Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

I was greasing up my Ford 907 today and I noticed that I was missing my tensioner spring! It must have flown off while I was mowing last week. I walked around the fields a bit but I had no luck. I'm going to walk them a little bit more over the weekend. I went to Messicks to look up a new one and saw that it was 50 bucks. Yikes! I'm sure I could get something at Lowes right? Does anyone with a 907 know how big of a spring I should be looking for?

I don't know about that model but I replaced the tensioner spring on my Caroni with something I found at HD or Lowe's. It's worked fine for five or six years.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

I must learn to read before posting!

Yes mine is a pull behind. I would like to think I could learn how close I could get but after years of running my rotary I still hit a few lol. They are just persimmon trees and I've never seen any problems with them after scarring them. I think I can make something to remedy that problem though.

 

[crreed67]

What is 3PL?

 

[IslandTractor]

What is 3PL?

?3 point litch

 

[crreed67]

:laughing: Possibly

 

[DavesTractor]

Yes mine is a pull behind. I would like to think I could learn how close I could get but after years of running my rotary I still hit a few lol. They are just persimmon trees and I've never seen any problems with them after scarring them. I think I can make something to remedy that problem though.

I was mowing my pistachio orchard last evening and nearly hit a tree. I had to clutch and brake and just missed dinging a tree. Go figure, brag about my mad mowing skills, and then see how life has a way of humbling us. But I did miss!

 

[gregharr55]

Well guys I finally got my Caroni TM1900 setup amd mowed a little in thic fescue but it is somewhat dryer than normal. I mowed in third gear in Kubota l4310 GST. I worked as advertised. I am well satisfied. Will use it more tomorrow.
Also to those who questioned my use of a slip clutch on the flail, I hope I did not insult anyone. That was not my intention. Someime I do come across as a jerk. I apologize if my reply was anything other than polite. Everyones information is appreciated and often caues me to spend money!
Humbly,
Greg

 

[jonsstihl]

well there went one and a half months of lunch breaks but I made it through the thread. managed to rebuild my mott 72 hd as well. 50 bucks for a spring. the tension spring on my mott is 2.39$ from flail master.

Lots of great info. thanks for taking the time to comment. about the slip clutches. The point of protecting the driveline is to protect the entire drive line. the job of the belts is to transmit power and protect the gearbox from shock loads but what is going to protect the tractors pto when the gearbox decides to head south. snow blower have multiple shear pins. I have a shear pin on my old pto shaft and it is right next to the tractor so it protects the whole drive line.

Mott states that gauge wheels are best used in really trashy areas where you wouldn't be mowing down to 2 inches anyways. If you have every snagged your roller on a stump and turned it into the worlds most expensive banana you can understand the use of gauge wheels. My mower has them but I don't use them because my field is fairly nice.

 

[Steave]

well there went one and a half months of lunch breaks but I made it through the thread. managed to rebuild my mott 72 hd as well. 50 bucks for a spring. the tension spring on my mott is 2.39$ from flail master.

Lots of great info. thanks for taking the time to comment. about the slip clutches. The point of protecting the driveline is to protect the entire drive line. the job of the belts is to transmit power and protect the gearbox from shock loads but what is going to protect the tractors pto when the gearbox decides to head south. snow blower have multiple shear pins. I have a shear pin on my old pto shaft and it is right next to the tractor so it protects the whole drive line.

Mott states that gauge wheels are best used in really trashy areas where you wouldn't be mowing down to 2 inches anyways. If you have every snagged your roller on a stump and turned it into the worlds most expensive banana you can understand the use of gauge wheels. My mower has them but I don't use them because my field is fairly nice.

That's a good thought about the slip clutch protecting against something going wrong before the cutting shaft. Mine is not protected anywhere except the belts.

I have a Mott 72 and was thinking of adding guage wheels just as you said to run in rough areas. Is yours factory or added on. Mine don't have a built in set up for wheels. Of course I'd leave the roller like it is. The second roller that is, the first one had some run ins with rocks and the rocks won. I'm thinking it wouldn't matter about the spacing between the wheels just something that looks like it would hold the back up even and fairly close to the back of the mower. Any suggestions would be welcomed.

 

[IslandTractor]

In all the time I've spent on TBN, I have never heard of someone damaging a tractor PTO because a gearbox failed. When gearboxes fail, which is rare enough, the PTO makes confetti of the gearbox not the other way around.

 

[CCWKen]

My old 6' Caldwell Barracuda flail has an 80hp gearbox and three large drive belts. The first time I used it in one area of the property, it found and wrapped about 200' of old barbwire fencing around the drum. By the time I turned around to see what was causing the "rattle", cedar posts were headed into the cutter. It stalled the 50hp Ford tractor before I could turn back around and disengage the PTO. There was no belt slip. I wish I had a slip clutch then but no damage was done, except for my pride. :ashamed:

It's hard to look cool driving back to the barn dragging fence wire and posts behind the tractor.

Took about two hours to get all that wire cut and pulled off the drum.

 

[IslandTractor]

It doesn't look any cooler to have fifty feet of garden hose wrapped around the rotor either! It took a while to stop the flail as the operator was too busy watching something slithering towards the tractor through the tall grass. I was thinking Anaconda at the time. The tractor finally stalled and then I found this:

 

[DavesTractor]

Funny stories you guys have about wrapping up wire and hose. I'll tell one. I was mowing a neighbor's field just as a favor. Really tall grass. About a half acre into it, I caught a hose that had been left out months before. I wound it up tight before I could stop the mower. Later the neighbor thanked me and I told her "I wound up your hose", and she thought that was so nice of me to do that. I then had to explain I did it with my tractor powered hose winder...

On wire, we get guys bringing in their flails with wire wrapped up. As you know, it is often almost like a big cable and not easy to remove. If it is still attached to the tractor, we back it over our loading dock and go at it with a torch. Just a quick swipe and many layers are cut. Pull that away with pliers and take another swipe, etc. It works really well. Disclaimers: Fire hazard obviously, and if the wire is up against a seal this can be a problem, but if it is, the seal is probably ruined by the wire anyway.

I just ordered a new flail yesterday. 12' Vrisimo Low Profile Orchard flail. Weighs well over 2000#. These are sweet machines, and common in the orchards around here.

 

[CADplans]

I just ordered a new flail yesterday. 12" Vrisimo Low Profile Orchard flail. Weighs well over 2000#. These are sweet machines, and common in the orchards around here.

My 90" cut JD 390 weighs 1100 pounds,, I would expect a 12" cut flail to weigh less,, not double!!?? :confused2:

:laughing:

 

[DavesTractor]

My 90" cut JD 390 weighs 1100 pounds,, I would expect a 12" cut flail to weigh less,, not double!!?? :confused2:

:laughing:

And it takes forever to mow the orchard with a 1 foot mower, especially since I often overlap that amount. And the dang thing is so heavy with a ton of weight on the 1' long roller that it is making big grooves in the orchard.

Typing, ugh.

144" mower, thanks!

 

[D2Cat]

Who builds the flail mowers for JD?

 

[gregharr55]

Finally got a chance to use my new caroni yesterday . All day. It exceeded my expectations. I cut briars and weeds so high I could barely see over them. Mowed some rough fescue areas also mowed a bunch of medium sized sprouts maybe one half inch in diameter. I set the mower up as u guys suggested. The roller is set on the third hole from the bottom. Here in nw georgia it is dry so things mowed with less power needed than usual. I have six hp per foot of mower. Was constantly afraid I would find a stump and bend the roller.
End of the day all went well. The brush and stuff were well cut and even. Doesnt cut bermuda grass well but is a rough cut mower anyway. Much more enjoyable than my five foot squealer bush hog.
Thanks everyone for all the tips and tricks. I regreased all bearings after four hours.
Thanks guys
Greg

 

[IslandTractor]

Finally got a chance to use my new caroni yesterday . All day. It exceeded my expectations. I cut briars and weeds so high I could barely see over them. Mowed some rough fescue areas also mowed a bunch of medium sized sprouts maybe one half inch in diameter. I set the mower up as u guys suggested. The roller is set on the third hole from the bottom. Here in nw georgia it is dry so things mowed with less power needed than usual. I have six hp per foot of mower. Was constantly afraid I would find a stump and bend the roller. End of the day all went well. The brush and stuff were well cut and even. Doesnt cut bermuda grass well but is a rough cut mower anyway. Much more enjoyable than my five foot squealer bush hog. Thanks everyone for all the tips and tricks. I regreased all bearings after four hours. Thanks guys Greg

Sounds like a good first day.

When worried about stumps and rocks, I just keep a bucket or grapple mounted and put the heel of the bucket at the level I don't want to mow over. With the rest of the bucket curled a bit it will act as a ramp and warn you before the flail gets to the stump. Also, though we all worry about damaging the rear roller on a stump it rarely happens. I don't recall any Caroni owner reporting a bent rear roller or main rotor. The flail knives will make such a racket when they hit a stump that you'd have to be asleep not to be able to let up on the go pedal and stop before the stump hit the rear roller. After ten seasons in rocky land, my rear roller looks like it lost a fight with a sledgehammer but it rolls true.

 

[D2Cat]

Saw a Ford 917L Special for sale. Anyone know why it is "special"? I have not seen it in person, only pictures and they did not send one of the knives. He said it looked like a tiller! He bought it at an auction and never used it.

Other mower is saw was a JD 25A. Looked life it had knives like hammers, but once again only pictures.

The Ford was in excellent shape with all the decals and paint in excellent shape.

Trying to decide which one I will get. Thanks for any ideas.

 

[CADplans]

Who builds the flail mowers for JD?

My JD 390 was built by Mexicans,, according to the ID tag,,, :cool2:

:confused2: