Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[sodamo]

Thanks for the info on the belts guys, good stuff.

 

[Alien]

I take the brunt of the weight on the skids and roller so there is not undue weight on the 3PL. The skids barely leave marks, just enough that if you look close you can see lines. to me, that is what the skids are for, not just for storage. The finish is what counts. My dad always said you should never turn with an implement on the back unless you lift it. Less chance of bending things.

 

[TerryCC]

I have the roller down one hole from where it came from the factory. You then have to move the skids down one notch to access the grease zerks. I set the 3 point hitch so the skids are 3/4 to 1 inch off the turf and it never digs in on turns and doesn't scalp with small ground humps. This set-up I think is in the 300+ page thread somewhere. I am mowing hay fields not lawns so the cut is higher but lower than a typical shredder.

 

[powerscol]

This is going to sound like a dumb question, but as I have read all the pages here over time. I see the words flail and shredder used separately and together . Some manufactures use the term shredder and some use flail. To clarify - are both the same and if not, how do you tell the deference? One thing I have noticed is shredders appear to come with the hammers, and not Y-knives.

Thanks in advance for putting me out of my confusion :confused2:

 

[IslandTractor]

This is going to sound like a dumb question, but as I have read all the pages here over time. I see the words flail and shredder used separately and together . Some manufactures use the term shredder and some use flail. To clarify - are both the same and if not, how do you tell the deference? One thing I have noticed is shredders appear to come with the hammers, and not Y-knives. Thanks in advance for putting me out of my confusion :confused2:

My understanding is that shredders and flail mowers use essentially the same mechanical parts and basic design but are optimized differently either for mowing or shredding crops. Shredders are typically larger and rough cut while mowers can be either fine or rough cut. I've never actually seen an agricultural shredder so take that with a grain or two of salt.

 

[aczlan]

Unless you are in Australia where a shredder is a bush hog type rotary mower...

 

[powerscol]

Unless you are in Australia where a shredder is a bush hog type rotary mower...

Figures, they are upside down and backwards from us, and drive on the wrong side of the road....I am allowed to say that as I have a friend in Perth. Keeps calling me a hopping cheese maggot for some reason :confused3::cool2:

They also drive utes, not trucks.

But one thing they do have that is a absolute fix all....."Vegemite"

 

[Permaculturist]

I'm still working my way through this thread (page 199 so far) but I'm going to jump ahead here and ask a question. Sorry if it has already been addressed, as I haven't come across it yet, or through my searches - What size does a rock need to be to become a problem for a heavy duty flail mower? We're talking Berti TA/S 220, Maschio GIRAFFA 210, or Seppi M SMO avs here with hammer flails.

I understand (from reading this thread) that hanging 'Y' knives from a clevis handle rocks better than cast hammers (are forged hammers any better??) but all these machines attach the Y knives directly to the rotor from what I can see. Also, the majority of the work I will be doing with this machine will be in light/medium brush, so I would like to stick with hammers.

I have a fair amount of rocks around here, though. If I have to I can follow one of Leonz ideas earlier in this thread, and mount a landscape rake to my FEL, but that's one more attachment to maintain, and I'm building quite the collection already.

But.. maybe I'm worrying about nothing here, and my inexperience with flail mowing is showing. So.. what size rock can I hit with one of the above machines without breaking a $40+ hammer?

Thanks in advance for any input. I'm heading back down to page 199 now for more wisdom. :thumbsup:

 

[Alien]

Unless you are in Australia where a shredder is a bush hog type rotary mower...

I live in the vegetable producing area in Queensland and shredders are used to mulch up the leftover cabbages, cauliflowers etc after picking. They are similar to a flail only bigger/heavier I guess.
I use a Flail mower with hammers as they not only chop up small trees and stick debris but leave a nice finish. They also deal well with annular weeds that are prolific from time to time.

 

[Alien]

I have rocks that keep surfacing after dry spells and I wander around picking the larger ones by hand and throwing them in the FEL. I don't worry about up to 2" as most of mine are sandstone, not like granite which should be avoided. The hammers can cut sandstone ok but still fling it around. I just plain try to avoid hitting any at all. I lifted my mower recently after several mows with the intention of touching up the hammers with a angle grinder but it barely required any work at all. There were no chunks out of any hammers and it was still reasonably sharp. I was pleasantly surprised.

 

[leonz]

I'm still working my way through this thread (page 199 so far) but I'm going to jump ahead here and ask a question. Sorry if it has already been addressed, as I haven't come across it yet, or through my searches - What size does a rock need to be to become a problem for a heavy duty flail mower? We're talking Berti TA/S 220, Maschio GIRAFFA 210, or Seppi M SMO avs here with hammer flails.

I understand (from reading this thread) that hanging 'Y' knives from a clevis handle rocks better than cast hammers (are forged hammers any better??) but all these machines attach the Y knives directly to the rotor from what I can see. Also, the majority of the work I will be doing with this machine will be in light/medium brush, so I would like to stick with hammers.

I have a fair amount of rocks around here, though. If I have to I can follow one of Leonz ideas earlier in this thread, and mount a landscape rake to my FEL, but that's one more attachment to maintain, and I'm building quite the collection already.

But.. maybe I'm worrying about nothing here, and my inexperience with flail mowing is showing. So.. what size rock can I hit with one of the above machines without breaking a $40+ hammer?

