backup & the WoodMaxx is high on my list. I keep eyeing the biggest Cat1 hydraulic sideshift they have.

Thanks. My rotary is potentially running off with my old L3130. A common occurrence?


Pretty sure the only difference in our machines is you have 20hp more & a Cat2 3pt, maybe bigger tires. You likely want to look at the 2 bigger Cat2 mowers if you go with WoodMaxx. Think the 78 is a Cat1. My 32hp 3,500lbs loaded L3200 ran my 7' 917 fine, although a bit slow in high dense stuff. My L4060 actually ran it as well as my L3200, but it was really tall winter grass with a touch of snow in places when I mowed the once so far. 20 extra HP & no altitude issues (turbo on the L6060 even if you are near my 6,500') means you'll be able to spin a fair bit more mower in denser stuff than me.

I really don't bother clearing branches & have intentionally ran & mowed over several dead Christmas trees & similar sized standing trees. The rotary ate them up better, but the 917 did an OK job despite a bit of noise. The grass side cutters just bounced off the heavier trunk making a little racket & mulched the rest. Duck foot hammers would have likely eaten a lot more of the trunk. If you go slow you should be fine mulching reasonable sized branches.

My 917 with grass side slicers has mostly heald up to occasional mowing of woody brush & occasional Yucca (imagine dipping 2-3 pair kid size blue jeans in plastic & calling it a cactus, would be slightly easier to mow than Yucca). I did blow a rotor bearing on a gig last year. But the flail is as old as I am, so I can't blame that failure on pushing it.

Fallon, Great information! You are correct on the category 1 vs 2. I will be modifying other cat 1 attachments and or replacing as I go. It's very good to hear that some small brush will not pose a problem. Would you suggest duck foot for my applications?
Thanks. And by the way, I used to live in Parker when it was still small. High Praire Farms just south of the Pinery. Winter Park prior to that. I knew when you said 6500 ft we likely had something in common.

 

[innrkid]

Innrkid, there are a number of TBN members with Woodmax mowers and my impression is that they have worked well. You might want to compare the Caroni TM1900 with hydraulic shift kit as an alternative. About the same price. The Italians make excellent flail mowers and have for a long time. The Chinese are much newer in this game.

Thanks, IT. I have noted you also own a Caroni and seem generally pleased.

 

[IslandTractor]

Thanks, IT. I have noted you also own a Caroni and seem generally pleased.

Yes, my Caroni is doing well after ten years in rocky New England soil. The rocks have taken a toll in that I have to replace lost knives/clevises more often than most but that has nothing to do with the mower. No other mower repairs and no maintenance other than regular greasing and a couple sets of drive belts in ten years. I don't have the hydraulic side shift but have manually side shifted a couple of times. I'd get the hydraulic if doing offset mowing regularly although the normal position of the mower allows about 18" offset to the right which I find adequate for mowing fence lines.

Nothing against the WoodMaxx at all but I do wonder why they cost essentially the same as the Caroni given the Chinese versus Italian manufacturer.

 

[innrkid]

Yes, my Caroni is doing well after ten years in rocky New England soil. The rocks have taken a toll in that I have to replace lost knives/clevises more often than most but that has nothing to do with the mower. No other mower repairs and no maintenance other than regular greasing and a couple sets of drive belts in ten years. I don't have the hydraulic side shift but have manually side shifted a couple of times. I'd get the hydraulic if doing offset mowing regularly although the normal position of the mower allows about 18" offset to the right which I find adequate for mowing fence lines.

Nothing against the WoodMaxx at all but I do wonder why they cost essentially the same as the Caroni given the Chinese versus Italian manufacturer.

Not many dealers around here for Caroni. I have a ways to go before a decision needs to be made....if at all.

 

[IslandTractor]

Not many dealers around here for Caroni. I have a ways to go before a decision needs to be made....if at all.

Actually only one dealer for Caroni I know of: AgriSupply. I suspect there are some other smaller ones but AgriSupply seems to be the biggest importer. They are based in SC if I recall correctly but they ship nationwide. Not much need for dealer support other than replaceable blades etc which have never been a problem. Most of us use less expensive and equally good Flailmaster replacement blades and Gates Kevlar belts to replace the originals.

There are a couple of other Italian made flails sold in the US and I believe they are just as good as the Caroni. Maschio (?sp) is one and is sold by a number of dealers.

 

[jimmysisson]

Keep the hog until you're sure you don't need to open new areas to be mowed.
Jim