Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[JethroB]

Great find

 

[Torvy]

You can run it without the hydraulics. It will just work like a non-shifting flail.

 

[diesel85]

Nice looking flair mower! Welcome to Flail Mower Nations!

You will find that it can also mow your lawn.

I occasionally go from a finish mower to my flail mower. Does nice striping with the roller.

 

[LouNY]

Found this 10 month old Peruzzo Fox Cross 1600 on marketplace a few days ago. Reached out to the seller to see what the story was. Apparently he ran it for two passes around his pond and decided he wasn’t comfortable being that close to the bank due to how steep it was. It’s been parked in the bushes ever since.

Drove an hour to take a look at it. As soon as I saw it I made him an offer and he accepted. Other than a couple of small paint scuffs it’s a brand new mower. Hammers look perfect.

I’ll have to wait a bit before I’ll be able to run it. I need to get the rear hydraulics on order from Yanmar and get them installed but I’m happy to have it nonetheless. Between this and the Land Pride FDR3690 then I just picked up I should be able to handle everything around this property.

I see that yours has the cylinder lock valves on the side shift cylinder, mine has them on the tilt cylinder which I thought was a strange location when the manual talks about using float on the tilt which will not work on a lock ported cylinder.
Also I see the tilt cylinder is using the slotted mount which allows considerable "float" to that cylinder and has the slotted position for your top link to allow the rear roller to float the top link.

 

[Gypsyman]

I see that yours has the cylinder lock valves on the side shift cylinder, mine has them on the tilt cylinder which I thought was a strange location when the manual talks about using float on the tilt which will not work on a lock ported cylinder.
Also I see the tilt cylinder is using the slotted mount which allows considerable "float" to that cylinder and has the slotted position for your top link to allow the rear roller to float the top link.

Can you enlighten me on the lock valve? I was too hot and tired to go through the operators manual this evening. Planned on going through it tomorrow.

 

[LouNY]

Can you enlighten me on the lock valve? I was too hot and tired to go through the operators manual this evening. Planned on going through it tomorrow.

Often a lock valve is used to hold a cylinder in place even when a valve has some leakdown, it requires pressure to open and allow fluid flow. They are often seen on hydraulic top links to prevent uncontrolled extension.
Hydraulic | LOCK VALVE | Doering Company

It is also possible that the valve arrangement on your offset cylinder is a cross over relief to allow the offset cylinder to relief if the mower snags on something

 

[leonz]

Can you enlighten me on the lock valve? I was too hot and tired to go through the operators manual this evening. Planned on going through it tomorrow.

You have a simple double acting check valve on one port that holds in one direction and releases by using the valve on the tractor to push oil flow in the other direction.

The other cylinder has an adjustable relief valve on one port to protect the boom and mower if you impact an object and it allows it to simply fold backward.

In image 1328 the hose on the rod end of the cylinder needs to be loosened and moved toward the other hoses loop as
it could be damaged otherwise.

Please take note of this!!!
You need a metric wrench to loosen that fitting move this hose to the other side following the arc of the other hose and then tighten it back up.

 

[Oakfield1862]

Does anyone have the John Deere Frontier FL11S series flail made by Maschio? I believe it's the Giraffa M series by Maschio.

 

[Fallon]

Often a lock valve is used to hold a cylinder in place even when a valve has some leakdown, it requires pressure to open and allow fluid flow. They are often seen on hydraulic top links to prevent uncontrolled extension.
Hydraulic | LOCK VALVE | Doering Company

It is also possible that the valve arrangement on your offset cylinder is a cross over relief to allow the offset cylinder to relief if the mower snags on something

A crossover relief valve needs 2 equal cylinder volumes to work. A pair of single acting cylinders for angle on a snow plow is a common setup. A single double acting cylinder will not work with a crossover relief valve. The rod end has less volume than the cylinder end. So if the valve opens there would be pressure spikes if it compresses, but no protective motion. If it gets extended, there may be some protective motion.

 

[cptmax]

Greetings all -- First time poster here, and first time flail mower owner. I am looking for some advice on basic setup and mowing technique. I have a Kubota L4060 and Vrisimio Minimax 60" flail mower. I am looking to mow 10 acres of dense 3ft grasss with some light brush mixed in on occasion.

On my initial mowing attempts, I quickly caused the main belt to smoke. My speed was between 1-2 km/h. Grass as mentioned above and moderately wet. I am thinking that the ways to manage this are, cut height and tractor speed. I was mowing in a snaking line, taking full width passes.

Given my circumstances what is the desired cut height? My intuition is that a higher cut height would cause less stress on the mower; and that driving slower would provide less stress on the mower. Yet, I have read here and elsewhere that having a 2" or lower cut height can be optimal given how these mowers operate.

Regarding cut height: I have read the owner's manual, and it seems to me that there are three points of adjustment. 1) roller height adjustment ie, "back gauge roll adjustment", 2) top link arm length adjustment, 3) actually raising or lowering the three point hitch. Is this correct? It seems to me that the top link arm length adjustment makes that roller a pivot point causing the mower to sit at a shallow angle.

In general is it best to mow in rows or spirals? Should I take full or half passes? Should I make multiple passes?

I will continue to read this thread looking for answers, but thought I would post here as well.

Much obliged to any advice.