Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[retiredfarmer]

I posted these questions in the general Attachments section, but I think they will fit better in this discussion:

Hello,
I will be evaluating a Mott Flail Mower with the 4 rows of knives. They are the long Y knives. I believe it is a Mott K72.

What should I evaluate when looking it over?

Do the Mott mowers turn the blade drum in the same direction as the tires on the tractor. If so can the blade direction be reversed?

Is there any advantage to changing the blades over to the other style of fine cut blades held on with the D ring as shown in Flailmaster's catalog?

Also, would this mower be capable of handling heavier brush if I replaced the Long Y blades with the D ring style fine cut blades, but only installed blades on every other station in a manner that the blade coverage overlapped with the other 3 stations on the drum?

Really wanted to replace a 6 ft Rotary Mower with this flail mower, but fear I will not be able mow as heavy material.

Thank you for any input.

 

[leonz]

I posted these questions in the general Attachments section, but I think they will fit better in this discussion:

Hello,
I will be evaluating a Mott Flail Mower with the 4 rows of knives. They are the long Y knives. I believe it is a Mott K72.

What should I evaluate when looking it over?

Do the Mott mowers turn the blade drum in the same direction as the tires on the tractor. If so can the blade direction be reversed?

Is there any advantage to changing the blades over to the other style of fine cut blades held on with the D ring as shown in Flailmaster's catalog?

Also, would this mower be capable of handling heavier brush if I replaced the Long Y blades with the D ring style fine cut blades, but only installed blades on every other station in a manner that the blade coverage overlapped with the other 3 stations on the drum?

Really wanted to replace a 6 ft Rotary Mower with this flail mower, but fear I will not be able mow as heavy material.

Thank you for any input.

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Good Morning Retired Farmer, Happy New Year,

You can replace your rotary with the Mott Finish Flail Mower. Parts for this flail mower are easy to obtain as well.

If it has the side slicer knives you have a Mott Finish Cut Flail Mower. You can and will be able to mow heavy brush so no worries there.
The largest majority being 99% of all flail mowers are set up to rotate clockwise including forestry flail mowers.

You do not have to worry about having to deal with changing the rotation of the flail mower rotor as each side slicer has 2 cutting edges which will allow you to mow in reverse in heavy tall brush and then mow forward to knock down heavy brush loads.

In the recent past I have described in detail how a finish flail mower has the ability to recut the material as the side slicers create a pressure gradient to lift the cut material up a second time to shred the clippings even finer to allow them to turn to mulch and deteriorate faster.

When you are looking at a used flail mower you need to make sure that there are no rust holes in the flail mower shroud and that the flail mower rotor spins freely and to make sure the rear roller also spins freely. You should also plan on changing the V belts and the oil in the gearbox.

A good finish or rough cut flail mower will have much more steel in it than a rotary mower as the flail mower shroud is welded to the side weldments and then it is strengthened by the tubular steel that prevents it from wracking and twisting.

Looking at the Vrsimo finish flail mower as an example a new six foot finish flail mower will cost 6-7K or more depending on what options are added

If you purchase this used flail mower it will save you a lot of work when it is ready to mow and there are many members here that are Mott flail mower owners that will help you as well.

There is not a lot of work to owning a flail mower as the flail mower will have 4 times the cutting edge length of a rotary mower, 8 times if you count the opposing edge that is not used.

You also have to understand that only half the cutting edge length of the rotary mower is used at anytime when mowing as the leading edge is the only edge that is cutting anything.


No worries, we can and will help you with it. I can forward a Mott Mower Manual to you in an email if you like as we cannot place attachments on the personal message apps.

 

[retiredfarmer]

Are there any benefits to the D ring style fine cut blades Flailmaster shows?

Would having alternating fine cut D ring blades on every other station on a fine cut Mott have any pros or cons?

Yes I would like to look at the Mott Mower manual.

Thank you Leon.

 

[leonz]

Hello retired farmer,


As long as you purchase the heat treated fine cut blades you will have long lasting knifes.

Alternating knife mounts has more problems as you will have to mow twice as you will have rooster tails to recut and then again you will have to mow what you missed the second time.

Please send me a PM with your email address and I will forward it to you tomorrow.

 

[retiredfarmer]

Hello retired farmer,


As long as you purchase the heat treated fine cut blades you will have long lasting knifes.

Alternating knife mounts has more problems as you will have to mow twice as you will have rooster tails to recut and then again you will have to mow what you missed the second time.

Please send me a PM with your email address and I will forward it to you tomorrow.

Will the D ring style from Flailmaster (MH-293) be the heat treated fine cut blades?

Thank you

 

[leonz]

Hello retiredfarmer,

I am not in front of the 10 year old catalog I have in my office but if the descriptions states the side slicer knife is heat treated it is thicker and it will hang on the D rings with no problem. I will be sending the manual to you shortly.

