Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Greenland South]

I did look at the Chinese flails beings old by the guy in Kelowna. After factoring in the shipping, lack of local support and the buy local mentality I tend to have, buying the Sicma from the local New Holland guy made sense. I tend to look after my rolling gear and after looking for months for a decent and not overly priced used machine without much luck I came to the conclusion new was the way to go.
Anyone want a Swisher 54" tow behind rough cut, I know a guy who's selling a lightly used one

 

[Jack Yuan]

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Hello Mr. Yuan,

The comparison for the hinged discharge guard plates is like night and day as chains will not stop all the material from being ejected out the front of a flail mower if such an incident were to occur.

They stopped offering them on rotary cutters here as far as I know because of the potential liability of impact damage to persons or property. offering them on flail mower is an automatic invitation to chain breakage failure and potentially having a piece of the chain hitting the operator, livestock, a pedestrian or property.

The European Unions pedestrian safety requirements for mowers mandate the hinged front plate guards be used to reduce the throwing of debris to a zero chance. They worry more about mowers injuring pedestrians than we do on this side of the Atlantic Ocean.

It's true. I still can remembered that those inspectors checked many things on the plates on my mowers, include their gap, angle, thickness, material.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

I sharpened all of the knives on my mower today hoping to stop the build up of cut grass on them. Set the cut height to about 5'' to make absolutely sure they wouldn't get in the dirt and slowly went into the taller grass which was maybe 12'' tall. Noticed within maybe 40' that the cut was getting worse. Stopped the mower and it had just as much grass built up on the knives as before maybe even more.

Anyone have this problem or know what to do to fix it?

 

[lennyzx11]

Is it possibly one that is running the reverse rotation?
I don't know much as I'm a new owner also but reading through this thread I remember the mention of some are forward rotation and some are reverse rotation in relation to the tractors rear wheels.
I have an old Mott. Old beat up finish cut blades. I waded it off into 4 ft weeds, briars and then over my head brush. At the end of each test. There was no build up on the blades or rotor.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Is it possibly one that is running the reverse rotation?
I don't know much as I'm a new owner also but reading through this thread I remember the mention of some are forward rotation and some are reverse rotation in relation to the tractors rear wheels.
I have an old Mott. Old beat up finish cut blades. I waded it off into 4 ft weeds, briars and then over my head brush. At the end of each test. There was no build up on the blades or rotor.

Mine does run opposite of what the tractor tires turn.

 

[leonz]

I sharpened all of the knives on my mower today hoping to stop the build up of cut grass on them. Set the cut height to about 5'' to make absolutely sure they wouldn't get in the dirt and slowly went into the taller grass which was maybe 12'' tall. Noticed within maybe 40' that the cut was getting worse. Stopped the mower and it had just as much grass built up on the knives as before maybe even more.

Anyone have this problem or know what to do to fix it?

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Hello Ozarks Landowner,


Were the cutting edges on the knives shiny/blue?????????????


Your Flail Mowers cutting height is still too high. As it is set now the Flail Mower cannot create an adequate pressure gradient vacuum/suction and pull the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor.


The side slicers have no ground effect resistance to push against which is what is created by the ground being close to the knife edges. essentially the knife edge is just passing through the brush and the back side of the knife edge is not carrying the clippings sufficiently up and over the flail mower rotor.

I want to help you I really do.

 

[leonz]

Mine does run opposite of what the tractor tires turn.

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That is how it s supposed to run.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

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Hello Ozarks Landowner,


Were the cutting edges on the knives shiny/blue?????????????


Your Flail Mowers cutting height is still too high. As it is set now the Flail Mower cannot create an adequate pressure gradient vacuum/suction and pull the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor.


The side slicers have no ground effect resistance to push against which is what is created by the ground being close to the knife edges. essentially the knife edge is just passing through the brush and the back side of the knife edge is not carrying the clippings sufficiently up and over the flail mower rotor.

I want to help you I really do.

No they didn't get that hot at all. I just barely put a edge on them as they were not sharp at all when I bought them new. I will try to lower the cutting height and try again. I was just wanting to make sure the knives didn't get in any dirt.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ozarks Landowner, are you running the mower at full PTO speed?

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Ozarks Landowner, are you running the mower at full PTO speed?

My tractors tach quit working years ago but yes I am running full PTO Speed.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

=====================================================================

Hello Ozarks Landowner,


Were the cutting edges on the knives shiny/blue?????????????


Your Flail Mowers cutting height is still too high. As it is set now the Flail Mower cannot create an adequate pressure gradient vacuum/suction and pull the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor.


The side slicers have no ground effect resistance to push against which is what is created by the ground being close to the knife edges. essentially the knife edge is just passing through the brush and the back side of the knife edge is not carrying the clippings sufficiently up and over the flail mower rotor.

I want to help you I really do.

