Oh, it looks like I have a little reading to do. I just started flailing around yesterday!!!
The mower (knife flails) really chews up blackberries.
Is there any reason not to just remove the rear roller so that I can attack stuff both directions? Perhaps add either skid plates or castors to the side.
What brand flail mower do you have mounted on your mule/tractor?
What type of knife is it equipped with, formed spoon/scoop, side slicer/cast hammer?
The rear roller serves five purposes,
(1) to prevent scalping
(2) to prevent damaging the mower knives
(3) damaging the flail mower rotor from a ground impact and breaking the knife mounts and hangers
(4) maintaining the rigidity of the flail mower shroud, the tubular steel bracing
and preventing the steel components from wracking/twisting
(5) the rear roller is used as the mowing height gauge
To operate effectively the flail mower/crop shredder needs to create a suction lift-negative pressure gradient
to lift the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor.
It does this by pulling the surrounding air under the flail mower shroud as the flail mower rotor
spins at 2,200 RPM+ as it cuts the grass or brush.
If the flail mower has side slicer knives it can recut the material on the second pass as the side slicer knives
act as an airfoil. The side slicer knives that are mounted on D ring hangers become airfoil's/airplane wings and the centrifugal
force of the high speed of rotation increases the blade tip speed to slice rather than rip the grass or brush and the following
knives also the grass blade assuring a level cut.
The stationary knives mounted on the twin stub weldments of most flail mowers only allow the knives to orbit the flail mower rotor and not become true airfoil's as they are bolted in place due to the narrow width of the knife mounting stations which is the thickness of 2 flail mower knives. This creates a saw tooth grass pattern that looks a bit rough and does not damage the turf.