Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

Blades plugging was referring to one piece 1 piece Ford blades/knives. You could always put course cut Alamo Y knives on your Ford and they'd give a wider cut than the Ford knives. On a Ford you can also add more hangers but you'd have to do it evenly to keep the rotor balanced. I wouldn't recommend fine cut knives for heavy growth or where there might be obstacles. In heavy growth you should walk the field first to check for large rocks or other big obstacles that could seriously damage the mower. Flails can take some obstacles but not all obstacles. Barbed wire and baler twine/rope are a hazard as well.

Thanks for clarifying. That makes sense as the fine cut blades have a long front edge that is not at all sharp so could easily collect long grass. I wonder if anyone with long fine cut blades has ever sharpened the front edge of the "shaft" so that it would cut through any grass that got hung up there?

 

[Fallon]

I do see a bit of grass hung up in the top of my Y side slicers & the triangle D ring hangers. Not a lot, but some at times. Less surface area in hung up grass than that of the D ring. I've never really bothered cleaning it out as it hasnt ever posed me a problem.

 

[Arc weld]

Thanks for clarifying. That makes sense as the fine cut blades have a long front edge that is not at all sharp so could easily collect long grass. I wonder if anyone with long fine cut blades has ever sharpened the front edge of the "shaft" so that it would cut through any grass that got hung up there?

I think you're still missing the point. One piece knives like on a Ford can try to rip out the grass instead of cutting it. The 2 piece Y blades don't do this. They need to be kept up to speed though. Fine cut blades are for cutting a lawn not for cutting heavy growth. The short part of the Y on the knives end does the cutting. Going by your logic, a rotary blade should be sharpened all the way along its length.

 

[Arc weld]

I do see a bit of grass hung up in the top of my Y side slicers & the triangle D ring hangers. Not a lot, but some at times. Less surface area in hung up grass than that of the D ring. I've never really bothered cleaning it out as it hasnt ever posed me a problem.

Everything has limitations and there's a lot of variables. Not having enough power, too fast of travel speed, rotor speed too slow, trying to cut too much, etc. There used to be a company in Edmonton that all they did was sub contract work cutting trashy fields the city couldn't get to. The owner of the company used to call the city to complain and since they were the only company equipped to do the work created more income for himself. He had around 30 tractors all equipped with Mott Flails including a couple Interstators. The most common set up he had was 74" Super heavy Duty flails on the back of MF245 tractors with 42 PTO HP. A lot of the operators weren't the brightest but the flails held up to extreme abuse... most of the time. One time an operator of a 3 gang Interstator on an MF275 got stuck in a ditch. They called a tandem tow truck to pull him out. I can't remember if it was the operator or the tow truck driver who hooked up the chain but they wrapped it around the rotor on the rear flail. After that my dad kept a spare rotor in stock. It's a pretty big job changing out a rotor and all the knives but you can't fix stupid.

 

[IslandTractor]

I think you're still missing the point. One piece knives like on a Ford can try to rip out the grass instead of cutting it. The 2 piece Y blades don't do this. They need to be kept up to speed though. Fine cut blades are for cutting a lawn not for cutting heavy growth. The short part of the Y on the knives end does the cutting. Going by your logic, a rotary blade should be sharpened all the way along its length.

I understand how fine cut blades work. I was just wondering if sharpening the leading edge of the vertical part would improve the clogging that occurs when fine cut blades get into thick tall grass.

 

[Fallon]

I understand how fine cut blades work. I was just wondering if sharpening the leading edge of the vertical part would improve the clogging that occurs when fine cut blades get into thick tall grass.

The little clogging I saw was on the shackles, not on the blades (Y side slicers). When cutting high grass, the tall part of the grass is standing vertically after getting cut. The next thing coming by is the big round shackle, so unsurprisingly the blade of grass wraps around it a bit. We aren't talking a lot of grass though, maybe 1/8 of a fist full at worst.

I see what you are saying, but don't see how sharpening the vertical bit would change that.

How much HP are we talking about driving the problematic 917? My L3200 HST has 25 PTO HP & runs my 7' 917 as good as my 5' rotary, which kind of surprised me. I do end up going a bit slower I think, but not a lot (going slower is also good for my back over my not super smooth field).

 

[IslandTractor]

How much HP are we talking about driving the problematic 917? My L3200 HST has 25 PTO HP & runs my 7' 917 as good as my 5' rotary, which kind of surprised me. I do end up going a bit slower I think, but not a lot (going slower is also good for my back over my not super smooth field).

I believe ovrszd uses a Ford with about 50hp which should be plenty of power.

 

[hunt4570]

I believe ovrszd uses a Ford with about 50hp which should be plenty of power.

Tractordata shows his 3910 ford at 37hp..

 

[IslandTractor]

Tractordata shows his 3910 ford at 37hp..

