Flail Mower Front Mount Flail Mower

[HarleyBob]

I am looking at a tractor with a front pto/3 pt mount.
I have a 5 foot flail that I currently run on the back of my tractor.
Is there a difference between a flail that would mounted on the front of
the tractor and move forward? What would happen if I used that flail
facing forward?

 

[Xfaxman]

What tractor?

What is the PTO RPM and direction of rotation?

What flail mower?

Do your flail knives cut in both directions?

These knives will cut in either direction.

 

[J_J]

I have seen flails cut in the same direction as the tires are moving, and I have seen a reverse turn rotor, turning opposite the tractor wheels.

I have a hyd powered flail for my Power-Trac, and I can turn the rotor either way, to cut from bottom up, or top down.

So , what is the logic in cutting from the top down, slinging the cut material under the rotor, as compared to cutting from the bottom up to sling the material over the top of the rotor.

What are some of your thoughts?

If you convert that flail to hyd, you can cut either way.

 

[zzvyb6]

My F-935 has a flail mower attachment (SuperCut 1000) I would expect that (like all mowers), you preserve the direction of travel and only change the location of the device. I would not want to be riding at the hind end of a flail mower, though...

 

[leonz]

If you have reverser in the front PTO of the tractor your mower will operate properly.

The only issue is that you will need to reverse the mount of the flail mower if the frame
can be reversed (you need a PTO gear box with two input shafts.

 

[HarleyBob]

The tractor is a Carraro 4400 HST. Not sure of PTO direction of the front PTO and I can ask about that.
My pull/rear flail has grass knives that cut either way but in the fall we use a hammer blade that is directional.
We would like to use front mount as we use flail to chop prunings in orchard aisles and the way we are doing it now, we drive over them first
and the piles are sometimes too tall to clear tractor.
We need a 5' wide flail, and one that is reversible so we can also pull behind too so we can use behind when we mow grass.

 

[TCJatko]

I've been thinking of doing this as well. I bought (cheap) one of those Lorenz units that runs under to tractor and reverses the PTO so it runs in the proper direction for a rear PTO snow blower. I thought I could get this to also run a flail mower hung out to the right side to act as a ditch mower, and have the mower angle up and down. Pitfalls/ideas?

 

[leonz]

The tractor is a Carraro 4400 HST. Not sure of PTO direction of the front PTO and I can ask about that.
My pull/rear flail has grass knives that cut either way but in the fall we use a hammer blade that is directional.
We would like to use front mount as we use flail to chop prunings in orchard aisles and the way we are doing it now, we drive over them first
and the piles are sometimes too tall to clear tractor.
We need a 5' wide flail, and one that is reversible so we can also pull behind too so we can use behind when we mow grass.

Hello HarleyBob,

Your sunk before you start the voyage as the mower will not work.

The flail mower will only operate with the flail mower rotor operating in reverse
(counter clockwise)

The grass blades are designed to to have two cutting edges so you can simply flip
them to get a new edge.

A forest mulcher is what you want and you can buy them for ag tractor but the issue is horsepower.


Can you rent a tub grinder locally? a tractoe with a grapple and using a small tub grinder would be better.

 

[HarleyBob]

Hello HarleyBob,

Your sunk before you start the voyage as the mower will not work.

The flail mower will only operate with the flail mower rotor operating in reverse
(counter clockwise)

The grass blades are designed to to have two cutting edges so you can simply flip
them to get a new edge.

A forest mulcher is what you want and you can buy them for ag tractor but the issue is horsepower.


Can you rent a tub grinder locally? a tractoe with a grapple and using a small tub grinder would be better.

We have miles of orchard aisles so moving and chopping is the only time efficient option.

 

[Industrial Toys]

So you basically have a 3ph on the front of the tractor? That would take some talent to get a regular flail mower turned around. My 917 flails I'm sure would only work rotating one way. The regular cut knives only cut one way, for one thing.

I have a 3PH, arm mounted "Perfect" ditch bank mower with heavy hammers that would pulverize your orchard material without having to drive over it. Plus get fairly high up AND cut grass, if you havn't hit too many stones with the flail hammers. You also don't need to get so close to the brances with the tractor cab.