Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[metalbender]

No rows, just a few fruit trees helter skelter. More for deer paths. Lots of carragana seeded itself over the years. Have the scoop knives. Could set the roller for a little closer shave.

 

[leonz]

No rows, just a few fruit trees helter skelter. More for deer paths. Lots of carragana seeded itself over the years. Have the scoop knives. Could set the roller for a little closer shave.

Welcome to the Flail Mower Nations Metalbender,


Happy mowing

 

[def38]

Two guys here have mentioned that the lube points were not standard and had to be replaced on their Titan, and that the roller lube points were almost on the ground, easily damaged, and broke off. What model do you have that doesn't have this grease zerk placement problem?

The Chinese built Titan fail mower uses standard Zerk fittings (4 of them) two for the rear roller and two for the flail drum. The included PTO shaft also has four Zerk fittings. Only yesterday, I removed the PTO shaft and greased the PTO fittings. After almost one year, the PTO shaft is like new. I also greased the slide where the shafts halves join. Don't worry about phasing...the shaft joint design insures correct shaft phasing.

When I got my mower from Titan ( Titan Flail Mower 6" 3 Point PTO Tractor Attachment Heavy Duty Cutting EFGC155 ), upon arrival, I noticed that the rear roller Zerks were facing the ground and vulnerable to damage from ground contact during mowing. I removed the screws at each end on the rear roller and oriented the bearing retainers so as to preclude damage to the Zerks, an easy job that took about an hour. Yesterday, I also greased the roller and drum bearings and noticed the rear roller Zerks were unmolested. I have notified Titan as have others of the potential for damage to the Zerks for the rear roller as the mower comes from the manufacturer.


Now about the mower itself; As an American and a mechanical engineer, I am critical of most foreign made machinery. Their engineering is strange or non-existent (they merely copy). This includes most foreign stuff. Germany is the exception. German products are well engineered, carefully assembled and most often meet strict German or EU standards for quality, safety and compliance. My BMW motorcycle is testament to that. Those of us who have owned or wrenched on German stuff are familiar with their quality. American stuff is close behind the German stuff. Japanese stuff is also very high quality (Toyota cars are likely the best made currently).

I rank flail mowers in the following ways; Materials, design, welding, performance. So far, other than the Zerk issue, the Chinese flail from Titan ranks high (I have no other mower to compare directly, only my experience). The 60 inch mower weighs 570 lbs so there is plenty of steel in the mower. Also, the welds look well done with adequate penetration.

I just finished cutting my 6 acres yesterday. My recently cleared 5 acre field still has some rocks, sticks, roots, debris and Buick hubcaps to deal with. The Titan with hammer flails leaves a well groomed look for the 1 acre lawn and tears through the 5 acre field planted in clover and grasses, some as tall as 3 feet. My M-F 231S with 40 HP sips fuel, cuts the tall grass to 3 inches without hesitation and the Titan flail has never complained, the belts are original and never slip, and the hammer flails remain in balance.

When I disengage the PTO and allow the flail drum to coast to a stop, the overrunning clutch allows the driveline to spin for about 15-20 seconds before clanking to rest indicating to me the driveline is free, not binding and running true.


So, as you can surmise, I am a fan of the Titan flail mower. Titans service and free shipping are a big plus, as well.

 

[def38]

Slight aside:
We have a Bosch dishwasher. SUPER quiet, it has a light that shines on the floor so you know it is running. There is no heating element to dry the dishes but they dry just fine. However OUR machine likes to leave bits of stuff on the glasses, even the insides. Doesn't matter which wash cycle is used. The best way to get rid of those before they harden on as they dry is to take them out as soon as the cycle finishes and wipe them with a towel.

Back to your regularly scheduled flail mower discussion.

Hmmm...so that means, you are part of the automatic dishwashing cycle.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Does anybody have a Berci ta180 flail. It can hydqrolicly move the mower around and angle it to do banks. Looking at buying one but does anybody have any experience with them.

 

[Green Acres Homestead]

Actually I found another call sovema pl180 Does anyone know or used these.

 

[leonz]

Does anybody have a Berci ta180 flail. It can hydraulicly move the mower around and angle it to do banks. Looking at buying one but does anybody have any experience with them.

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

The BERTI and SOVEMA farm implements are very high quality built farm implements and they make a lot of farm implements that are sold in Europe and exported worldwide.

 

[3Lfarms]

Does anybody have a Berci ta180 flail. It can hydqrolicly move the mower around and angle it to do banks. Looking at buying one but does anybody have any experience with them.

I have an older Berti TA 200. Very well built heavy duty machine. Mine was abused by the county road crew that didn’t know how to use it, but with a little work it works like new. The roller and rotor bearing are still in great shape and I think the hammers were replaced not long ago with Berti OEM replacements.
It eats brush right down to the ground and will chew up cinderblocks and 1/2 rebar. Yes, I accidentally found both hiding in some brush. It will wrap up a lot of barbed wire really fast as well. No damage from any of these with the exception of a couple small chips in the edge of one of the hammers after it picked up the two 3’ pieces of rebar. The rebar was pretty mangled, but fell out when I lifted the mower.
A Berti is a lifetime mower unless you are mindless county employee that likes to destroy stuff.
I cleaned it up and painted it to match my tractor.

