Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Artisan]

Scooby,

The majority of the brush I need to deal with is like .75" diameter, and really mostly smaller.
Of corse there is a bigger stuff, that is a different plan. It is the 3-4' tall trash
bushes and brush I want mulched up, hard to get that stuff in the chipper shredder.
That GML flail / mulcher machine is rated down to 16 PTO HP, I have 17.7 I thunk it is,
and it is rated up to 1.5" diameter material, fitted w/ hammers.

Mark,

Yes, I would LOVE to have a bigger tractor in ADDITION to the BX25
The BX25 is irreplaceable because of it's size.
It will slither in and out of big trees quite easily where a
big tractor would be worthless. I do not want roads everywhere, I want
a park everywhere.


quicksand,
When you say "rough" mower what exactly are you refering to please?


I am also going to be on a good grade, w/ a winch attached to the front
of my BX25's front hitch w/ a man running it, semi lowering and I am sure will be needed going
back up, as well as attached for safety. It will not happen till early next
year. I will get some video I am sure. It is sure to be "interesting".

[quicksandfarmer]

quicksand,
When you say "rough" mower what exactly are you refering to please?

A rotary rough mower, aka bush hog, brush hog or shredder.

[leonz]

Scooby,

The majority of the brush I need to deal with is like .75" diameter, and really mostly smaller.
Of corse there is a bigger stuff, that is a different plan. It is the 3-4' tall trash
bushes and brush I want mulched up, hard to get that stuff in the chipper shredder.
That GML flail / mulcher machine is rated down to 16 PTO HP, I have 17.7 I thunk it is,
and it is rated up to 1.5" diameter material, fitted w/ hammers.

Mark,

Yes, I would LOVE to have a bigger tractor in ADDITION to the BX25
The BX25 is irreplaceable because of it's size.
It will slither in and out of big trees quite easily where a
big tractor would be worthless. I do not want roads everywhere, I want
a park everywhere.


quicksand,
When you say "rough" mower what exactly are you refering to please?


I am also going to be on a good grade, w/ a winch attached to the front
of my BX25's front hitch w/ a man running it, semi lowering and I am sure will be needed going
back up, as well as attached for safety. It will not happen till early next
year. I will get some video I am sure. It is sure to be "interesting".

These heavy scoop knives are hardened and they will
last you a long time as long as you use a
wet well knive grinder on these scoop knives.

These specific scoop knives are made for several brands of
european flail mowers.

You should be fine with the gearmore unit as long as you knock it all down
backing over the brush on the first pass and then driving forward for the
second pass.

[DavisHollow]

Value Leader flail mower vs cactus in Texas Hill Country. Tractor is a Yanmar 2610D (~31 HP) and mower is the 6' heavy duty version from Value Leader.

Flail Mower Farm - YouTube

[bandit67]

Value Leader flail mower vs cactus in Texas Hill Country. Tractor is a Yanmar 2610D (~31 HP) and mower is the 6' heavy duty version from Value Leader.

Flail Mower Farm - YouTube

Pretty impressive how well it cuts when you're going 20-25 mph.

[whirly]

Artisan, I have a flail and a rough mower and I would do that with the rough mower. Maybe afterwards I would make it pretty with the flail. My flail doesn't do too well with tall stuff. Plants that are taller than the mower is wide (about 18") have a tendency to get caught on the front edge and pushed flat and run over rather than mowed. Heavy foliage is much more likely to clog the flail than the rough mower. Also, a wild patch like that is likely to have rocks or logs hiding in the weeds and my flail mower will break on things my rough mower just spits out.

I have a tractor with a 47HP PTO but my flail will bog down and stop the tractor in really heavy wet brush. Yes I have to mow wet cuz we get 120" of rain a year and the grass/brush never stops growing.

Anyway ... I run through it first with the flail about 18"off the deck. That knocks down and mulches the tall stuff. Then I go back over with the flail in its normal position and it goes much easier. It really doesn't matter how high the brush is to start with, the 18" seems to give the flail enough room so it doesn't wrap the long stuff up around the bar.

[spo307]

Hello guys, newbie here needing a little advice. Have owned my 2004 Kubota L3000DT for several years, always bush hogging. Just recently bought a used flail mower with double "L" knives. What is the easiest way to sharpen these? Where can I price out that specialty sharpener mentioned? Sounds like some guys replace the knives rather than spending labor sharpening, but I have more time than money so far, so I think I will be sharpening for a while. Thanks for any help and advice you can offer. Fred.

i raise the cutter put jack stands for safety and use a 4" grinder

[sodamo]

Just went with a friend to look at a deere 25a flail that was listed on CL for $1600. The guys father recently died and he's keeping the actor and 6 foot rotary cutter. Mower is stored in a metal barn but hasn't been used in a few years. Other than surface rust/dirt it looked good and no major visible damage, even the knives looked in decent shape. Unfortunately, the guy was not able to turn the gearbox by hand, seemed frozen, which seemed to surprise him, but not sure he was all that familiar with the flail himself, said only his Dad used it, he used the rotary. So my friend offered $500 (based on my advice) and the guy accepted after a bit of discussion. I figured at that price he can replace a lot of parts and still come out ahead. If he gives up, maybe he'll sell it to me LOL. Thoughts anyone?

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

[IslandTractor]

Just went with a friend to look at a deere 25a flail that was listed on CL for $1600. The guys father recently died and he's keeping the actor and 6 foot rotary cutter. Mower is stored in a metal barn but hasn't been used in a few years. Other than surface rust/dirt it looked good and no major visible damage, even the knives looked in decent shape. Unfortunately, the guy was not able to turn the gearbox by hand, seemed frozen, which seemed to surprise him, but not sure he was all that familiar with the flail himself, said only his Dad used it, he used the rotary. So my friend offered $500 (based on my advice) and the guy accepted after a bit of discussion. I figured at that price he can replace a lot of parts and still come out ahead. If he gives up, maybe he'll sell it to me LOL. Thoughts anyone?

David Sent from my iPad using TractorByNet

I don't think I could turn my flail gearbox by hand but have no trouble doing that with my rotary cutter. The belts add friction is my guess. I can easily rotate the spindle by hand though.

If the cutter looks to be in good shape and there is oil in the gearbox, i would think it is fine. Not a bad price.

[GinNB]

Might be a bit of corrosion on a bearing somewhere, but they're a LOT easier to turn by rotating a pulley by hand than the driveshaft due to the gearing and mechanical advantage. Depends on whose hands you're using, too.