Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[MF25]

im in the market for a 6 foot flail mower to swing behind my iseki t5000... are there any Aussies with recommendations? I used one to mow for NZ rail in the old days and i think it would be suitable for my needs here in aus...

 

[Steave]

A little update.. finished rebuilding the carb on my '53 Ford Jubilee today and it seems to run a bit better, but had same results trying to mow. I get a little ways in and then the mower just seems to load up and pull the tractor down. Had to think back to when I had some better success mowing originally and had a bit of an 'aha' moment... I posted some pictures of a certain type of stalk that was popping back up, and as I started making adjustments to get it to mow better I dropped the back of the mower closer to the roller to mow lower, and also raised the front at times to try to expose the flails to the material better. What I believe may be the issue now is that dropping the housing closer to the roller reduced the amount of space available to eject cut material, and it may be building up underneath as I try to mow areas with ~2 ft tall green grass. I have around 2-1/2" from roller to housing now, would be curious how much space some other flails have? Tomorrow I'll be dropping the roller all the way down away from the housing to get the max opening size for material ejection and trying again...

Did you ever get the chance to try your mower behind another tractor. While your ford would have enough power to pull that mower and lift it easily the pto speed could be an issue. It'd be worth a try if you still have access to the other tractor. I can't image your ford having anything to do with it but with the transmission having lower gearing for power and better speed control it does slow the pto.

Unless there is something wrong with the design of the mower the slower pto speed shouldn't make that much difference IMO. Of course faster would be better. Only way you'll know for sure is try it just like all the other things you've tried. Your persistence is admirable. I'd be willing to bet your patience is waning though .

 

[kco]

This is a video I made while mowing the trail mentioned in this post:

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/...alk-flail-mowers-post4558728.html#post4558728

in this thread.

Link to YouTube video:

I'm still learning but very impressed with the versatility of flail mowers. I intend to list my rotary mower for sale this week.

 

[IslandTractor]

im in the market for a 6 foot flail mower to swing behind my iseki t5000... are there any Aussies with recommendations? I used one to mow for NZ rail in the old days and i think it would be suitable for my needs here in aus...

Not sure which flail brands are sold in Australia. The big US flails by Mott/Alamo are excellent but very pricey. The Italian companies make excellent medium duty flails and the Chinese have started making pretty good low cost flails. I'd say that budget will be the determining factor.

 

[Dan in MN]

Some good news and bad, dropping the roller to gain volume for material ejection made a huge difference. Still had the tractor bog down bad once despite being in 1L with the rpm up, but after lifting the mower and spinning it to clear debris was able to continue. The bad news, the "tiny coolant drip" I mentioned a couple of nights ago is now a leak... Since the problem is up high in the radiator the fan was pulling it in and spraying it on the motor, exhaust, etc..had to quit after only a short bit. I'll have to pull the front sheetmetal to really see where the problem is, and likely have to wait for a radiator to be shipped here...

Did you ever get the chance to try your mower behind another tractor. While your ford would have enough power to pull that mower and lift it easily the pto speed could be an issue. It'd be worth a try if you still have access to the other tractor. I can't image your ford having anything to do with it but with the transmission having lower gearing for power and better speed control it does slow the pto.

Not yet, still hoping to. Neighbor with a compact Massey hasn't had time, that's my only opportunity. Even though I have it working better would still like to try on his tractor just to see how it handles it. His is rated at less hp than mine, but it's a new healthy diesel so I'd like to see if the mower pulls it down or not..

 

[SI2305]

KCO,

I like what you were doing with your flail mower. How wide is it? This reminds me of some of the trails I cut in my woods, some of those with the flail mower which was a better machine than the rotary cutter I previously used.

SI2305

 

[leonz]

Some good news and bad, dropping the roller to gain volume for material ejection made a huge difference. Still had the tractor bog down bad once despite being in 1L with the rpm up, but after lifting the mower and spinning it to clear debris was able to continue. The bad news, the "tiny coolant drip" I mentioned a couple of nights ago is now a leak... Since the problem is up high in the radiator the fan was pulling it in and spraying it on the motor, exhaust, etc..had to quit after only a short bit. I'll have to pull the front sheetmetal to really see where the problem is, and likely have to wait for a radiator to be shipped here...



Not yet, still hoping to. Neighbor with a compact Massey hasn't had time, that's my only opportunity. Even though I have it working better would still like to try on his tractor just to see how it handles it. His is rated at less hp than mine, but it's a new healthy diesel so I'd like to see if the mower pulls it down or not..

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Hello Dan,


DO you think you may have time to order a 18-24 side slicers(9-12 knife pairs) from flail master or clean cutter to check the mowing with new sharp knives?

I am not trying to spend your money and I know you have spent a lot all ready but I hate to see you struggling with this as you should not be plugging at all with the roller set at two inches.

 

[leonz]

im in the market for a 6 foot flail mower to swing behind my iseki t5000... are there any Aussies with recommendations? I used one to mow for NZ rail in the old days and i think it would be suitable for my needs here in aus...

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Check with Iron Horse first and send him a PM as he may have both his mule and his Mascio heavy flail mower up for sale.

Please tell him Leon says hello.

 

[IslandTractor]

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Check with Iron Horse first and send him a PM as he may have both his mule and his Mascio heavy flail mower up for sale.

Please tell him Leon says hello.

I haven't seen Iron Horse on TBN in years. Hope he's still in business.

 

[TurtleCreekFarm]

I'm waiting on a more objective assessment from/by sidecarist. Maybe you'd be willing to buy a bit more time and wait as well? I think he's due to receive his Woodmaxx shortly. Yes, there's the issue of longevity, but let's face it, if we had all held back because of this then we'd never have gotten exposure to new/good manufacturers: Woodmaxx itself was once new, and it became the leader in woodchippers; I don't think they manufacturer the flails, but I'm pretty sure they're spec'ing them- are their specifications quality? I'd think that they don't want to risk their name with sub-par stuff.

I'm NOT advocating for Woodmaxx. I AM advocating for reasonable reasoning. I want to see the data myself. How others use things, and what things one should look out for is very helpful; but when it gets down to telling me what I should or shouldn't do or buy is where I draw the line. No one knows exactly what someone's needs are. And life is if anything, about risk.

I have had a Woodmax 5' Flail mower since April this year. It is one of there ver 2.0 units with a welded chassis. It works well and yes the clean-out door comes in handy. I did have a bearing fail with less than 10 hrs on it. Woodmax replace the failed bearing with no cost to me. I now grease all bearing before each use just to be safe. Woodmax's flail mowers are built in China to WoodMax's specs. What I like about Woodmax is someone always answers the phone (during business hours) and they want to make sure there customers are happy.