Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[JWR]

JethroB your cutting parts look just like my SHD88 Alamo. But your knives are staggered in pairs rather than individually. Mine are not paired. I notice you have used some nice shiny bolts to hold your clevis' on. Do lock washers hold well keeping those from loosening? Mine uses pins with cotter keys and maybe once or twice a season I hit something that strips the cotter key from one of the pins and I lose the whole set of pin, clevis and knives. One time it happened and made enough noise that I halted quick enough and found the pin out on one end and nothing missing YET except a cotter key.

 

[JethroB]

JethroB your cutting parts look just like my SHD88 Alamo. But your knives are staggered in pairs rather than individually. Mine are not paired. I notice you have used some nice shiny bolts to hold your clevis' on. Do lock washers hold well keeping those from loosening? Mine uses pins with cotter keys and maybe once or twice a season I hit something that strips the cotter key from one of the pins and I lose the whole set of pin, clevis and knives. One time it happened and made enough noise that I halted quick enough and found the pin out on one end and nothing missing YET except a cotter key.

Flail Master supplied what they called compatible blades that they make in-house. Each stamped 200C. Caroni uses bolts and nylocks instead of pins/cotter keys. I haven’t had any known issues with the nylocks. The threads get crudded up pretty quickly too. I asked FM about using pins, she said it’s mostly municipalities and such with commercial mowers that use pins likely because they change the blades often. Very understandable, grrr.
The metric nuts and bolts came from Fastenal because FM was out of stock. About $1.50 per set. Not bad I thought.

 

[JWR]

Agree. I thought Flail Master went out of business a year or two ago (??)

 

[JethroB]

Agree. I thought Flail Master went out of business a year or two ago (??)

Me too. Another poster here recently said he drove by their business often. Some items aren’t in their online catalog so I called.

 

[Racenut]

I agree ! With some searching I find the NovaTractor products are from a Houston TX company. But the very foreign tractor in their YouTube videos looks to be a Chinese (??) machine. NovaTractor flails appear to be very new and not on the market long. Wonder what the whole story is ? Impressive looking mowers.

So far, we have been impressed with it. Granted, I don't have much to compare to, but it has eaten everything I've fed it, including that stump I have not cut much grass with it. The grass isn't a lawn, just a fire hazard so I'm not picky about how fine the cut is. They've been around for at least a few years, they're also sold under Bowell brand in Europe. They certainly don't seem to have the advertising budget some other places do. Chinese made, but have a Comer gearbox and decent bearings and everything in this price range is Chinese anyway. So far, no regrets at all other than the color . There's a guy named Jack Yuan that either runs or works for the company, he posts here sometimes.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

But your knives are staggered in pairs rather than individually.

That's an interesting observation. I wonder why they designed it that way If anybody has any ideas I would like to hear them.

I asked FM about using pins, she said it’s mostly municipalities and such with commercial mowers that use pins likely because they change the blades often. Very understandable, grrr.

Another interesting piece of information that I never considered before.

 

[jthibodeau89]

Me too. Another poster here recently said he drove by their business often. Some items aren’t in their online catalog so I called.

Flailmaster was able to secure funding and is now employee owned. They were closed for about a year IIRC. I drive past their shop in Murfresboro on my commute to work. I am very glad to see them back. Great folks there.

 

[JWR]

Flailmaster was able to secure funding and is now employee owned. They were closed for about a year IIRC. I drive past their shop in Murfresboro on my commute to work. I am very glad to see them back. Great folks there.

Wow! That is good information for all flail mower owners and would-be owners. Thanks.

 

[JethroB]

Flailmaster was able to secure funding and is now employee owned. They were closed for about a year IIRC. I drive past their shop in Murfresboro on my commute to work. I am very glad to see them back. Great folks there.

So you’re the one! I was too lazy to search back in this monster thread.
Thank you. Saved me a bundle.

 

[Number15]

Disaster time. Not sure what took these belts out, unit has less that 3 hours on it. Didn't even make it to the first maint check LOL
I was just mowing grass and it tanked.

