Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

Hello Jerik,


You can lower the skids to the roller height and have plenty of good mowing and prevent the mower from scalping and nose diving
if you want to mow higher.

The newest Caroni flail mower design lets you mow with the three point hitch in the float position with the mower skids on the ground as the new skids and rear roller mounting have been constructed to prevent them from digging into the ground.

You will have to mow with it to see if you are happy with the mowing job in that position to decide.



Welcome to the "Flail Mower Nations".

 

[RoyJackson]

Hello Jerik,


You can lower the skids to the roller height and have plenty of good mowing and prevent the mower from scalping and nose diving
if you want to mow higher.

The newest Caroni flail mower design lets you mow with the three point hitch in the float position with the mower skids on the ground as the new skids and rear roller mounting have been constructed to prevent them from digging into the ground.

You will have to mow with it to see if you are happy with the mowing job in that position to decide.

Welcome to the "Flail Mower Nations".

Something to watch for is interference with a QH frame. I ran mine in float and the PTO driveshaft hit the horizontal member of the QH. Now, I can use the stop on the rockshaft lever to prevent any interference, but not all tractors have that feature. I wasn't crossing anything like a ditch...just a pretty level flat...

 

[Jerik]

Anyone have an opinion on whether I should detach the QA bucket off my loader when I am mowing? Visibility and maneuverability would be better, but i have no front weights.

 

[ronjhall]

Anyone have an opinion on whether I should detach the QA bucket off my loader when I am mowing? Visibility and maneuverability would be better, but i have no front weights.

I run my 62” Woodmaxx with bucket off FEL frame. Works well. I use the FEL arms as a guide for cutting location of tractor.

 

[Fallon]

Anyone have an opinion on whether I should detach the QA bucket off my loader when I am mowing? Visibility and maneuverability would be better, but i have no front weights.

Depends on the balance of your machine & what you are mowing. I dump my bucket when mowing grass but have never dropped my loader (just helped my brothers father-in-law reattach the loader to his L4330 & it was as easy as expected, a 5 min job). Half my jobs are in brush & yucca. The bucket stays on & gets used as a plow to knock the heavier stuff down before the tractor runs it over.

See if your machine is stable with the mower lifted on flat ground, then try driving up a hill with the mower barely off the ground. If its stable there with the loader off, you are probably fine.

 

[ericm979]

I prefer mowing with the bucket (or grapple) on the loader. I keep it low and that lowers the tractor's center of gravity, making it more stable on slopes.

 

[bandit67]

The first mowing I did this year was the first time I've ever detached the loader for mowing. I actually decided to do it mid-mow, mostly because the section I was mowing has quite a few trees, and I've been tiring of constantly having to raise and lower the FEL so many times during the mow. Much of my property is not flat, so I always thought the FEL was required to counter balance since I have no front weights. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier the mow was without the loader on. There were certainly situations where the front tires slid sideways a bit in an uphill turn, but overall, I was pleased enough that I will mow sans FEL from here on out. I also made sure not to raise the mower too high while making a turn, but that's a habit I've developed over the years just to keep the angle of the PTO shaft from getting too extreme.

 

[jthibodeau89]

Thank you LEONZ. There are 36 hangers, 72 blades. I replaced all 36 scoop blades with 72 side slicers. I test ran it today. I love this thing!!!!. I cut an overgrown pasture beside where my wife cut yesterday with a 5' rotary cutter. There is no comparison. Clean cut with no wind rows! Ì then cut a few passes on the heavily overgrown side hill. This hillside is covered with 5' tall briars and scrub. Cut it clean on the 2" setting. I did have to occassionally slow the tractor when the RPMs started to drop in the really heavy stuff. Did I mention it is attached to a JD 4300HST with 12.4 R1 tires filled with Rimguard. I mow the fields with the 430 FEL attached.

Now for the down side. I didn't replace the hangers and D-rings for my trial. Wound up loosing 5 D-rings (10 blades). A full set of new D-rings and hangers already ordered. I definitely do not have any grease fittings on the bearing housings that i can find. I dont see how the housings could be installed backwards. Also, the drive shaft keeps walking out. It was contacting the safety cover when I bought it, and I reset it to the correct location and secured the lock ring. It walked back out with about 4 hours running. Photos of my mowing and mower below.

 

[leonz]

Hello Mr. Thibodeau89,

If at all possible and if the identification tag is still intact you need to visit a JD dealer and see about purchasing a replacement operators and owners manual as well as a parts list.

About the moving flail mower rotor shaft; both set screws are going to be removed and a small dimple drilled in the shafts to assure the shaft does not walk anymore.

I believe that JD did make a flail mower with sealed bearings at one time and that was a bad idea for many reasons.

Please keep us in the loop with your progress with it as you need a bit more work to do and you will have a forever mower.


Leon



Happy mowing

 

[jthibodeau89]

S/N tag is preseng and legible. I already picked up the operator manual. The drve shaft bearing is a cam lock type with a single set screw on the collar. The set screw is tight to the shaft. The collar came loose from the cam on the bearing. Perhaps I secured the cam in the wrong direction. Will resecure so that the forward rotation tightens it. I didnt think that the bearing drag would be enough to loosen the cam. May just need a new bearing.

Will pick up new hangers today from Flailmaster. I work a few miles from thier shop.