Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[ukrkoz]

Question to The Flail Mower Nation folk.

Have you switched between Y blades and hammers and what does better on grass, meadow type? Maybe with some blackberry young sprouts. No shrubs.

Betstco told me Y blades mow better. Hammers though appear to be more durable, I have rather rocky soil. Flail picks them very easy, blades get dinged quite a bit.

I was thinking about maybe doing half and half - 50% hammers in every other order? Every time I see European flail commercials, they have hammers.

 

[sodamo]

Question to The Flail Mower Nation folk.

Have you switched between Y blades and hammers and what does better on grass, meadow type? Maybe with some blackberry young sprouts. No shrubs.

Betstco told me Y blades mow better. Hammers though appear to be more durable, I have rather rocky soil. Flail picks them very easy, blades get dinged quite a bit.

I was thinking about maybe doing half and half - 50% hammers in every other order? Every time I see European flail commercials, they have hammers.

IMHO probably depends on the grass. I have used both, started with hammers as I was also using to level out some pig rootings.
When time came to replace that very worn set I opted for the Y blades. Wife often complained about the stragglers, otherwise cut was good. Went back to hammers. Have often thought about some sort of combo setup, using the scoop blades.

Interesting thought on your mixing types. Will have to look as to maintaining balance.

 

[ukrkoz]

Well, thing is, Y blades do not cut dandelions. They simply bend them down and they sprout back up. Rotary mower cut stems. And we have **** load of them. So wife likes smooth mowed surface but pointed out those uncut stems and she's right. So I figure, if I mix them in chess board order, that should cut them due to hammer blad being horizontal.
Honest, wish I had spiral mower, but they are so expensive. By spiral I mean blades are in a spiral arrangement, no in chess board, like I have.
I think I'll go for it, for mix n match Y blade/hammer.They are not that expensive.
What I do like about Y blades is that you can flip them around when leading edge is beyond sharpening. They are double edged.
As of them "going bad". I sharpened mine right on the rotor. Angle high speed grinder. Rather easy to do.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

I had scoop type blades (airplane wings, actually) and I switched to Y blades to have a heavier duty blade (I got some super duty blades). I plan on taking back a large area from the brush so I needed a heavier blade. I might go back to the wings when these all wear out and the fields are back to just grass. The scoop blades will give you a better finish than either the hammers or the Y blades. They are lighter duty than the hammers (no heavy brush cutting!). There are different weights of the Y blades. The wings/scoops are about the same as a standard duty Y blade as far as strength. The wings and scoops will also create a better lift when cutting grass more than the Y blades do.

I wouldn't mix blades as if there is an imbalance you will really cause some havoc to your mower. You will also need to check your mounts. Most hammers will not mount where Y blades will. Generally the Y blades and scoops/wings can be swapped if you do all at once. If you are looking for the scoops or wings check for John Deere 25A blades (scoops) or Ford 917 blades (wings).

 

[ukrkoz]

They will mount.

EF125 Mulching Blade Set |

Not sure about imbalance though. It may or may not be an issue. As far as I am staying with 50/50 and they are spread equally, that should be balanced, right?

 

[Fallon]

I picked up probably 2 feet of high tensile steel wire. Thought I got it all out last fall. Came to get the mower ready to go this spring and it wouldn't do a **** thing. Ended up tearing it all the way down to the the point I could take the main rotor out, sure enough, somehow ended up with wire inside the rotor, wedged up against next to the bearing. Much fun was that cleanout.

I raise you maybe 100' of high tensile strength wire rope. My bolt cutters couldn't cut it as it squished a bit. That was not fun to get out. Thankfully there was no damage to the mower beyond paint.

 

[Fallon]

My old retired 917 has Ys & my new Peruzzo has heavy hammers. A bit of an apples to oranges comparison as the Peruzzo is in a different class... But for field & pasture work I cant see much of a cut quality difference. Both mow grass & weeds just fine. I never sharpened either & the knives on the 917 were reasonably worn, but that never affected their performance or cut quality.

The hammers do way better on material bigger than finger sized, as you'd expect. But it takes more power to spin. 7' vs 8' mower, a lot more weight & double the number of belts, so still not an even comparison though. I'd imagine all scoop & hammer knives have a but more wind resistance, but not sure how noticable that is in reality.

 

[Kiotidriver]

Anyone from California owning a Caroni Flail mower? I bought mine from AgriSupply Company four years ago. I needed to replace the skids. However, ASC in North Carolina (the sole US distributor for Caroni) will not ship parts to California. They do not want to comply with CA Prop 65. The skids are just steel parts and do not contain chemicals. This is ridiculous.
Anyone has encountered a similar issue?

 

[hunt4570]

Anyone from California owning a Caroni Flail mower? I bought mine from AgriSupply Company four years ago. I needed to replace the skids. However, ASC in North Carolina (the sole US distributor for Caroni) will not ship parts to California. They do not want to comply with CA Prop 65. The skids are just steel parts and do not contain chemicals. This is ridiculous.
Anyone has encountered a similar issue?

Well kinda along the same lines, I'm in South Carolina and I've also had my Caroni 4 years and the only problem I've had with it is the skids. Seems like they are made of too soft of a metal as they keep bending. Been thinking of taking them to a welder and putting some sort of support on them to keep them from bending.
So what problem do you have with your skids?

 

[troverman]

Question to The Flail Mower Nation folk.

Have you switched between Y blades and hammers and what does better on grass, meadow type? Maybe with some blackberry young sprouts. No shrubs.

Betstco told me Y blades mow better. Hammers though appear to be more durable, I have rather rocky soil. Flail picks them very easy, blades get dinged quite a bit.

I was thinking about maybe doing half and half - 50% hammers in every other order? Every time I see European flail commercials, they have hammers.

I have run both on my Vrismo. In my opinion, the hammers leave the nicer cut, even on field grass. The Y-knives would leave some small stems, even woody stems, standing and I thought that looked pretty poor. In other areas they left a nice cut. The hammers take a beating if you hit rocks and will break easier. The hammers also handle brush better. Frankly, I see no advantage to the Y-knives and will never buy another set again.