 

[JWR]

Not good...that is a brand new machine (hours wise) and if set up well should have no such issues. I have to guess that the belts were not tightened correctly, out of sight under the shield, and just ate themselves due to slippage. (i.e. I think the root cause is slippage.) Another possibility is that grease and/or oil got on the belts causing them to slip and heat. Once that happens they get hotter and hotter and destroy themselves. Maybe something was caught/jammed in/around the rotor and cutting parts. Wire? Polypropylene twine? If it was under that much stress you should have known it.

 

[Alien]

It's a wonder you didn't smell them well before it got to that stage.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

Disaster time. Not sure what took these belts out, unit has less that 3 hours on it. Didn't even make it to the first maint check LOL
I was just mowing grass and it tanked.
View attachment 744408
View attachment 744409

What make and model of flail mower is that?

 

[Number15]

Not good...that is a brand new machine (hours wise) and if set up well should have no such issues. I have to guess that the belts were not tightened correctly, out of sight under the shield, and just ate themselves due to slippage. (i.e. I think the root cause is slippage.) Another possibility is that grease and/or oil got on the belts causing them to slip and heat. Once that happens they get hotter and hotter and destroy themselves. Maybe something was caught/jammed in/around the rotor and cutting parts. Wire? Polypropylene twine? If it was under that much stress you should have known it.

Between being in the cab, my ANC headphones and listening to music I was blissfully unaware if they were signaling me their doom. I do know when I did hear them at various times they sounded "normal". Points against me for not checking it first, I usually do a pre inspection on stuff like this but I was anxious to mow.

It's a wonder you didn't smell them well before it got to that stage.

I was in a cab, I could smell the cut grass at times but never any burning smells.

What make and model of flail mower is that?

Befco D90

 

[John0829]

That is why I NEVER use anything but ear plugs when working, on a tractor you are more than likely going to hear something going wrong before you see or smell it.

 

[Number15]

That is why I NEVER use anything but ear plugs when working, on a tractor you are more than likely going to hear something going wrong before you see or smell it.

I need to listen to music or I will go insane

 

[kenmbz]

Did you check belt tension before use?
The belts my Betstco came with are not real high quality.

Have a spare set and need to buy something a bit tougher, but these 2 sets should last me the season.

hmm, self removing belts. Hope the next set last you a good long time.

 

[Number15]

Did you check belt tension before use?
The belts my Betstco came with are not real high quality.

Have a spare set and need to buy something a bit tougher, but these 2 sets should last me the season.

hmm, self removing belts. Hope the next set last you a good long time.

No, and that is a strike against me. I greased it but figured I would check the belts at 8-10 hours for stretch. They were Goodyear belts so not low quality as far as I know. Mine is a Befco not Betstco. (just saying because they are similar)

 

[JethroB]

Not good...that is a brand new machine (hours wise) and if set up well should have no such issues. I have to guess that the belts were not tightened correctly, out of sight under the shield, and just ate themselves due to slippage. (i.e. I think the root cause is slippage.) Another possibility is that grease and/or oil got on the belts causing them to slip and heat. Once that happens they get hotter and hotter and destroy themselves. Maybe something was caught/jammed in/around the rotor and cutting parts. Wire? Polypropylene twine? If it was under that much stress you should have known it.

A similar result for me my first time out with my dad’s old Caroni flail last year. A couple of hours out I see black stuff clogging up the belt cover vents. Slimy mess. I’m pretty sure I over greased it and grease got onto the belts. Now a couple dozen hours with new Gates belts and no issues. The greasing until it oozes does not seem to work well here.

 

[JWR]

I need to listen to music or I will go insane

That's a cheerful and understandable answer... but I'm not made that way. The differences between people are endless. I hear really well and almost all the implements I use are out of sight unless I turn or twist (which is not comfortable at my age...) and even if I turned with ease I have ALWAYS depended on the distinctive sounds of whatever machine I am using. I can tell you at every point in time whether my bush hog is happy, whether the flail mower is doing well, whether the sickle bar is lubricated enough, and many,many other things. Whether something has changed and needs investigation. I depend on sound ALL the time.

By the way, I bike a lot too. And people walking wearing ear buds listening to music (or whatever they listen to) are a hazard to everyone around them AND themselves. They don't hear cars, they don't hear me yelling "on your right," etc. If it were up to me they would get tickets. Anyway, to finish my soapbox I consider operating tractors, machinery, and cars while wearing ear obstructions to be asking for trouble.

We each take the amounts of risk we choose.