Hi All, new to tractors and Flail mowers. I think I have the same mower (in green). It came with the early 60's model Ford 2000 I bought and I'm hoping to get some advice. What is the best position/angle for the mower? I have tried adjusting my top link a few different ways and don't think I have found the right position yet. The mower is bogging down in tall (2ft) fescue and I'm even getting some vibration and clanking noises at higher revs. Should the roller touch the ground in that tall stuff or should I raise it up at first and make multiple passes? Any maintenance suggestions? Are the blades in the picture suitable for mowing tall grass and clearing overgrown fields and/or cutting small sapplings? Thanks in advance for any help.
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Hello Weezil,
Welcome to TBN and I want to welcome you as the
newest member of the Flail Mower Nation.
Now on to the serious business of mowing with your flail mower!!!!
Do you have a Ford 8N or a Jubilee?
We had a Jubilee with our 7 foot finish flail mower.
Are there any missing scoop knives????
If there are you need to replace them as soon as possible
before you mow again becuase this creates an out of balance
condition which will destroy the flail mowers Rotor Bearings.
Now when mowing the first time with you mule you need
to mow very very slowly as you are apparently mowing too fast.
When you have the fescue knocked down you can mow at
a slightly higher gear.
The more often you mow you will be able to mow at a faster pace
when the turf is very low.
Now when you are mowing your flail mower will sound like a
vacuum cleaner when mowing and you will know that you are
mowing at the right forward speed.
You can safely back up with the mower working and then drive
forward mow tall grass or brush with high efficiency and good results.
I would visit your local John Deere Dealer with the
serial number so that you can obtain a parts and an
operators manual for your John Deere flail mower.
The wear parts which are scoop knives, knive hanger strap,
nuts and bolts and D ring knive hangers are wear parts and
you should have a quantity of them on hand at all times.
You can purchase these parts from
Clean Cutter Tiller Blades and
Flail-Master - Mower Replacement Parts, Commercial Riding Mower Parts, Rotary Cutter Parts, Blade grinders, Trimmer Line, Mowing Accessories - Flail Master - Flailmaster -
for less money than at your local johyn Deere Dealer(but if are in pinch you can purchase
them there.
You appear to have an 8 foot 25A model.
The rear roller can be adjusted by removing the 4 bolts which attach the rear roller adjustment plate assemblys to the side weldments of the flail mower.
The rear roller has a pair of weldments that attach to the side weldments of the mower.
They should have 4 adjustment holes to set the mowers height using the rear roller to set the mower height.
As Greg has mentioned lowering the rear roller raises
the cutting height of the mower which is what you want
while making your first passes.
The rear roller always touches the ground or the matted brush
while mowing. You can mow with the mower above the ground but
it will not mow as well as it would if the mower was touching the ground.
leaving the mower on the ground also prevents the mower from throwing
an object it impacts as it will remain within the mower hood and pass over
the flail mower rotor and back to the ground.
Raising the cutting height will aid you in making your first mowings and you
will be able to see the ground better after mowing.
Now as far as mowing in general goes the flail mower will function best when
the mower body is at ground level and the rear roller is contacting the ground
The reason this is best is because the flail mower rotor and the knives create
a pressure gradient which suctions the clippings up and over the flail mower
rotor and back to the ground which permits the mower to work very efficiently
and smoothly.
When adjusting your mower be sure to use a bubble level to adjust the
top link for the mower by placing the bubble level on the gear box and
then checking the level as you rotate the top link in or out.
The rear roller prevents scalping by maintaining the mowers level from
side to side to prevent the knives from impacting the ground.
If the top link is left too loose the front of the mower will nose dive and the
flail mower rotor will nose dive and impact the ground.
When you purchase replacement belts be sure to get the Green kevlar reinforced belts
as they are the ones that last the longest and are better able to absorb and deflect shock loads.
A shock load for a flailmower will when it contacts a hidden piece of debris or metal.
Many of us have had the unpleasant experience of impacting a hidden object or a stone that
decided it was time to pop out of the ground during a frost heaving event and if you have neverhad this happen before with a mower it is very very very shocking in some respects if you have not mowed a lot of unmowed brushland.
Now as far as maintenance goes you should pumps six-8 shots of grease into the flail mower
rotor bearings each time you mow and no more than that!!!!!!. I would only pump three shots of grease in each roller bearing and no more than that!!
Please visit Islandtractors post about flail mowing as well as one hundred plus pages of flail mower posting on the attachments home page here by searching flail mowers and you will
find a huge amount of useable information and common knowledge that is shared by the members that own flail mowers of various sizes and manufacture. Sadly I have not posted any pictures of my flail mower yet-MY BAD.
We all want to welcome you to the forum. we all want you to succeed as a flail mower owner as well and rest assured you have a great mower that will last along time and you can use it on a bigger tractor when or if you trade up.
Just so you know my Mathews Company Lawn Genie flail mower is 32 years old and is still working very well with regular maintenance. Many of our members have mowers that are that old or older as well.
Happy Mowing
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Only 17,916 mowers to go-I think the counts right anyway :^)
Pronovost or not at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
