Rear Finish Mower 1st Time Concerns

[koogala]

I am in ranching in South Tx area; lots of tractor experience but NOT with a finish mower. I will use it to mow Fm & interstate ROW (Right-of-Way). Most folks down here satisfied with a rotocycle (shredder) job on that, but I like it
done like my yard. I used my Deere LT 235 rider (18HP, 48" cut) to cut the ROW's for the 1st time this Summer & really like the way it looked, not to mention easy access to check/maintain perimeter fencing on roads/highways.

I am at a farm road (FM)/interstate intersection & mowing w/the JD rider takes 1/2 day to mow AFTER I do my yard. I think the wiser choice is to keep the riding mower for the yard & do the highway stuff with the finish mower.

My concerns are: 1. TRACKING AHEAD of the prospective finish mower with
R-1 ag tires mashing down the grass AND 2. BEST/MOST COMMON WIDTH to get for the finish mower

I will keep the grass mowed weekly, not letting it get out of control, so I will be mowing tender, shorter vegitation. I wanted to get a LARGE 3 pt finish mower (8' +) to go behind my Kubota m5400 2WD 57 horse tractor but I fear the contour of the narrow drainage ditches will prohibit a W I D E mower, so I'm thinking a 6' wide mower would work out better, AND, that seems to be the more common width for finish mowers.

OK, everybody with finish mower experience, a Newbie needs ADVICE..

 

[leonz]

Good morning;


Please search for flail mower postings and threads here . Once you go flailmower you never go back!!!!

The issue with compacted grass will not be a problem with a rear or front mounted flail mower as the suction created by the flail mower rotor pulls the grass up to slice it.


You have to remember that a belly mower has only so much cutting edge which tears the grass blade and does not cut the full width of the mower blade. The flail mower slices the grass or brush in tiny pieces at high speeds of rotation continually for the full witdh of the flail mower and the knife blades fall back if they impact something where a belly mower WILL NOT, The flail mower knives are much easier to replace as well versus a belly mower.


A belly mower consumes a huge amount of energy to operate with belts and gear boxes.

A rear mounted flailmower uses the 540 R.P.M. or 1,000 R.P.M. for a front mounted flail mower in the verticut method which in turn rotates the mowers rotor using V belts at a very high speed which allows the mower to slice the grass or brush at a very high M.P.H. speed and the flail mower does not have to be cleaned like a belly mower.

The flail mower will also cut wet grass with little difficulty as well where a belly mower will CLOG.



Please contact ken sweet as he is and advertiser here or the folks at
Agri Supply - Farm Supplies, Tools, Lawn Mower Blades, Cast Iron Cookware as they have a continuos internet sales special
for thier line of caroni flailmowers that will mow your grass better than
any belly mower

We have over a hundred plus pages about flailmowers here on the forum with very happy owners and very happy Caroni flail mower owners.

The Agrisuppy folks have freight included in the total price and delivery to your door nation wide.

A lot of our member have the 60 inch Caroni and love it with the B rotor with 2 rows of knives and the F rotor which is the finish cut flail mower and has 4 rows of flailmower knives.

The F rotor will allow you to shred everything to near ground level and keep it down and not leave rooster tails.

The B rotor leaves a bit of a waffle pattern if examined up close but it also cuts very well. The finish rotor will allow you to more thouroughly to keep down invasives much easier as well than a belly mower will.


As you are planning on mowing road verges as they are called in Europe the safe way and sane way to mow is with flail mowers as they will not throw anything at cars or pedestrians.

The hydraulic side shift kit will alllow you to mow a wider swath with one position and reduce the number of movements for width of cut as well which is a huge time saver and eliminates the need for a wider mower.


Yes I love our 30 year old flailmower and it has never let us down.

 

[kebo]

Not quite sure I understand what you intend to do.... are you mowing ROW's on a contract basis or are you just doing the roadside where it fronts your yard/land?? If you're doing it along your yard only, then you could get a finish mower and do just fine with it. As leon pointed out, you will want to be careful about the mower discharge though. A side discharge might be the way to go, as long as you have the mower discharge pointed away from the traffic.


If you're going to be mowing ROW's on a contract basis, then a finish cut mower will not last long, they are not heavy duty enough!! After you cut a few tire recaps, some big pieces of wood or metal, and other stuff that falls off of trucks/trailers you will be constantly replacing bent/broken blades and repairing the deck. Around here the folks that cut ROW's usually use bush hogs (brush hog's to some) and occasionally I see some flail mowers in use. Those are made much more heavy duty and will hold up better. Just be sure to use a slip clutch with it.


