Flail Mower Ground Speed of flail compared to rotary cutter?

[Colby ITS]

I currently run 60" rotary cutters and I soon will add additional equipment. I am considering pros and cons of going with a flail mower if for no other reason so I have both the rotary & flail. I have researched pros and cons of the flail, but have not really found anything that compares ground speed, or productivity, between using a flail vs. a rotary cutter. This is for commercial use, which is my primary concern for speed. Quality of cut obviously is important and I understand the popularity of the flail for cut quality. Time spent changing knives is important as well, by specifically my question pertains to speed. Will I cut fewer acres per hour with a flail in comparison to the rotary?

Thanks
Colby ITS

 

[leonz]

Your going to hear a lot about this one way or the other. Until then when you have posted 5 fives you will be able to send or receive private messages.

The smaller frame(width of cut) flail mower will cost you less power and speed but you will need to recut with a finish flail to prevent brown spots from dead brush left to rot on the first pass.





So my thoughts after owning and using flail mowers after 40 years are below.

1. the liability of owning a flail mower for commercial work is undoubtedly nill when you examine the damages and deaths
related to the use of rotary cutters and the actual distance of thrown rotary cutter blades when they are the cause of death or injury.
Much of the above is covered here in posts and links and is available from many state bar associations.
Flail mowers are the preferred method of mowing when mowing is done near 2 and 4 legged rug rats and flail mowers are much more
preferred in Europe where the safety standards for mowers are much more stringent.


1. the quality of cut is second to none at 2 inches or less.

2. purchasing a 4 row finish flail is the preferred type as long as you have the power to run it. I say this because you can mow in one pass at 2 inches
and recut and shred the material even more.

a. my father used his Ford Jubilee to reclaim old pasture that had 13-15 foot golden rod in it with his John Deere 25A finish flail mower (7 foot 4 row side slicer knife finish mower)
(the JD 290 and 390 models are what is offered now).

just as an example my father used his towed motorized(8 HP) 36 inch Mathews Company lawn Genie Pick Up Flail Mower/finish flail mower to open up a 2 mile long jogging path in the same pasture for my mother so she would not have to jog on the local roads(nutcase drivers).

3. currently Maschio still offers a trash door option to allow you to use a smaller mule with a wider flail mower and by doing so it allows the flail mower to
eject the material directly out over the flail mower rotor rather than carry it over and throw it back down to the ground. The Maschio company has a dealer network in the United States.

a. a trash door unit is preferred to mow quickly and change knives quickly while on the job if needed.

The cast scoop hammers are a good first cut down and dirty mower knife and you can always follow them up with a flail mower that has the side slicers for a better more refined cut that will let you recut the brush to let the clippings mulch and dissolve faster to create good turf.

The flail mower will beat back the invasive plants to a bare minimum when mowing low.

4. it takes time to change a large number flail mower blades but if you are careful about operating your flail mower they will last many seasons before you need to flip them to the other cutting edge.
a. by using a wet well grinder you maintain the hardened knife cutting edge without losing the temper of the steel. Micromark is selling a wet well grinder for $99.00 plus freight and tax now AND they do not sell junk and the back up what they sell.
b. flail mower side slicer knives or cast hammer knives are easy to wet grind to maintain the edge and save the temper of the steel as the grinding is aided by a cold water bath for the wheel.

5. depending on the brand you will have a long connecting rod to hold the side slicer pairs specifically the Vrisimo brand or each mounting station will have a cotter pin and key or a nut and bolt.

a. The Vrisimo units are an all or nothing proposition as each row must be dropped out to change broken side slicers but the installation goes quickly as long as you are laying on good quality tarp or on a tarp laid down on black top. replacing the two old cotter pins is better than saving the two old ones as you can use longer cotter pins with no issues(NO spring hair cotter pins are a no no!!!

a1. having a good quality tarp saves you on losing parts and or contacting poison ivy, poison oak or poison sumac roots. It also reduces the chances of being attacked by deer ticks(been there done that no tarp at the time when repairing my firewood processor-not a good day as it took forever to remove the tick from my shoulder).

a2. disposable gloves are a must to protect your hands(wear 2 gloves on each hand) to reduce the chance of contacting poison ivy, oak or sumac oils in either case(flail or rotary) for mowing.


Our member iron horse who I believe is now retired from mowing Australian jungle has quite the tale to tell in his very first brush mowing and is a MUST READ FOR YOU.

After his first mowing he told his dealer to come back and take away the rotary cutter he bought and bring him a flail mower as the rotary cutter hit a bolt sticking out of the ground and it was just shy of hitting a child in a crib several hundred feet away after it penetrated the exterior wall of a home nearby.

After that he mounted a landscape rake on the front of his mule to catch any debris that could damage his mule or be caught in the mules frame and break hoses or puncture the crankcase or radiator.


SO much of this is going to be related to how much money you can spend or will spend as overbuying for width and power will only save you time and money when mowing on the first pass as you can mow much more effectively with a finish flail mower over time but any unknown material in tall(unknown mowing conditions)brush is never good for a mule or a flail mower and mounting a landscape rake up front will save you much grief and damage.



When you have five posts we can PM each other if you so wish.

 

[RickB]

The answer to your specific question is yes in the vast majority of conditions. If your question was comparative to a rotary style finish mower, the answer might be different.

 

[ovrszd]

The answer to your specific question is yes in the vast majority of conditions. If your question was comparative to a rotary style finish mower, the answer might be different.

I agree.

 

[Xfaxman]

Your going to hear a lot about this one way or the other. Until then when you have posted 5 fives you will be able to send or receive private messages.

----------------------
-----------------------

When you have five posts we can PM each other if you so wish.

When did go into effect?

Several years ago a Brinly collector joined and sent me a PM. He never did make any posts.

I have had several PMs asking about the Versahandler from guys with no posts.

I just checked my PM Inbox, here is one from 2015 that never has posted to TBN:

 

[leonz]

I could have sworn that Muhammad had the system set up that way-it might have been another forum I am a member of and if so I apologize for the statement.

 

[Xfaxman]

No need to apologize, I thought maybe it was a recent change.

I think it was for posting links for awhile, but not sure about now.

And now back to ground speed with a flail. :thumbsup:

 

[Z-Michigan]

In my experience there is no practical difference in speed, assuming a sufficiently powerful tractor.

Detail: I owned a hobby farm for a little over 8 years. For 3.5 years I mowed my perimeter and overgrown pastures with a 50hp tractor and 6' light duty rotary cutter (Deere LX6). For the following 4+ years I mowed the exact same areas with a 40hp tractor and 6' flail mower (Caroni TM1900). The terrain was relatively smooth but not leveled to golf course putting green standards. With both setups I could generally go about 4-4.5mph forward and mow effectively. Faster than that and I was bouncing out of the seat, the implement was being beaten relative to the tractor, and cut quality fell, though the first two factors were much more important. I could make turns more easily and without scalping with the flail, while the RC seemed to have more cutting power, but again I was using it on a more powerful tractor.

Ground smoothness/roughness limited my speed with both. The flail did not seem to be any limitation vs. RC. Some of the same areas could be mowed faster (6-7mph) with a high quality zero turn mower in my experience, obviously only when it was just grass and not excessively tall.

 

[newbury]

No need to apologize, I thought maybe it was a recent change.

I think it was for posting links for awhile, but not sure about now.

And now back to ground speed with a fail. :thumbsup:

That's a fail! Check your spelling