Flail Mower Hammers or Y knives

[allen in texas]

Cool Greg. Now that we've got that out of they way, let's fight over our tractors. Orange vs Green. LOL

 

[greg_g]

No fight, but perhaps a question. My JD has a Yanmar engine, but was assembled in and shipped from their Georgia plant. But I don't know much about which Kubota models come from where. Is your Kubota US-made as well?

//greg//

 

[allen in texas]

I understand that My Kubota is built in the US. Not sure though. It is however, all Kubota. That's an interesting question. I'm going to research and find out.
Just FYI, I wanted a JD. My JD dealer here couldn't match the deal I got from Kubota on comparable tractors. That being said, I really like my tractor and will probably stay with Kubota from now on.


Well now, a quick search reveals that the Kubota tractors sold in the U.S., although originally from Japan, are now manufactured and assembled in the good ole US of A

 

[Howard Farm]

No PTO on the front. I don't have the requireement yet. Can rotate the steering etc to face backwards if I had a flail mulcher or slasher that I wanted to push rather the trail. Still have n't played with it yet.

 

[leonz]

I understand that My Kubota is built in the US. Not sure though. It is however, all Kubota. That's an interesting question. I'm going to research and find out.
Just FYI, I wanted a JD. My JD dealer here couldn't match the deal I got from Kubota on comparable tractors. That being said, I really like my tractor and will probably stay with Kubota from now on.


Well now, a quick search reveals that the Kubota tractors sold in the U.S., although originally from Japan, are now manufactured and assembled in the good ole US of A

The motor and the transmission come from Japan and everything else is procurred
here or in canada and exported to europe etc. It explains a lot of the quality control issues.

 

[lochart]

Hi, I have been using hammers and have been happy with the results on pastures, i have however been wondering if i would have better results with y knives. Stay sharper longer and perhaps get better re-growth?

 

[AGTtactical]

Hi, I have been using hammers and have been happy with the results on pastures, i have however been wondering if i would have better results with y knives. Stay sharper longer and perhaps get better re-growth?

Curious about this too. Hammers are great until they get wear on them...as the front wears, the hammer tip becomes thicker and thicker, to the point where they really don't cut, but just beat and ear grass. I wish Landpride's flail allowed you to change from hammers to other types without changing the whole rotor.

 

[AGTtactical]

Yes Greg, I am a flail owner. Not trying to argue but I'd be glad for you to show me how to make a flail that has the "V" Or "Y" knives (my flail in fact) cut without leaving "serrations" in the grass. My flail has 4 rows of knives. I have cut my lawn with it. It looks good but it leaves the lawn "serrated" no matter what height I cut the grass. It's the nature of the beast. Some one here said, when using their "V/Y" knife equipped flail to mow a lawn "Looked liked it had been combed. There is no way IMO to get a smooth cut on grass with blades that have approximately 45 degrees of angle relative to the ground. The overlap of the knives is such that the serrations are only about an inch wide but they will be there no matter how my flail is set up.

I think you are correct about Y blades leaving serrations...I've seen too many people claim that they have the same problem, even people who are actually in the business of repairing and maintaining flails. Some people don't notice the serrations because they let their grass get tall, so the clippings hide it. But if you keep your grass cut, and think most people will notice it. I imagine it may be less noticeable with some makes than others.

 

[AGTtactical]

That said, I use yet a different type knife, something of a cross between your 920 and 946 knives. So in retrospect, I guess mine may more appropriately be described as a "T" rather than a "Y". Three rows of 11 uni-directional double edged knives, each 2.6" wide overall, with right and left cutting edges. There are 66 edges that cut a 74" swath. But if you consider that 33 x 2.6" = 85.8", you can see that works out to quite an effective overlap.
//greg//

Well, there you go...a T shape would certainly have an entirely different cut, and they probably made them that way because they eliminate serrations. They probably are much more expensive to make them strong enough to handle the stress of a 90 degree angle. Not sure why more manufactures don't offer this option.

 

[vlcakc]

The old NH 918H flail with Y-blades I used for 16 years did not leave serrations, the new Land Pride FM2584 with Y-blades does leave serrations. The difference? The number of rows of blades was far greater on the NH 918H than the FM2564. I used to use the NH918H on residential lawns and the cut was just as smooth as the zero turn mower. I only used the FM2584 with Y-blades on a lawn once before abandoning the practice.

I recently changed the blades on the FM2584 from the Y-blades to hammer blades without changing the rotor as recommended by Land Pride. Land Pride balances the rotor and blades as a unit and cautions that changing the blades only can cause an unbalance. I guess I was lucky, because the hammer blades run smoothly and have no more vibration than the Y-blades did. I mowed a 10-acre hay meadow with 12"-18" of last year's growth of Blue Stem grass and was pleasantly surprised by the smoothness of cut. I then made some test cuts on a lawn area with very good results. Will the hammer blades continue to give a smooth cut on lawn grass after they dull some from use? Don't know yet. I plan to use the flail on a pasture improvement project with some substantial brush areas to clear, so the hammer blades will probably be dulled some. Be interesting to see how the used hammer blades do on lawn areas. Vic