Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

If you can purchase a heavy duty flail that has only been used seasonally all the better as
it will have plenty of life in it as the steel used to build it is much heavier.
You also need to be able to raise it with the 3 point hitch on your mule.

Just be sure to check the welds onn the flail mower shroud with a hammer-the steel will
not vibrate much if the welds are still good and the steel is not rusted through.

 

[leonz]

Yay I love it when a plan comes together.

PRCWI if I have not welcomed you as a new member of the Flail Mower Nations
I am doing so now.

 

[PRCWI]

Thanks, my only regret about owning a flail mower is that I didn't purchase one sooner.

I have two bush hogs gathering dust that I need to get sold or trade in or something. I do wish I had a slightly more powerful tractor to run my flail but it's good to give my old Oliver 770 a workout every summer.

And thanks for this thread and all the participants...tons of great knowledge here!

 

[morgart40]

Can someone tell me how long the Caroni TM1900 is? I am trying to compare its length to a woods rotary chopper. I am leaning towards the Caroni if Agrisupply gets them back in stock soon but I am concerned about being able to mow high enough with it. I want to clip my pastures with it but the lowest I would want to go is about 6" after the cattle go through it. I also sometimes need to go in and clip the seed heads in front of the cattle and at that time the grass is waist high and I would only want to just take the tops off so I would like to mow at 12" or as high as possible. Can the Caroni handle this? Will it be able to cut the grass behind the tire tracks? I also mow some CRP ground and around the pasture so it would get some light to slightly medium brush use.

 

[IslandTractor]

Can someone tell me how long the Caroni TM1900 is? I am trying to compare its length to a woods rotary chopper. I am leaning towards the Caroni if Agrisupply gets them back in stock soon but I am concerned about being able to mow high enough with it. I want to clip my pastures with it but the lowest I would want to go is about 6" after the cattle go through it. I also sometimes need to go in and clip the seed heads in front of the cattle and at that time the grass is waist high and I would only want to just take the tops off so I would like to mow at 12" or as high as possible. Can the Caroni handle this? Will it be able to cut the grass behind the tire tracks? I also mow some CRP ground and around the pasture so it would get some light to slightly medium brush use.

Not sure what you mean by "long". The cutting width is 1.9 meters or 75". It sticks out behind the 3PT pins about 3 feet or so.

I occasionally run the flail lifted off the rear roller. It certainly still cuts but doesn't mulch then. If I wanted to do that routinely I would adapt some sort of rear guide wheel arrangement to allow the weight and mower to follow the ground better. It can be pretty bouncy on rough terrain when the 3PT is carrying all the weight. I do it all the time when transporting on a dirt road though. Seems to me that a couple of 2x2 receiver hitches welded to the top or side would permit removable wheels to be used when actually mowing.

 

[morgart40]

It sticks out behind the 3PT pins about 3 feet or so. .

That's what I was looking for. The rotary chopper is nearly 10 feet long so there is a considerable amount of space saving when I go to store them. When you mow with it lifted off the rear roller how does it cut behind your tire tracks? Is it able to lift and cut the grass or is the grass smashed down too much and is missed? I'm not too worried about it getting bouncy, I can go slow if need be. I just want to make sure it is cutting the seed heads.

 

[IslandTractor]

That's what I was looking for. The rotary chopper is nearly 10 feet long so there is a considerable amount of space saving when I go to store them. When you mow with it lifted off the rear roller how does it cut behind your tire tracks? Is it able to lift and cut the grass or is the grass smashed down too much and is missed? I'm not too worried about it getting bouncy, I can go slow if need be. I just want to make sure it is cutting the seed heads.

Good question about the tire tracks. Cannot answer clearly. When I raise the mower to cut it is nearly always in brush not grass. And the only time I do it in grass is in very thick grass as a first pass before recutting lower. With the mower up at a foot above ground I'd say there would be little if any vacuum effect to raise the grass. That said, it probably depends on the grass type and moisture so hard to predict if the mower will cut seed heads cleanly in tire track.

 

[Fallon]

My Ford 917 does a poor job at mowing my tracks at 5-6" high when the grass is knee high or higher. I doubt any flail will do that well at a foot high. The grass is squished down by the tires & won't spring back up for a day at least. So it won't get cut.

All the turbulence from a rotary or flail will pull some up, if the blades are pretty low. But not a foot or higher off the ground.

 

[morgart40]

How easy is it and how long does it take to adjust the roller height? I usually mow the pasture and a horse riding area right after one another and I try to keep the riding area mowed short.

 

[IslandTractor]

How easy is it and how long does it take to adjust the roller height? I usually mow the pasture and a horse riding area right after one another and I try to keep the riding area mowed short.

Remove two bolts, swing roller, reinstall bolts. The last photo from inside under mower shows a curved plate with holes that pivots on the rear of the mower housing and is attached to the roller. One on each side. There are five possible holes to put the bolts through depending on desired height.