Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

GManBart · May 29, 2015

Lol....I knew it! You may be right about working through one size at a time....we'll see

leonz · May 29, 2015

MidTn Mark said:
Well...newest member reporting in. Phoenix TE 79 showed up today. That's the good news. Bad news is freakin non-stop rain for the last week and forecast for the next week as well... I could probably get the truck and trailer out but getting it back in would be a circus. So, I wait...

Mark

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Welcome to the flail Mower Nation Mark

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Once you go flail you never go back!!!!! :^)
Only 17,500 brush mowers to go+-
Pronovost or not at all!!!:drink:

Parkanzky · Jun 2, 2015

Had my first failure on my EFG155:

image by parkanzky

The screws holding the roller on worked themselves out. When the roller dropped, it sheared a grease fitting.

The screws were incredibly soft. I actually stripped one on the right side when I was torquing them down during the initial setup. So I am going to source a better grade of fastener and a couple new zirk fittings and get it back together.

image by parkanzky

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the bearings still turned and how round the drum still appears to be considering the stumps and big rocks I've gotten snagged on recently. Overall, the ultra-budget option is holding up really well, though the knives are all ridiculously dull. I can't decide whether to flip them all over and use them again for awhile or try to source a beefier option.

hunt4570 · Jun 2, 2015

How old is that mower?

Parkanzky · Jun 2, 2015

hunt4570 said:
How old is that mower?

About six months.

LouieJunior · Jun 2, 2015

Parkanzky said:
Had my first failure on my EFG155:

https://flic.kr/p/u1JaU2 image by parkanzky

The screws holding the roller on worked themselves out. When the roller dropped, it sheared a grease fitting.

The screws were incredibly soft. I actually stripped one on the right side when I was torquing them down during the initial setup. So I am going to source a better grade of fastener and a couple new zirk fittings and get it back together.

https://flic.kr/p/u1Jcy4 image by parkanzky

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the bearings still turned and how round the drum still appears to be considering the stumps and big rocks I've gotten snagged on recently. Overall, the ultra-budget option is holding up really well, though the knives are all ridiculously dull. I can't decide whether to flip them all over and use them again for awhile or try to source a beefier option.

That same thing happened to me a few months ago. I have a one year old Caroni. I ended up needing a new bering inside my roller. I also noted the soft bolts -- and had the same experience during assembly. It is all good now!

olom · Jun 5, 2015

Parkanzky said:
image by parkanzky

I was pleasantly surprised at how well the bearings still turned and how round the drum still appears to be considering the stumps and big rocks I've gotten snagged on recently. Overall, the ultra-budget option is holding up really well, though the knives are all ridiculously dull. I can't decide whether to flip them all over and use them again for awhile or try to source a beefier option.

I have a 1 year old EFG 145 that i wanted to tear down to clean and check the bearings, the rotor wouldn't come off once the side bearing blocks were unscrewed, that's where i noticed a significant buldge on each side of the mower where the rotor bearing blocks are fastened, after prying the rotor out of the mower with a floor jack (tried jumping on the protuding part in vain) i noticed one of the bearings was mounted backwards (in the right side bearing block), as a result the rotor assembly was 1cm (little less than half an inch) longer than the mower casing was wide, how can this happen is bewildering, it's not like they couldn't notice something was very wrong, there was so much pressure on the relatively strong side walls that it must have been a bear to aligne the bearing block holes to the casing pattern.

Bearings are still good though...

JLinder · Jun 9, 2015

I bought a well used JD 25a flail a few weeks ago. Decided to grease it and give it a test drive as-is and was very disappointed with the cut and performance overall. I just about put this mower in the garbage can but decided to spend the money for a new set of knives and related hardware. Swapped them out tonight and took it for a test drive, and wow what a difference!

The old knives weren't that bad but I'm absolutely amazed at the difference with the new knives. This thing actually performs like I thought it would (based on reading this thread) when I bought it. For any of you thinking about picking up a used flail I definitely recommend spending the coin for new knives as the improvement is significant.

KenB2920 · Jun 13, 2015

JLinder said:
I bought a well used JD 25a flail a few weeks ago. Decided to grease it and give it a test drive as-is and was very disappointed with the cut and performance overall. I just about put this mower in the garbage can but decided to spend the money for a new set of knives and related hardware. Swapped them out tonight and took it for a test drive, and wow what a difference! The old knives weren't that bad but I'm absolutely amazed at the difference with the new knives. This thing actually performs like I thought it would (based on reading this thread) when I bought it. For any of you thinking about picking up a used flail I definitely recommend spending the coin for new knives as the improvement is significant.

How much was a set of blades? I'm currently looking at a JF 25A myself. Which I know nothing about. When I go to look at this, anything in particular you recommend I look at?