Thanks for the reply,
I have no hills or valleys. I am using a TN75S New Holland and the cab
with A/C is really nice in Alabama.
I mow at 9 to 11 KM/Hr.....which I think is about 6 or 8 mph.
Anything slower would be too time consuming.
I am concerned about maintainence costs and time on a flail
as well as speed of cutting.
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Please look at the flailmowers section of the
attachments page as it is very informative for
your specific needs.
AS your NHTN75 has 62-63.9 horsepower at the
Power Take Off (from Tractor Data) and it is an
8 speed gear drive, a finish flail mower will work
very, very well for you and you will have power to
spare as long as you stick with a mechanical drive
folding flail mower rather than a flail mower with an
outboard wing hydraulic drive flail mower as the hydraulic
drive mowers will not allow you to mow productively.
A flail mower uses it entire width of cut at all times to mow.
A rotary mower uses one cutting edge with the blade behind it following
and the rotary mower will tear the grass as it cuts rather than slice it with
a fine edge as is done with the verticut method which was pioneered by
Mr. Mott.
A finish flail side slicer knive will have 1.5 inches or more of cuting edge
exposed to the work and it is paired witha second side slicer to double
the cutting edge at each hanger station.
In my case as an example My 48 inch mower has 4 rows of finish type
side slicers to mow with. with a total of 64 knive stations including 4 single
knive stations per row which all over lap. I have a 128 side slicers with 1.5 inches of cutting edge exposed to the grass and I have total of 192 inches of cutting edge to use for mowing on one side of the 128 knives which is 16 feet of actual cutting edge exposed to the mowing task and 16 more feet of cutting edge on the opposite side of the side slicers available for use.
The same specific factors applies to larger all flailmowers as well.
In comparison a rotary mower would have only 48 inches of cutting edge of which only half of which is used at any time during the mowing cycle.
The maintenance for a flail mower is not a big issue as long as you
are greasing the rotor bearings every time you mow which is a MUST
be done thing at each mowing or every 8 hours as needed as well as
the belt tension snubber bearing(s) as well as greasing the the rear
roller as needed(8 hours).
About the flail mower rotor bearings- in our case we replaced our
original equipment rotor bearings after 25 years of continuos seasonal
use(they last very long time as long as you grease them regularly.
The rear roller is what regulates the mowing height of a
flailmower and it also reduces the chance of scalping sod
to an absolute minimum.
The flailmower will need these spares (depending on the manufacturer)
1. side slicer knives (all types). The great thing about the side slicers
is you can buy hardened knives and the side slicer knive has two cutting
edges so all that is needed is to flip the knive to the opposite side to expose
a new cutting edge for your use.
2. knive hangers
3. bolts, nuts and lock washers to secure them
4. D rings
A flailmower requres very few tools to change side slicers
(with my flail mower I do not need them as it is spring tensioned hanger).
1. half inch ratchet
2. box end spanner(wrench)
3. Blue Loctite(to allow you to remove the nuts from the bolts
Its always a good idea to have a set of jack stands available to keep
the mower at a higher point to aid in changing knives as you should never
be working under a raised implement unless it is secure with jack stands or
hardwood blocks.
You need a side slicer knive for finish mowing as it will
give the best finish for good sod.
My First Question to you is this;
Do you need a folding mower because of transport width issues only
or because of immovable objects you must mow around?
My Second Question is this;
What height of cut is required for your mowing?
If so this is no issue for a mechanical drive folding
flail mower or a wide cut finish flail mower of 8 or
more feet in width.
A flailmower of any size is constructed with 2 side weldments continuosly welded
to the flail mower hood and a box beam across the front of the flailmower to maintain its
frame construction in one solid mass, as well as an apron in front and under the full width box beam which also aids in preventing racking and twisting of the mower.
The rear roller is used to adjust the cutting height along with the three point hitch of the tractor and the top link when adjusted to (level) witha small bubble level to prevent scalping.
The nice thing about a flailmower is that it will outlast your tractor and you can keep the flailmower for a new tractor with greater power too and use it for many many years.
My towed flailmower is 30+ years old and many of our members use older Mott Flail Mowers as well as Bush Hog, Ford, New Holland, and other brands. The nice thing is you can always buy parts for them too as the most of the parts and knives are used are universal in nature for many, many, many, models and manufacturers.
I and the members here only wish for you to succeed with this task and not fail, please examine the posts on flail mowers by entering flail mower in the search box.