 

[retiredfarmer]

Hello retiredfarmer,

I am not in front of the 10 year old catalog I have in my office but if the descriptions states the side slicer knife is heat treated it is thicker and it will hang on the D rings with no problem. I will be sending the manual to you shortly.

Thank you Leon,
Do you happen to have a part number of for the heat treated side slicer knife that will fit on the D rings?

 

[leonz]

Hello and good afternoon retired farmer,

The deciding factor on which side slicer you can use is to measure the old knife by removing it from the flail mower rotor.
I honestly cannot tell you if the MH-293 side slicers are heat treated as it is not indicated by the listing in the current catalog.

The only way to know for sure if the MH-293 is heat treated is if you call flailmaster and ask them if it is a heat treated side slicer.

 

[def38]

Take a file to one and it will tell you if it is heat treated.

 

[retiredfarmer]

Ok, I am the new owner of a Mott 72 Fine cut flail mower. It definitely needs new blades and a belt but is otherwise very nice.

It currently has the 4-1/2 inch opposed Y blades hung from clevis pins, 92 stations, 184 blades.

In Flailmaster's catalog two types of replacement blades are shown. A clip/D-ring short blade held on with a bolt; and what the mower currently has (4-1/2 inch blades hung from clevis pins).

Both types of blades are only .087" thick. Replacing all the blades with the D ring style will be a little over twice the cost of the double long style.

Am I missing something here. Why would I go with the D ring style. Sure they "give" a little more with hitting rocks, but you could have two plus complete sets of long blades for the cost of one D ring set.

Also the long blades seem like they have more cutting surface (albeit not sharpened) to shred cut material.

Has anyone ever changed out a set on a Mott Fine cut Hammer Knife mower?

 

[whirly]

You are correct in your thinking and modifying the Mott 72 for "D" hangars will cause you no end of grief. The old Mott was NOT meant to use "D" hangars.

If you put the mower up on a bench the whole process of changing out knives will take about 3 hours and a couple of band-aids.

Yes that is my Mott 72 on the back of the Fordson.

 

[retiredfarmer]

Whirly,
Does the Mott 72 have skids on the sides of the housing?

There are none on the one I acquired.

 

[whirly]

No. Alamo added skids when they started doing the manufacturing. That is one of the ways you can tell if you have a Mott or Alamo.

The skids aren't necessary if you manage the fore and aft tilt of the mower.

 

[retiredfarmer]

W
Thank you for the info!
4-1/2 replacement blades and a belt (plus a gearbox fluid change and hit the grease fittings) and I’m looking forward to the grass growing.

 

[whirly]

You can get your C-51 or CX-51 (Cogged) belts cheap at vbeltco.com. $10-12.

 

[leonz]

W
Thank you for the info!
4-1/2 replacement blades and a belt (plus a gearbox fluid change and hit the grease fittings) and I知 looking forward to the grass growing.

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Hello retiredfarmer,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the flail mower nations. Please fill in the rest of your details as you may have a " Resident Flail Mower Nations Member" nearby that can give you a hand or offer advice about your Mott Flail Mower

You should plan on investing in a slow speed wet well grinder to grind your mower knives to a fine finish without ruining the temper of the knives.
You will be able to purchase a wet well grinder for $99.00+ tax and freight from Micromark and an angle setter for the tool rest from woodcraft for $25.00+tax and freight.

I have been using the same knives since 1992 and when needed I use my WEN wet well grinder to cool grind them as needed.

 

[retiredfarmer]

I've read about forward and reverse rotation on this thread....

Does anyone that has or has used a Mott fine cut flail have any input if reversing the rotation makes any difference in cut quality. The Chinese Flails for sale online advertise that they run reverse rotation for a better cut.

Apparently you can reverse the cut of the Mott 72 by changing the drive belt to the right side of the mower. This must have been engineered into the design of this mower for some reason or use.

 

[whirly]

The Mott 72 cuts great as is. When you reverse the rotation it will fling the clippings forward toward the driver's seat.

 

[retiredfarmer]

I’m trying to figure out why Mott would bother making it reversible. I know the smaller ones were reversible because they were intended for some of the smaller import tractors that had a counter-rotating PTO shaft, and others were made for 1000 PTO as some of the older Kubota had dual speed PTOs.

 

[leonz]

Hello retiredfarmer,

You may want to back the tractor and mower out and back it in as your going to be working on it for a while and I don't think you want the tractor held captive by the mower.

They reversed for roadside mowing; they did not want any possible objects being ejected and thrown at an incoming car if the mower was elevated/riding over low spots that had debris sticking up in the mower path.

The use a front mounted flail mower in Europe to cut silage crops while using outboard rear mounted wing mowers as well.


This one still has the ball hitch mount for towing 2 or 4 of the motorized Motts with trailing hitches.