Good luck and be careful! There was a thread in the Safety forum where an elderly guy got a contract to mow ROW's and his (nearly new) Kubota got hit by a tractor trailor and killed him.

 

[whistlepig]

I mowed ROW's with a 72" Woods mower for three years and it didn't tear it up. I bent a couple of blades but other than that the mower held up just fine.

 

[tlj87]

If you are considering a rear-mount finish mower, for your application, I recommend the Woods RM990. It is a 90" rear discharge finish mower with swing-back blades. If you hit something, instead of bending the blade(s), they will simply swing back. Same as on a brush hog.

This mower is made for that application.

 

[sweettractors]

I am in ranching in South Tx area; lots of tractor experience but NOT with a finish mower. I will use it to mow Fm & interstate ROW (Right-of-Way). Most folks down here satisfied with a rotocycle (shredder) job on that, but I like it
done like my yard. I used my Deere LT 235 rider (18HP, 48" cut) to cut the ROW's for the 1st time this Summer & really like the way it looked, not to mention easy access to check/maintain perimeter fencing on roads/highways.

I am at a farm road (FM)/interstate intersection & mowing w/the JD rider takes 1/2 day to mow AFTER I do my yard. I think the wiser choice is to keep the riding mower for the yard & do the highway stuff with the finish mower.

My concerns are: 1. TRACKING AHEAD of the prospective finish mower with
R-1 ag tires mashing down the grass AND 2. BEST/MOST COMMON WIDTH to get for the finish mower

I will keep the grass mowed weekly, not letting it get out of control, so I will be mowing tender, shorter vegitation. I wanted to get a LARGE 3 pt finish mower (8' +) to go behind my Kubota m5400 2WD 57 horse tractor but I fear the contour of the narrow drainage ditches will prohibit a W I D E mower, so I'm thinking a 6' wide mower would work out better, AND, that seems to be the more common width for finish mowers.

OK, everybody with finish mower experience, a Newbie needs ADVICE..

We have the Sicma/First Choice/Phoenix GM30-72 6 ft for $1895 and the Extra HD GM35-84 7 ft for $2395 (over 800 lbs). Cheap shipping available. Ken Sweet

 

[koogala]

Thanks guys!......Just mowing round my property cause TXDOT has pretty well abandoned ROW mowing...Everytime thier contractors DO come around they hit fence, so rather than getting p_____ off at TXDOT & contractors, easier to do it myself PLUS it keeps place looking good. If I don't let grass go more than couple of weeks its pretty easy to keep it nice. If I let TXDOT do THIER job I get bent/broken posts & wire and 6' high Johnson Grass.

I'm gonna let it rest for awhile & look at the flails. Not many around here(That I know of) I DO remember the school maint. guy back in the 60's with the little ol MF and "That FUNNY looking Mower that spun the wrong way" & the grass that came out the back like a waterfall......I guess us Rednecks in the brush just never got past horizontal bladed devices.....

Thanks for the input.....

 

[leonz]

Once you go flail you never look back.

Give ken a call about the models he offers,
and you will not be sorry as you can mow the
verges one day and mow your lawn with it the
same day with no changes.

 

[greg_g]

Yup - go flail mower. I too had used rotary cutters and finish mowers all my life, but fell into a flail opportunity that I couldn't refuse. Found a 74" Ford 917H at a farm auction that looked pretty shabby from a cosmetic perspective. That's probably why I got it for $150. Figured I'd dissect it at home to see whether or not I'd overpaid for scrap metal. Turns out it was mechanically sound, and took less than $350 worth of knives/hangers/belts to get it working (thank you FlailMaster !). I was so impressed with the performance, I sold my IM602 rotary cutter and GM32-84 finish mower. Once I get it sandblasted and painted, I'll have roughly $600 invested - as opposed to $5000 for a comparable new model (John Deere 25A for example).

Oh, and look at the offset models. They're much more suitable for roadside mowing than a rotary or finish mower that trails directly behind the tractor.

//greg//

 

[TripleR]

Not going to get into the flail v finish mower other than to say for me a finish mower works well for me.

My finish mower has the slinging blades that last really well. Mine is rear discharge.

I agree with others to seriously consider the pros and cons of both. My only observation is that if one was all that much "better" than the other, they couldn't sell any of the others.