Isn't that PTO? I didn't check again today bit recalled gross HP being close to 50. Even with 37 gross and no HST, that is still more than my DK40 at PTO.

 

[hunt4570]

Isn't that PTO? I didn't check again today bit recalled gross HP being close to 50. Even with 37 gross and no HST, that is still more than my DK40 at PTO.

Ooops, my bad.. its 47hp with 42hp PTO, had to go back and look.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ooops, my bad.. its 47hp with 42hp PTO, had to go back and look.

Bottom line: no shortage of power to run a 917 flail.

 

[hunt4570]

Bottom line: no shortage of power to run a 917 flail.

I would not think, but the only flail I have run is my Caroni.. not real familiar with the 917..

 

[ovrszd]

Are you using the Flailmaster FM7 or FM7501732 blades. I had the impression you had the finer cut blades (FM7501732) as you never mentioned hangers. I also think/suspect that ArcWeld was referring to the fine cut blades when he was talking about them getting clogged up with long grass. I REALLY don't understand how the FM7 could get so clogged up in your 917 mower as that is essentially the same blade arrangement as my Caroni has and I've never seen more than an occasional blade of grass stuck to those even after mowing waist high grasses. If they did become clogged the hanger should swivel back and that should unload the grass by sliding it off.

I'm using single piece blades Fm220398.

Not doubting other's claims of success with inverted Y type blades I'm reluctant to spend an additional $200 on blades and have the same results. That's why I asked for Arc weld's opinion.

 

[TSO]

Me and KenB2920 confirmed last night... My 918H Ford spins "forward-up" ...

So which direction is the norm?

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm using single piece blades Fm220398.

Not doubting other's claims of success with inverted Y type blades I'm reluctant to spend an additional $200 on blades and have the same results. That's why I asked for Arc weld's opinion.

How many stations/attachment points on your rotor? I noted that Ford, like Caroni, sold rotors that had many stations for fine cut knives and another rotor with fewer stations for rough cut. At one point you mentioned heavy duty knives so I assumed rough cut rotor. If you have the fine cut rotor it's possible you cannot switch to the clevis mounted blades.

By the way, for all concerned, here is the FM220398 knife in question. SINGLE PIECE BLADE

Most of us would refer to these as scoop knives. They are generally used as finish mower knives, not rough cut. Finish mowers aren't really expected to mow knee high grass so that may be a part of the problem.

 

[Xfaxman]

Me and KenB2920 confirmed last night... My 918H Ford spins "forward-up" ...

So which direction is the norm?

This is what Alamo calls Foward Rotation, leonz calls it ccw, would this be "forward down"? My front mount rotates the other way, opposite of tire rotation moving forward.

 

[TSO]

This is what Alamo calls Foward Rotation, leonz calls it ccw, would this be "forward down"? My front mount rotates the other way, opposite of tire rotation moving forward.

<img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/attachments/440387-lets-talk-flail-mowers-frm-flial-jpg"/>

Yeah, I'm calling "forward-down" as same-direction-as-tires... I'm calling "forward-up" as opposite-direction-as-tires.

 

[ovrszd]

How many stations/attachment points on your rotor? I noted that Ford, like Caroni, sold rotors that had many stations for fine cut knives and another rotor with fewer stations for rough cut. At one point you mentioned heavy duty knives so I assumed rough cut rotor. If you have the fine cut rotor it's possible you cannot switch to the clevis mounted blades.

By the way, for all concerned, here is the FM220398 knife in question. SINGLE PIECE BLADE

Most of us would refer to these as scoop knives. They are generally used as finish mower knives, not rough cut. Finish mowers aren't really expected to mow knee high grass so that may be a part of the problem.

33

I further investigated. I can spend another $100 and try the inverted V side slice blades.

If there's improvement I'll report it.

If I get the same results I'll report it and sell the mower.

 

[ovrszd]

Yeah, I'm calling "forward-down" as same-direction-as-tires... I'm calling "forward-up" as opposite-direction-as-tires.

Me too.

Much simpler to understand than up/down CW/CCW.

 

[hunt4570]

How many stations/attachment points on your rotor? I noted that Ford, like Caroni, sold rotors that had many stations for fine cut knives and another rotor with fewer stations for rough cut. At one point you mentioned heavy duty knives so I assumed rough cut rotor. If you have the fine cut rotor it's possible you cannot switch to the clevis mounted blades.

By the way, for all concerned, here is the FM220398 knife in question. SINGLE PIECE BLADE

Most of us would refer to these as scoop knives. They are generally used as finish mower knives, not rough cut. Finish mowers aren't really expected to mow knee high grass so that may be a part of the problem.

I'm glad you posted that link.. which are the blades that fit the Caroni? Or are there options? Mine will be a light use unit most of the time.