I want to buy a flail mower what brand ?

[Industrial Toys]

Most of these machines have an offset. Some more then others. A nice feature to get close to things. Some of the really fancy ones slide to the side with a hydraulic cylinder.

 

[knotweed]

What width is the mower?

60", just take smaller bites if it bogs down. It sticks out the right side 12" and I leave that on the mowed side if necessary (making a 48" cut). Have cut 2-3 foot high stuff but had to slow down. I'm in no hurry, I worked in downtown Dallas for 20 years and now slow is enjoyable.

 

[diesel lover]

60 inch with a adjustable offset or fixed offset sounds great to me! Perfect for exactly as mentioned working near fences, ditches, trees, and the house or barn even under rows of trees. 5 foot sounds perfect for my current set up

 

[diesel lover]

Videos like these are getting me interested. That way I don't buy just one finishing mower when I can buy a flail and maintain it!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ev0OdfqyFzo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj_gAYMxfQ8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

 

[leonz]

Hey Leonz, could you go into deeper explaination of what you mean by this statement? I'm trying to follow what you mean but got lost.

I have lots of reasons I love flail mowers for the durability/ clean cut but they are safer as well as they don't "throw" objects at your house etc. I have read flails don't hit items and shoot them out.

Thanks guys

If you look at my posts about flail mowers you will be able to make a sane decision
that will convince you to sell your bush hogs.

I have a 32 year old pull type motorised flailmower finish cut flail mower with a four row flail mower rotor
with the orginal engine that will last another 30 plus years if that helps with your decision.

A four row rotor will cut your lawn perfectly, a two row rotor will be a bit rougher,
it all depends on how nice you want your lawn to look. the added bonus is that
you have a lawn striper at no extra charge.

I just mow in a big spiral to save gas and brakes and in a day the lawn grass is standing
right up looking great.

I want you to succceed not fail.

I can be and will be asa thorough as you would like my response to be.

 

[diesel lover]

If you look at my posts about flail mowers you will be able to make a sane decision
that will convince you to sell your bush hogs.

I have a 32 year old pull type motorised flailmower finish cut flail mower with a four row flail mower rotor
with the orginal engine that will last another 30 plus years if that helps with your decision.

A four row rotor will cut your lawn perfectly, a two row rotor will be a bit rougher,
it all depends on how nice you want your lawn to look. the added bonus is that
you have a lawn striper at no extra charge.

I just mow in a big spiral to save gas and brakes and in a day the lawn grass is standing
right up looking great.

I want you to succceed not fail.

I can be and will be asa thorough as you would like my response to be.

I was told you were the one to ask!! What do you think about used vs new? Blades I'm told are tough to replace but I have air tools ready as I am a full time truck mechanic. Thank you for your time

 

[leonz]

All depends on you wallet and your budget.

A new mower or a good used one will out live you.

There are many good used ones that need some work and
many new ones that are excess inventory that dealers want to sell.


A new one will have a greater trade in value or resale value
and YOU will be able to move it from one mule to the next
larger size with no issues other than dealing with the proper
PTO SHAFT length for your new mule IF it is shorter or taller
at the rear wheel centerline.


Replacing blades is time consuming on the new units except for
the Vrsimo and one or two other brands as as they have a continuous
rod that holds the air paddle and knive assemblies.

IF you can steam clean or pressure wash(steam cleaning being preferable for the
obvious reasons) the removal of damaged blades will be easier.


With mine I do not requre the use of any tools but sadly these flails
are no longer made.

air tools are going to be a )(*&^&*()_ depending strictly on the
manufacturer as you will have very little room to maneuver a right
angle air ratchet DEPENDING on the mower.

With a new one all I would want you to do is remove the V belts at the end of the mowing
season and put them in a plastic bag away from sunlight if they are the originals or simply
purchase the kevlar V belts and and save the other ones as spares

As long as the flail mower rotor bearings get six shots of grease and the rear roller gets
the same amount of grease when you mow for eight hours or more AND you dig out the
grease fittings buried in rubber and grass dust under the V belt cover you will have a
forever mower and the knives are not expensive.

As you already know we love our flail mowers.

if Mr. Mott was still alive there would be almost
no rotary mowers used here in the United States
and the self propelled flail walk behind flailmower
would not be sold just by Makita in Europe and Great Britain.

 

[diesel lover]

Hey leonz, I have no problem with greasing a mower a lot and tcleaning it, adjusting the belts etc. What are the speeds a flail mower can be pulled at? How fast in thin grass and how fast in thick?

Just as well some time from now I plan to buy a 35 to 40 horse power tractor. If I wanted a mower that could be run on both could I buy a 5 foot mower? Thank you! I really don't think I would mind changing the knives every 1 to 2 years or every six months. Knife wear would all depend on hours of use and types of use. I would probably change the knifes over the winter with my spare time.

 

[leonz]

Hello Diesel lover,

The more power you have the faster you
can travel BUT the issue is quality of cut.

The horsepower ranges you will see for the mower sizes
are specifically for the mule itself not its Power Take Off horsepower.

IF you can afford the extra ten horse power in the next frame up in tractor
size you should do that as you will be able to work faster with a
finish cut flail mower with four rows of side slicers.

if you mow in a spiral pattern you will save time,
fuel and brakes and the cut will be fine.

Four miles an hour +- with a 50-60 horsepower mule
will give you great results with a 7-8 foot finish flail
and you can knock it down to 2 inches with barely a whimper.

As I mentioned my fathers Ford Jubilee was around
25+- at the power take off and he used it to reclaim
12 acres of old pasture with 12 foot golden rod.

IF you can afford the 50-60 HP mule with a precleaner
for the intake air you will never have
issues with power as long as you change the air filters
every one hundred hours or less as the primarys will plug.

DO NOT PAY ATTENSION TO THE RECOMMENDED AIR FILTER
HOUR METER BASED CHANGING INTERVALS IN THE OWNERS MANUALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


REPLACING THE PRIMARY ANS SAFETY ELEMENTS IS SAFER
THAN HAVING AIR FILTERS IMPLODE/COLLAPSE FROM DIRT OVER LOAD.

People have a habit of only changing the outer elements and not the safety
elements and thats a big NO NO!!

Thats the nice thing about the oil bath precleaners they capture the
dirt and they do not plug ever.


Dont pay any attension to the tattle tales on the air filter canisters
either!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


if you can afford it you will have all the extra power you need for
heavy brush and regrowth and you will never have mower issues as
long as you do not travel to fast while mowing.

If you can take the time to read my posts about flail mowers and how they work and why
they work so well you will have a complete understanding of the mechanics involved.

If you purchase a flail mower with a spring tensioner you will be better off as no maintenance
is needed other than greasing.


The other issue is dust from mowing.
The radiators chaff screens will plug too.

I will never understand why these manufacturers got away
from oil bath air cleaners and air cooled engines for tractors.


I want you to succeed and not fail

 

[Lt CHEG]

I bought an Alamo SHD 88 flail mower to go with my new NH Powerstar T4.75 last year. I love it. It gives a better cut quality and I can go faster than I could with the Bush Hog rotary cutter that I used on my previous tractor. It is durable and frankly goes over and cuts even light brush better than I ever hoped it would. I'm also encouraged by the fact that Alamo is essentially the newest iteration of the original Mott flail mower. I would definitely recommend an Alamo unit.