 

[leonz]

1. Garden hose snakes are the worst and extension cord snakes take second place in nasty behavior when removing them.

2. I have seen so many mower crews damage equipment over the years its not funny as well as asshat mowing jobs where they have to come back and mow a second time after the land owners complain about the sh(&&% mowing job that is left in front of their properties

 

[Valkyreel]

Hello all.
I have decided to get a Caroni flail mower. I want a tm1900fsc (122 knifes) for a one pass finish. But, after getting a quote of $3512.99 + $260 shipping, I'm rethinking my F rotor choice. Question. Can I buy the B rotor model (tm1900bcs) for $2240 and add to or change the knives? Was thinking of ditching the clevis and short knives, and adding the A/F style (long) knives with a spacer, possibly a longer bolt and adding a knife to the outside of the knife hanger tabs. Is this possible, smart, worth the time and effort, or am I just being cheap? Thanks.

 

[dieselscout80]

Well, I finally did it. I ordered all new knives, links, and hangers for my Ford 917. Instead of the airplane wings that it came with, I decided (after much deliberation and research) to get the extreme duty side slicers from Flailmaster. I installed them over the weekend. The mower came with half the blades missing or broken. I took it for a quick spin and I like the results. It's still not at it's fullest potential as I am waiting for a local shop to make me a new roller and roller brackets. So I was mowing without a roller and it seemed to do decent. It would sure be nice to be able to set the mower down on it's roller to keep a height instead of waiting to hear it hit the dirt and adjust...

I cannot say enough good things about Flailmaster. Their online store is down and it is difficult for me to order over the phone with my work schedule. I emailed them explaining this, and Carrie gave me her cell phone number to complete my order after hours! That's good customer service. :thumbsup:

Do the side slicers seem to take less HP to than your old knives (wing)?

What size is your 917?

What tractor are you running it with?

 

[leonz]

Hello and good morning Dieselscout80,

The side slicer knives provide up to 4 times the cutting edge length in total of a scoop knife and they will allow you to recut the material on a second and third pass if needed.

The horsepower needed is based on the PTO HP of the mule delivering the required torque to the gearbox and then to the cross shaft and then to the drive pulley for the belt drive to the driven pulley.

Just to give you an example my father used a Ford Jubilee gas mule to power his 7 foot JD25A finish mower to knock down 12-15 foot goldenrod to reclaim old pasture.

 

[dieselscout80]

Hello and good morning Dieselscout80,

The side slicer knives provide up to 4 times the cutting edge length in total of a scoop knife and they will allow you to recut the material on a second and third pass if needed.

The horsepower needed is based on the PTO HP of the mule delivering the required torque to the gearbox and then to the cross shaft and then to the drive pulley for the belt drive to the driven pulley.

Just to give you an example my father used a Ford Jubilee gas mule to power his 7 foot JD25A finish mower to knock down 12-15 foot goldenrod to reclaim old pasture.

Ok

I have a 917 with the winged knives.

I’m wondering if the side slicers knives would allow me to cutter more with the same horse power that I currently have. Like could I cut one gear higher or cut taller grass than I currently am able to?

So in your experience does cutting the same material take less horsepower than before?

 

[leonz]

The horsepower and torque is the same as the power train delivering the torque to the PTO is what is doing all the work and if you mow with a faster gear you can still burn up belts.

Yes there is no reason you cannot use the side slicer knives as they will provide you with a better cut.

The thing is you need to maintain the same amount of power through the drive train with the engine at
the 540 RPM speed in the correct gear for it to work properly and not burn up belts.

When you talking about mowing tall brush you cannot expect to mow the brush at a higher gear BUT if you slow
down you can mow it down to 2 inches in height and be able to spend much less time mowing when you mow the next time.

I can send you a video of INO folding flail crop shredder bringing down mature sunflowers and corn crops with a high horsepower mule just to show you what is possible.

 

[jthibodeau89]

1. Garden hose snakes are the worst and extension cord snakes take second place in nasty behavior when removing them.

2. I have seen so many mower crews damage equipment over the years its not funny as well as asshat mowing jobs where they have to come back and mow a second time after the land owners complain about the sh(&&% mowing job that is left in front of their properties

Nylon Hackamore horse halters with a 12' soft nylon lead type attached are also difficult to remove. All me how i know!!!! Afterward i asked my wife if she was missing a lead rope, and her response was 'I wondered where that went '. Apparently it fell of her ATV when she was side hilling across a pasture well away from the barn. The heavy brass clasp made quote a bit of noise until it destroyed itself in the few seconds before i could disengage the PTO.

 

[leonz]

Hate it when that happens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Xfaxman]

Hello all.
I have decided to get a Caroni flail mower. I want a tm1900fsc (122 knifes) for a one pass finish. But, after getting a quote of $3512.99 + $260 shipping, I'm rethinking my F rotor choice. Question. Can I buy the B rotor model (tm1900bcs) for $2240 and add to or change the knives? Was thinking of ditching the clevis and short knives, and adding the A/F style (long) knives with a spacer, possibly a longer bolt and adding a knife to the outside of the knife hanger tabs. Is this possible, smart, worth the time and effort, or am I just being cheap? Thanks.

I am surprised that your question got missed. I don't know the answer, but maybe someone that does will see it this time.

 

[Valkyreel]

Thanks. I was going to bump it in a day or two.

 

[def38]

Was mowing with my Titan flail mower the other day and I ran across some invisible barbed fence wire laying in the tall grass. Immediately the mower began to complain and sparks came from under the mower as I quickly looked backwards what was causing the horrible noise. I clutched the PTO and got off the tractor to see what was going on underneath. Just a 5 foot length of barbed wire so I got back in the saddle, engaged the PTO and the mower began dropping small bits of wire from under the mower...soon the soil will have some additional iron. The mower chewed it up in about ten seconds and I went on to finish the five acre field without incident. Glad for those forged hammer flails and 4 drive belts. The mower never even slowed from the wire encounter.

 

[ericm979]

Wow. Good thing it wasn't 20' with a fence post tied to the other end.