Thanks in advance for any input. I'm heading back down to page 199 now for more wisdom. :thumbsup:

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A flail mower can be damaged by a big enough rock and scare the )(*(*&^ out of you my friend. Debris will also break knife mounts off the Flail Mower Rotor and you will become a spiral surrounding a cylindrical shaft AKA "screwed" until you have it replaced by welding a new one on the Flail Mower Rotor.

With your turf and brush load I would use a York Rake or some other brand mounted up front to avoid many issues one being rocks and two being the debris some bozo may dump on your property and have brush grow up around it hiding it very well.

So you have some heavy grass and brush to remove once in awhile but it also reduces the plugged radiator syndrome very nicely too.

 

[IslandTractor]

I mow regularly in fields with hidden rocks. I can generally avoid the biggest but I hit rocks all the time. The worst that has happened is to lose a couple of knives and a clevis. After ten years mowing in rocky New England soil. I've probably replaced about 40 sets. Never damaged the actual mounts or the rotor.. Still on the original bearings. Rear roller looks like it's been used to clear a mine field but it works fine.

If you have rocky soil, my advice is to cut high and keep a lot of spare knife sets handy. The mower will survive.

 

[Greenland South]

I'm curious about the proper 3 point hitch set up. As you can see in the photo there is a slot that I'm currently using and holes for I'm assuming if you want the mower to be more rigid. Anyone have some insight on this. The 40 acres I'm mowing is by no definition smooth. I'm thinking it was ploughed or disced maybe 20 or 30 years ago and then allowed to grow in.

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm curious about the proper 3 point hitch set up. As you can see in the photo there is a slot that I'm currently using and holes for I'm assuming if you want the mower to be more rigid. Anyone have some insight on this. The 40 acres I'm mowing is by no definition smooth. I'm thinking it was ploughed or disced maybe 20 or 30 years ago and then allowed to grow in. <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=476821"/><img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=476822"/>

Your setup is basically correct. Ideally the topping lift would be adjusted so on flat ground the pin was centered on the slot.

Also, you have the mower set with no offset which is fine for field mowing but it looks like the mower has fittings to allow offset to the right which is sometimes helpful to mow closer to obstructions.like trees.

 

[leonz]

I'm curious about the proper 3 point hitch set up. As you can see in the photo there is a slot that I'm currently using and holes for I'm assuming if you want the mower to be more rigid. Anyone have some insight on this. The 40 acres I'm mowing is by no definition smooth. I'm thinking it was ploughed or disced maybe 20 or 30 years ago and then allowed to grow in. View attachment 476821View attachment 476822

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I hope you found the shredder bars that decided to jump ship. If you want you can always use roll pins to lock them in place at thier current setting and they will not jump ship on you.

I am unsure how much a box of roll pins that size-1/8"? maybe would cost to buy but they would eliminate the loss of cotter pins and shredder bars from falling away while mowing.

 

[Greenland South]

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I hope you found the shredder bars that decided to jump ship. If you want you can always use roll pins to lock them in place at thier current setting and they will not jump ship on you.

I am unsure how much a box of roll pins that size-1/8"? maybe would cost to buy but they would eliminate the loss of cotter pins and shredder bars from falling away while mowing.

I still have one bar missing in action. I resorted to some bent nails over the cotter pins because I had nothing else with me this weekend. Here's a pic of the field I just finished.

 

[leonz]

I still have one bar missing in action. I resorted to some bent nails over the cotter pins because I had nothing else with me this weekend. Here's a pic of the field I just finished. View attachment 476928

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MMM, MMMM, MMMM, I love it when a plan comes
together and you have a good flail mower to use

you can forget about having to deal with any invasive's
as long as you keep the sod that low.

Be sure to mow lower at the end of the season if you
want to broadcast grass seed.

 

[Zerker]

I still have one bar missing in action. I resorted to some bent nails over the cotter pins because I had nothing else with me this weekend. Here's a pic of the field I just finished. View attachment 476928

What was your estimated time doing a field of that size?

The first time I used my flail mower I couldnt believe how relaxing it was. Nothing but me, a few birds flying around the tractor and 20 thousand bugs jumping on me from all the 4-5 foot tall grass I was mowing. Took me about 11 hours over the course of 3 days to finish 10ish acres. Now the next time I mow I should be able to cut that time in half i'm guessing since it wont be so tall.

 

[Fallon]

My L3200 HST (32hp, 60" track with R4s) running my old Ford 917 (74" cutting width) does an acre an hour in smooth obstacle free field. Obstacles, rough terrain & heavy brush slow me down a fair bit.

 

[Jack Yuan]

They also carry this model that I have been looking at, http://www.value-leader.com/57-ditch-bank-flail-mower-w-hammers-installed-agl145/ , assuming the HP listed is PTO. If it is tractor HP I might consider the 165 model. Is anyone familiar with the Farmer Helper Machinery brand (actually have one). Also one other question is if I get the grass blade model, can it be converted the the hammer flail later after the blades wear out, of should I just get the hammer flail to start. Thanks

We called grass blade as "Y blade" here, my suggestion is that you can replace hammer by grass blade, but not replace grass blade by hammer. otherwise the balance of rotor shaft will be changed too much and then cause vibration.

This factory is the common level here.