I forgot to mention that even with the unit set to cut that high the suction I see is incredible. I ran it over the road I drive on and it was picking up small pieces of gravel and throwing so much dust I could barely see through it. When I was in the grass I could see grass starting to move a good foot in front of the drum.

 

[jimmysisson]

Speaking of suction, do you flail owners regularly see loads of clippings on the mower and debris in the air when mowing? My Mott SHD88 came with no shields, so I made some. The debris is awful when mowing over some month-old cuttings like I did today. But messy any time. Here's the front of the mower when I got done about an hour today: And here's the shield I made a few years ago:
The mower is on the ground in the pic. The rear shield is similar and clears the ground by about 4", closer than the front. The mower cuts very well (fine cut w side slicer pairs) but the airborne grass clippings are a pain on an open tractor. What do you guys experience? Jim

 

[IslandTractor]

I don't see clouds of grass clippings. The only time I see clouds coming from the mower is if I scalp dry ground. Doesn't happen much but then I do get dust clouds.

 

[CobaltSky]

I finally got a chance to get my Caroni TM1900 into use yesterday. After greasing, adding oil, cutting and mounting the PTO shaft and lowering the skids to the lowest setting, and the roller to match that height, I was off. (I wanted to do first cut on highest setting and then look for rocks.)
I ended up with a lot of marks where the skids dug in a bit, a lot of cut pasture, but a fair bit of trampled grass that wasn't cut, and a few tall areas that were just missed by the cutters somehow. I have since lowered the height on the skids and rollers to the halfway mark, and picked the biggest rocks, ready to make my second pass, but wanted to make sure I'm doing things right.

I'd like to eliminate the skids sliding on the ground and leaving marks. Can I adjust the roller so it is a bit below the skids? Or do I do this with angle on the 3pt toplink or something? Or is this just typical behavior?

The uncut/trampled pasture, I am assuming is due to the tallish height I was cutting at? And should get better with a lower cut height?

Any other advice?


Thanks!

 

[jimmysisson]

The roller should be below the skids, which are not involved in setting the cut height. Reset the roller lower and on a flat surface set you three point links to give you the cut height you want. Do you have a gauge on the position lever to set it to a repeatable height? Also I find in this very dry grass it doesn't spring back up where your tires roll over it - is that what's not being cut? Same problem w the riding mower. Jim

DOUBLE POST IGNORE

 

[jimmysisson]

The roller should be below the skids, which are not involved in setting the cut height. Reset the roller lower and on a flat surface set your three point links to give you the cut height you want. Do you have a gauge on the tractor position lever to set it to a repeatable height? That would help.

Also I find in this very dry grass it doesn't spring back up where your tires roll over it - is that what's not being cut? Same problem w the riding mower.

Jim

 

[CobaltSky]

The roller should be below the skids, which are not involved in setting the cut height. Reset the roller lower and on a flat surface set your three point links to give you the cut height you want. Do you have a gauge on the tractor position lever to set it to a repeatable height? That would help.

Also I find in this very dry grass it doesn't spring back up where your tires roll over it - is that what's not being cut? Same problem w the riding mower.

Jim

Thanks, it is pretty dry here. Tractor has a movable stop screw on the 3pt control that I can move to create a minimum height. Roller should be on the ground, but not skids, correct? The Caroni manual says set them the same, so that is how I started...

 

[IslandTractor]

Cobalt, is the topping lift in the slot and adjusted so at rest on flat ground it is mid slot?

With very tall grass sometimes slowing down is helpful.

If stripes of uncut grass are consistent check to see if a rock has eaten one of your knife sets.

 

[CobaltSky]

Cobalt, is the topping lift in the slot and adjusted so at rest on flat ground it is mid slot?

With very tall grass sometimes slowing down is helpful.

If stripes of uncut grass are consistent check to see if a rock has eaten one of your knife sets.

Good point. I need to get on some flat ground and check that before I start back up. I have the top link in the slot but I didn't check to see what part of the slot it reats in on level ground. If I run with skids not contacting the ground, I am assuming the weight of the mower would shift the pin to one side of the slot anyway.

How do you set up/use your Caroni vis-a-vis the skids and roller and mowing 3pt position?

 

[IslandTractor]

Good point. I need to get on some flat ground and check that before I start back up. I have the top link in the slot but I didn't check to see what part of the slot it reats in on level ground. If I run with skids not contacting the ground, I am assuming the weight of the mower would shift the pin to one side of the slot anyway. How do you set up/use your Caroni vis-a-vis the skids and roller and mowing 3pt position?

Skids retracted as far as possible. Rear roller down as far as possible. Topping link as I described. 3PT at either lowest or low setting.

I'm using iPhone which won't cooperate with TBN for photos but I just mowed four acres like that and it worked fine. I mow with RPM about 2000-2100 when PTO speed is about 2500.