Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[madpuma13]

Hello everyone,

Looong time lurker and new tractor owner. I have been following this thread for a couple years now. I have gone back and forth so many times on flail vs rotary i cant even count. It is now coming time to order a mower. I have experience with rotary and thats pretty much all there is around here. I am pretty nervous trying out the flail.

My major concern is cost in the long term. The two mowers (flail vs rotary) I am looking at are both about $1900 new (the tm1900 and the everything attachments 72" rotary). After reading this thread I see people say they bought the flail in place of a bush hog and some people have said they still use theirs (the ones that had a rotary before a flail).

I guess what I am asking, from the long term users that have had the tm1900 (like Island and others) what is the average cost of keeping your flail running every year? The tm1900 seems prone to not that great belts initially, there is the oil splash thing (getting the extender isnt much to fix that though), then there is of course the replacement of knives. While the rotary for the most part is just checking oil.

Any guidance appreciated.

 

[IslandTractor]

Hello everyone,

Looong time lurker and new tractor owner. I have been following this thread for a couple years now. I have gone back and forth so many times on flail vs rotary i cant even count. It is now coming time to order a mower. I have experience with rotary and thats pretty much all there is around here. I am pretty nervous trying out the flail.

My major concern is cost in the long term. The two mowers (flail vs rotary) I am looking at are both about $1900 new (the tm1900 and the everything attachments 72" rotary). After reading this thread I see people say they bought the flail in place of a bush hog and some people have said they still use theirs (the ones that had a rotary before a flail).

I guess what I am asking, from the long term users that have had the tm1900 (like Island and others) what is the average cost of keeping your flail running every year? The tm1900 seems prone to not that great belts initially, there is the oil splash thing (getting the extender isnt much to fix that though), then there is of course the replacement of knives. While the rotary for the most part is just checking oil.

Any guidance appreciated.

Welcome.

I own both the Caroni TM1900 and a Woods BrushBull600. They are both excellent but I use them for different types of mowing. To summarize briefly, the rotary gets used in thick brush for a first pass cut. The flail gets used for everything else. I use the rotary for first cut largely because I cannot see what I'm cutting in thick brush and don't care as much about hitting rocks etc with the rotary. The flAil could handle the brush but I'd end up replacing more sets of knives given our annual crop of rocks here in New England. I haven't even used the rotary in over a year.

I'd say it comes down to what you are needing to mow. If I were a mowing contractor mowing unfamiliar overgrown fields, I'd use a rotary rather than a medium duty flail. If I were doing biannual cutting of fields (most of what I do) then I'd opt for the flail for finish and safety considerations.

Annual maintenance on my flail averages to about four pairs of knives with clevises and a set of belts every three or four years. Plus grease. I now use flailmaster knives which I buy with their clevises. I think I paid about $100 for enough to last four or five years. I was spending about $100/yr for oem knives and clevises from agrisupply as their clevises break more easily and I lost sets regularly. I do need to spend ten minutes modifying the flailmaster clevises to make them fit and use a big vice to squeeze them and a grinder to take off about 1/8" from the clevis shoulder. They don't break. I lost one single flailmaster knife last year when it shattered. Caroni clevises broke all the time.

 

[madpuma13]

4720 mowing - YouTube

This is what I'm going through. Once or twice a year. I will only get one or the other.

 

[IslandTractor]

4720 mowing - YouTube

This is what I'm going through. Once or twice a year. I will only get one or the other.

Looks like what I mow. I'd vote flail but rotary would be fine too.

 

[docsfarm]

If you saw my videos on previous page, you'll see what I was mowing with my flail. I don't think you'd have a problem mowing that with a flail at all... And it will look a lot nicer than that rotary cut in your video.

 

[Gravity Rules]

Mowing with my Kubota L4760 and my Chinese FHM 165 flail mower.

 

[hunt4570]

4720 mowing - YouTube

This is what I'm going through. Once or twice a year. I will only get one or the other.

So I don't mow as much as IT and some of the others here, bought my Caroni 2-2 1/2 years ago. My first flail. Looking at your video, just tall weeds mostly Id say get the flail! Way nicer cut results, smaller weed pieces that decompose faster, and as long as you know where the big rocks and garbage is your caroni will do great. You ask about yearly cost to run... all I've spent is the cost of greasing. Haven't lost a knife or belt yet.

 

[leonz]

If you purchase a Caroni TM1900 Flail Mower with the two row flail mower rotor it will mow well for you and you will have a reduced amount of liability from impact damage or trash and debris thrown out from the flail mower due to its design and operation. There are more than a handfull of legal cases involving property damage, injury or deaths from objects being thrown after being impacted by a rotary brush mower.

I guess if you are still on the fence(forgive the pun) perhaps a small disc mower ment for small SCUTs from Ken Sweet who is an advertiser here may be the answer fro you. Ken ships his implements right to your door from his warehouse in Kentucky.

The disc mowers has a heavy woven fabric shroud which is ment to keep the mown hay grasses under the shroud and let it fall back to the ground. Its your money and I am not trying to spend it on you I just want you to succeed.
Perhaps using a disc mower the first time and a TM1900 for the second mowing would be the best of both worlds for you?

There s always the worry of junk being dumped on property in the off season and in the middle of the night and having brush grow around it but mounting a landscape rake in front of the tractor like iron horse did with his tractor in Australia would also be a good fit.

Iron horse has described a great true to life event that happened to him when he started his very first brush mowing job in Australia and rather than me butcher it up I would like you to read it in the flail mower thread as it will be an eye opener for you.

I think Iron Horse is retired now but he has many posts about mowing in OZ and maintaining his flail mower.

 

[Fallon]

Disk mowers don't mulch at all. They are specifically designed not to for making hay. Also the disks & gear train being right there on the ground makes them a bit fragile. Any damage to the gears or gear casing that is dragging an inch or so off the ground pretty much totals the mower. A flail will make a better rough cut mower than a disk mower. A rotary cutter is going to the best bet for dealing with rough & trash unless you shell out major bucks for a highway department class flail, which would beat the rotary.

 

[Dan in MN]

Disk mowers don't mulch at all. They are specifically designed not to for making hay.

They also windrow the cut material, so unless you are picking it up they are not really an option for mowing.