Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[vlcakc]

OK, color me confused. After reading and reading and reading though this tomb of a thread on flails plus many hours of Google searches I decided I wanted one and after some time finally found a New Holland 918H for a price that was just to good to pass up. The mower is in what I would call very good shape, all the bearings are super smooth and it has only one small weld on a lift mounting ear and the blades, if that is the proper term, are worn but still have what I would consider a lot of life left but could be flipped if needed. They are the "Y" type.

Now on to my problem, the cut quality is what I consider to be poor at best. It is somewhat ragged and leaves the tire track uncut. I say tire track since it is setup as an offset. I tried to mow at 3" and at 2" which did not make any difference in the cut quality, of course the PTO is running @540. The skids are just slightly off the ground and it rides on the roller like I have read it should. The manual states it should be run between 4 and 6 mph ground speed, I have even gone as slow as 3 mph but still leaves the track. It will "almost make s smooth cut if I creep along. Currently the rotor is rotating clockwise as you look at the mower from the left/drive belt side as seated on the tractor, which is opposite the tire rotation. Is this the proper rotation or should it be counter clockwise, same as tire, so it would pickup the mashed down grass which is what I think would be better. However I tend to get into trouble when I think to much.

The gearbox can be configured to rotate in either direction with a couple of hours labor but you end up having to destroy one hard to get $25 seal. I have no problem doing the reconfigure but would hate to do it only to find out I should have left well enough alone. So what is the definitive answer about flail rotation? The more I have read about it the more confused I have become as nobody seems to use the same terminology when talking about the direction of rotation.

I really like not having the windrows of grass I get with a finish mower and not having to worry about something accidentally getting picked up and launched. It is really nice and quiet plus having an offset to cut the road shoulders so I would like to get this sorted out.

I used a NH 918H flail for 16 years to mow everything from residential lawns to heavy field grass and light brush. Great mower! The cut quality on residential lawns was very good, couldn't tell the difference between the flail and the Hustler Z zero turn mower. The only maintenance required was greasing regularly and sharpening the blades several times. The original belts were still good after 16 years use. The direction of rotation was whatever was set at the factory. The NH 918H has far more rows of blades than the Land Pride FM 2584 with Y blades I now own which I believe is the reason for the better cut quality on residential lawns. The 74" model I owned had 48 stations with 96 blades. If your blades are in decent condition, flip or sharpen them. Otherwise get a new set from Flailmaster. You will need to replace all the blades as a set to maintain rotor balance. Good mowing! Vic

 

[Kiotidriver]

You use the top link to control the height, extend it a little. Then raise your skids a hole or two. Will still hit the skids before the roller. It's not an either /or, both can be kept in good shape.

I will try to adjust it as you suggested when I receive my new skids. As it is set now, when the mower is resting on flat ground the roller is 1/2 inch higher.
Now I am not sure what you mean by adjusting the height of the mower with the top link. My understanding of the top link function is for adjusting the longitudinal level of your implement, in this case the flail mower.
On my rig I adjusted the top link, so the pin is located in the center of the slot of the mower hitch frame, when the mower is resting on a flat ground (see picture).
The only way I know for adjusting ground clearance of an implement is with the hydraulic 3-point hitch. The position control lever lowest limit can be set with a lock bolt on the quadrant. I wish my tractor was equipped with a draft control, but it is not.

 

[PatMcD]

How come I can't find any prices on flail parts from Flailmaster, Montage, etc? I used to have a lnk to a flailmaster catalog that listed prices, but now that link is dead. It sure would save time on the phone to know what knives are going to cost, instead of me asking "how much are the standard duty blades? Well, how much are the heavy duty? How about the extreme duty?" wasting my and the phone rep's time.

Also, I just got done cleaning up my Alamo SH88. Sanded, painted. I want to put the decals back on there. Called Alamo and they quoted me a "Decal Kit" for $180!!! Sounds a bit stiff, to me. After all, I'm basically advertising their product by putting their name back on it.

 

[Kiotidriver]

Besides adjusting the mower differently, you could also get a fabricator to weld extra material on the faces of the new (or old) skids.

I had thought about using a fabricator to reinforce the skids, but I bet I would have paid more than just buying new ones ($74.00 for a set). However, my problem is with ASC (Agri Supply Co.) in North Carolina. They are the sole US importer for Caroni, and they do not want to bother complying with California Prop 65.
Therefore, they will not ship anything to California. This creates a problem for me (and any Caroni customers in CA) because if anything was to break on my flail mower I will not be able to find replacement parts, except by ordering them directly from Italy, if it is even possible. Shame on ASC!

 

[Lnk]

I will try to adjust it as you suggested when I receive my new skids. As it is set now, when the mower is resting on flat ground the roller is 1/2 inch higher.
Now I am not sure what you mean by adjusting the height of the mower with the top link. My understanding of the top link function is for adjusting the longitudinal level of your implement, in this case the flail mower.
On my rig I adjusted the top link, so the pin is located in the center of the slot of the mower hitch frame, when the mower is resting on a flat ground (see picture).
The only way I know for adjusting ground clearance of an implement is with the hydraulic 3-point hitch. The position control lever lowest limit can be set with a lock bolt on the quadrant. I wish my tractor was equipped with a draft control, but it is not.

Ok, now I understand. My Dandl does not have a slot. I lower my lift arms all the way down so they float. The top link holds the top of the mower back, and the lift arms hold the bottom forward. The mower rides on the rear roller and follows the terrain in the exact relationship at all times. By extending the top link, the mower pivots up, raising the rotor higher. When I go through a divot, the arms just raise up in float. My lift arms have slots to allow the mower to follow the ground when one end needs to be higher than the other.

I know none of this helps you. I would like someone else with a caroni to chime in to see what they do. How do you maintain the same cut height with the slot? Seems like the mower would change the angle of attack over every bump. Reach out to Island tractor as he seems to have been using a 1900 caroni for years.

Sorry for the derail

Lnk

 

[ericm979]

The skids are actually reasonably priced! But welding some flat stock on there would not be that expensive either, the only difficult part is bending it to match curve of the skids. Difficult for many home mechanics, not for a pro fabricator or an experienced amateur.

I'm also concerned about ASC's new California policy since ASC was the best place to get parts for my Kodiak rotary cutter. Apparently there's a Prop 65 commission who changed some rules recently to require Prop 65 statements to specifically mention at least one chemical that's carcinogenic rather than a blanket statement (which everyone ignores). I've found a few references to businesses who have temporarily stopped selling to CA until they can upgrade their systems to track the added information, and get it from their suppliers. But there are many that are smaller than ASC who are dealing with it. ASC's response could be political. I've seen some businesses who hate California (or the image they have of California which is often based on inaccurate media) so much that they won't sell to CA residents. But I wouldn't accuse ASC of that without knowing for sure. I can't find a statement about their California policy on their web site.

Here's a couple links about prop 65:
The Impact of California Prop 65 on Ecommerce | Practical Ecommerce
Online wine yes, coffee no: Scrambling to keep up with California's new Prop. 65 toxic warnings | CALmatters

 

[10backacres]

Repairing a seppi sml 200 put 3 sets of blades/shackles on each end of rotor. not missing any other flails but I have used a couple generic blades but tried to place them equally around the rotor to keep balanced. I'm still getting rotor vibration. Do I take a magnet mounted dial micrometer on the rotor to determine if the bearings are bad?

 

[leonz]

Repairing a seppi sml 200 put 3 sets of blades/shackles on each end of rotor. not missing any other flails but I have used a couple generic blades but tried to place them equally around the rotor to keep balanced. I'm still getting rotor vibration. Do I take a magnet mounted dial micrometer on the rotor to determine if the bearings are bad?

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Hello 10backacres,

If the knife mounting stations are not within each others orbit that will be a huge problem as it will not spin up as a balanced flail mower rotor.


The safest way is to use a mechanics stethoscope to check for bearing noise with the mower operating at 540 rpm. I would remove the knives and shackles and then run it up to 540 RPM to check for vibration. If the rotor is still vibrating still I would double check each housing using a mechanics stethoscope for noise and once you found the bad bearing plan on changing both of them as the opposing bearing will fail some time in the future.

 

[leonz]

How come I can't find any prices on flail parts from Flailmaster, Montage, etc? I used to have a lnk to a flailmaster catalog that listed prices, but now that link is dead. It sure would save time on the phone to know what knives are going to cost, instead of me asking "how much are the standard duty blades? Well, how much are the heavy duty? How about the extreme duty?" wasting my and the phone rep's time.

Also, I just got done cleaning up my Alamo SH88. Sanded, painted. I want to put the decals back on there. Called Alamo and they quoted me a "Decal Kit" for $180!!! Sounds a bit stiff, to me. After all, I'm basically advertising their product by putting their name back on it.

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I am not even sure if they mail a catalog out anymore. The cost of decals is something that they-Alamo will always make a lot of money on and it costs very little to have the printer make them.

If the ID tag is still riveted to the mower and in good condition I would not worry too much about it.

 

[10backacres]

Hello Leonz I'll probably remove all of the flails on the 200 that's 52 bolts! All in locations too tight for access with air tools so it's a hand wrench job. My son thought a dial indicator on the end of the shaft would work. Do you think I should intersperse the new flails along the whole rotor rather than at each end since they all have individual orbits,and use only 1 new flail with an older flail per shackle? I've always lightly touch sharpened each blade in the past, would that have changed the balance?