Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

A caution on that statement. My tractor is a bit wider than 5'. With the WM shifted all the way right I can mow up against a fence but I'd be hard pressed to cut under a fence without running the rear wheels into the fence itself. That is why I wanted the 72H but I don't have the PTO HP to run it.

The easy solution to the lack of HP in 90% of situations is do partial passes or go slow. I'm a fan of going wide & going slow. Plenty of width to hang past the tires to get under stuff & a smoother ride.

I really dont find mowing under fence an option though. Field fence goes all the way to the ground & smooth or barbed wire usually has the bottom strand quite a ways below the top of my mower. Also a lot if the fences I'm near arent in great shape. So I stay a bit away to avoid wrapping hidden broken bits up. I get within 6-12" of my own field fence in good shape generally though.

 

[bruceha2000]

The salesman at Woodmaxx talked me out of the 72 even though I said I could just go slower. But the PTO for that is 30 on the low end and I'm just under 25 so it wasn't a case of being on the boundary. He could have sold me a more expensive machine but didn't. My fence is field as well. I can safely get within a few inches with the mower out to the right. Before getting the real tractor I used my garden tractor but that required mowing every week or 2, it doesn't like anything tall. The WM doesn't seem to care how tall it is even with thick stalked weeds. I cut stuff that was close to 5' without slowing down. Of course I'm not running real fast anyway. No speedo but I'm sure I'm under 5 MPH most of the time.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

A caution on that statement. My tractor is a bit wider than 5'. With the WM shifted all the way right I can mow up against a fence but I'd be hard pressed to cut under a fence without running the rear wheels into the fence itself. That is why I wanted the 72H but I don't have the PTO HP to run it.

Yeah, I forgot about that part... I'm just used to having a mower wider than my tractor to the point I need to be careful when I pass through narrow areas.

 

[Creole]

A quick check on the spec's for the Titan 72" for minimum 30 pto HP. I have a 60" WoodMaxx, I could run it very well with my 22 PTO HP when it had Y blades. Switched to Hammer Blades. Takes a lot more HP to run this type of blade. I find tractor will bog down cutting with the hammer blades in area's where the Y blades did not.

Thanks ronjhall! I知 not looking for a finished cut, but did the Y blade cut look decent for grass/lawn? Also, why did you decide switch to the hammer blades?

 

[Creole]

When I used the Titan hammer blades I didn't like the quality of grass cut when compared to a multi blade rotary mower. It did work great on brush

What did the Titan cut look like? Was it just rough or streaky?

 

[ddbackhoe]

Thank you leonz, ronjhall, and m5040 for the quick feedback!

It appears I have my blades and their intended purposes mixed up (which I think steams from all the different manufacturing recommendations out there). What would you all say the intended design differences between the Hammer, Duck-foot, and Y-blades?

View attachment 624087

Also, which light duty/value brand of flail mowers would you recommend?

I've mostly been looking at Farmer Helper and Titan, because those have the strongest returns on my internet searches. Then I also have a bush hog for heavy brush clearing, so I'm mostly looking for a rugged lawn mower that can also go out into the pasture and clip underneath the electric fence...

Take a look at Nova too. NOVATRACTOR, the best value tractor implement in the US market, we supply flail mower, wood chipper, ditch mower, etc

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

Thanks ronjhall! I知 not looking for a finished cut, but did the Y blade cut look decent for grass/lawn?

I'll take a picture after I cut my lawn again. Probably tomorrow evening. Otherwise there is a picture somewhere in this thread showing the "V" shape the Y blades leave.

 

[Fallon]

Thanks ronjhall! I知 not looking for a finished cut, but did the Y blade cut look decent for grass/lawn? Also, why did you decide switch to the hammer blades?

Not who you are asking, but I'll answer. The Ys on my old 719 cut field & pasture great. You could have probably cut a lawn with it & looked fine. I upgraded to the Peruzzo with hammers for brush. I only do pastures & fields or even less developed areas so handling bigger material, trash & what not was mor important to me than cut quality. The Ys would cut finger sized woody material well, but any bigger than that & the knives would just bounce. It would get noisy & just strip the bark off.

The Peruzzo & hammers will eat trees & branches up to wrist size easy if I have the HP. The hammers do fine on grass too. Again I could probably even do a decent job on a lawn if the whole setup weren't 8,000lbs. I thought my hammers were getting a bit dull & needed spares anyways, so just got them in. The new ones are pretty dull as well, guess I never paid attention to the original ones sharpness when new. They still cut well.

 

[thoner7]

My advice would be to go with the Alamo for parts availability.

I had a 5 foot Ford 917 (not the "H" version) and I now have an Alamo SHD88. I ran the 917 with course cut blades on a 40 pto HP machine and it cut 3 foot tall grass just fine. I went a little slower, but didn't really bog down much. I now run the 88 on a 52 pto HP machine (dyno'd at the dealer) and can cut 3 foot grass without problems. I only slow down because of the rough terrain and to make sure I cut everything.

You should haven no problem cutting 16" grass with 40hp on the Alamo. You may need to run a bit slower, but you probably won't notice much bogging as long as it's not super lush grass. If the grass is thick you will want to slow down to make sure everything gets fully cut and mulched.

I ran my JD 390 (either 7 or 8 feet, I do not remember) behind my JD 4105 (41 engine HP) ONE TIME!

That combo would cut light grass,, but, I would not try tall or thick grass,,

I normally pull the JD 390 with my IH 584 which is 50+ PTO HP,,,

Oh, yea, with any 7'+ mower, expect to need front end weights,,,

Well I found a very nice shape Ford 917 88" near me and got a good deal on it I believe.

It's definitely too much for my tractor. The 3 foot high weeds it struggled at times in 1L. The 16-18" stuff was a little much for it in 2L. The shorter stuff like 6-8" was no problem tho.

I planned to replace the tractor anyways, it's not in the greatest of shape. So I guess now I'll be looking for a larger machine. I just need to be triple sure I buy something with enough power.

Both y'all's tractors are 50-52hp at the PTO. So of I find an older Ford 4000 or Massey 165 or David Brown 990, for example, those are right around 50-55 HP at the PTO. There's also an older Kubota I'm seeing locally with 49 at the PTO.

Think I'm safe with anoy of those machines?

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

Anything over 40 PTO HP should be enough to run that 88". Hydrostatic drive is nice so you can vary your speed as you go.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to sharpen or replace the blades. That should help reduce the HP draw. If it's a course cut model you can replace the airplane wings with Y shaped blades if desired. If you have a fine cut model you can keep it fine cut or change it to course cut by getting different mounts, hangers, and blades if you want. Or just keep it fine cut. The Ford 917 is flexible like that.

Pictures or you don't really have it! :dance1: