Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[docsfarm]

Hello Docsfarm,

I am glad you did not have to deal with the barbed wire snakes and the wire removal job went well.

Thanks Leon!

 

[JimCan]

In looking at I-T's photos.. there's a solid chance I bolted the triangular piece the top link attaches to backwards. His 'floating slot' is nearly vertical whereas mine is fully horizontal.. I need to look.

Jim

 

[sidecarist]

In looking at I-T's photos.. there's a solid chance I bolted the triangular piece the top link attaches to backwards. His 'floating slot' is nearly vertical whereas mine is fully horizontal.. I need to look.

Jim

You want the slot horizontal, this allows the unit to float and articulate across the ground. I think IT said he had installed his wrong and has changed it now so it's horizontal.

 

[powerscol]

JimCan.

I believe you have yours installed correctly "The slot in the topping lift tower should be parallel to the ground not angled." So from your description you have it installed the correct way. Can you take a picture so folks can verify?

 

[IslandTractor]

In looking at I-T's photos.. there's a solid chance I bolted the triangular piece the top link attaches to backwards. His 'floating slot' is nearly vertical whereas mine is fully horizontal.. I need to look. Jim

Read my post carefully. I noted that the dealer had installed my topping lift tower backwards. At the time I took those photos I hadn't figured that out yet. The slot should be horizontal not angled like in the photo. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[JimCan]

Claro I-T ..I think I'll leave it at the moment. I'm only into about my third hour of using the flail, better I go slow. I found just raising the lower lift arms a bit seems to ease the audible processing going on out back. Only once in these few hours has the governor asked the tractor for more power to add to the effort. There is frequently a sound as if the mower is 'digesting' something more that in the previous 10' feet - like it had a chunk to deal with.

I am a convert. This mower has done a better job on my pasture than both a bush hog and finishing mower. Both already sold off.

The pasture will never get this tall again.

Jim

 

[JimCan]

I wanted to add a separate bit. We live in the woods and theres always a ton of leaves and pine shats. I blow them into piles with one of those wheeled-blowers then drag them off into the woods.

My wife likes 'clean' shats for her garden beds but leaves and shats have the same schedule. So I thought what about giving them a good thrashing?

A couple of passes and the usual dumpy mess looks a lot better...

It's not perfect ..the shats do not break into smaller pieces (maybe with more passes?) but it's still remarkably better than I would have expected. Am thinking about horse manure and light soil blending...


Jim

 

[Dan in MN]

JimCan,
Doesn't look like a huge amount of space between the roller and frame, the problems I had with mine were all due to not enough space to eject the material I was cutting so it built up under the mower deck. Drop the roller as low as it goes in relation to the frame if you want to make sure that isn't your issue also.

Dan

 

[JimCan]

Dan... Someone suggested lowering the roller to gain height but my roller is fixed. There's spring-loaded flap above the roller - like a 'trailing scraper'. If I play with that I can reproduce the sound.. it may be material wanting to sneak out this flap rather than getting rolled over....? I'll take a pic of the roller setup in the next few days. Thanks.

Jim
Flaillist

 

[Dan in MN]

Opening the door a bit to allow more room for ejection would duplicate dropping the roller and determine if that's the problem or not. If it doesn't seem to load harder and pull the tractor down then it probably isn't that problem. If it's just a sound it's more like what I'm experiencing now after changing to scoop knives. I get a vibration along with a nasty sound, if you are familiar with boating it kind of reminds me of a boat motor cavitating. It's the end of the year and grass isn't growing any more so I haven't experimented with mine at all to try and solve it.