Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fundy]

Any Canadians have a experience with the BECO flail mowers sold by Farm Equipment Sales?

Looking at the 64 inch model.

Found out they are a Chinese mower made by Hanmey.

 

[bh10]

Is anyone running a Titan (the USA made company, not the Commie stuff) Flail? Thoughts opinions? Thinking of the 88" on my Kioit DK53se

Titan 11 Series Mower

 

[DavesTractor]

Is anyone running a Titan (the USA made company, not the Commie stuff) Flail? Thoughts opinions? Thinking of the 88" on my Kioit DK53se

Titan 11 Series Mower

Disclaimer - we sell these, we also sell 3 other flail brands. We have only been selling these for a few months. Several have gone into small commercial orchards where guys are putting some serious hours on them mowing and shredding small prunings. So far zero issues in the dozen or so we have sold. We have ordered more of them as it seems clear to us that this will be the go-to mower for many folks.

They are well made, well featured, priced fair. If you want something a little more commercial/industrial than most of the China imports (which have their place no doubt) and significantly heavier duty than the Caroni, etc. this is a great way to go. Not everyone needs a heavy duty hydraulic side-shift mower, but if you do this one should be considered.

Most of what Titan sells they make in Tennessee, but these mowers are actually built in India for Titan.

 

[K5lwq]

I need a little advice from the flail mowing community. Has anyone dealt with Victory implements out of California?

I am looking at their ditch bank mower. The reason I am interested is they claim that these fit "Most" quick hitches. Also they show to be lighter than some of the other ditch bank mowers.

I have not owned a flail before but see the benefits they can offer. I am about 50/50 on getting a ditch bank flail or a Bush Hog 216 rotary mower. I will only be mowing about 1.5 acres with either one. I have about 350 ft of ditch I would mow with the flail that I currently just let the county mow twice a year. I also have some tree lines that it would be nice to use a offset mower to mow.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Below is a link to the Victory flail I am looking at. I am also open to suggestions if anyone has a opinion! Thanks!

Flail Mowers for Compact Tractors | EMSD-64 Standard Duty Bank Mower

 

[bh10]

Disclaimer - we sell these, we also sell 3 other flail brands. We have only been selling these for a few months. Several have gone into small commercial orchards where guys are putting some serious hours on them mowing and shredding small prunings. So far zero issues in the dozen or so we have sold. We have ordered more of them as it seems clear to us that this will be the go-to mower for many folks.

They are well made, well featured, priced fair. If you want something a little more commercial/industrial than most of the China imports (which have their place no doubt) and significantly heavier duty than the Caroni, etc. this is a great way to go. Not everyone needs a heavy duty hydraulic side-shift mower, but if you do this one should be considered.

Most of what Titan sells they make in Tennessee, but these mowers are actually built in India for Titan.

Great, thank you.Purchased it. Should have it Friday.

 

[Otto33]

Great, thank you.Purchased it. Should have it Friday.

Huh, sort of timely. I just ordered a smaller FL-135. Anxious to hear how you like yours.

 

[Trails End]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the
delivery goes ok and I can get the mower unloaded without any problems.
Does anyone have pictures of their TM1900 still on the delivery pallet?

The freight company delivered my TM1900 flail mower as scheduled
Tuesday morning. He pulled the 18 wheeler just past my driveway
and pulled off to the side of the road. When I asked him if he
was ready to back up my driveway, he said that it was against
company policy to do that. He had a small hand powered pallet
fork to move it to the back of the trailer, but couldn't get it
in position to place it on the lift gate. Fortunately, my neighbor
was home and offered to give us a hand. We were able to wrestle
the mower onto the lift gate and lower it to the ground, but the
driver couldn't move the mower over the ground. With his lift
fork under the heavy end, the light end was still dragging on the
driveway. I brought the tractor down with a length of chain and
fastened the chain between the front edge of the pallet and lifted
it enough to clear the ground, then proceeded to slowly back up
with the driver guiding the palled fork for the slow trip up my
500 foot driveway. From there, I was able to unpack the mower
with the help of the tractor and finally managed to get the top
link tower removed from under the mower where it had been stored
for shipment. Now I was able to mount the tractor on the 3-point
hitch.

 

[leonz]

Hello and good afternoon Trails End,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the Flail Mower Nations from the great State of New Hampshire.

You now own and have a high quality mowing implement in your stable that will outlast your current mule and will work for many years with normal care.

Ideally you will want to mow at a 2 inch mowing height to create the greatest suction(pressure gradient) to lift the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor and you will be able to recut the clippings a second or third time to let them dissolve quickly into the sod.

Please be sure to check the rear roller mounts and if possible use blue loctite to secure the nuts and bolts so that they do not separate.

When you are mowing at 540 RPM engine speed the flail mower will sound like a vacuum cleaner and you know the knives are slicing the grass and the clippings are being lifted up and over the flail mower rotor.

About tools for your flail mower; the major tool purchase that I will recommend to you is to invest in a V belt tension gauge to prevent premature V belt failure as the V belt tensioner is still manually adjusted from what I remember of the brand.

Purchasing a set of spare V belts is a must as the must all be replaced at the same time when a V belt failure occurs.

When purchasing the replacement V belts YOU MUST purchase V belts with the same lot number as mixing V belts with different lot numbers will affect the mowers performance as each V belt lot has different characteristics including the nylon thread, the rubber batch and rubber curing during the time the V belt is assembled where the thread woven together and the rubber molded around the threads to create the V belt in the mold size.

We want you to succeed and reduce your mowing workload with your beautiful new flail mower.

Investing in a dip stick extension tube by purchasing a metric pipe adapter is also good practice and we have discussed them extensively here as well. The JIC pipe metric extension fitting reduces the chance of gear oil spattering out of the vent in the cap/plug.

Having either a pump oiler with gear oil or a plastic squirt bottle of 90 weight ger oil will help you tremendously when you need to top off the oil level in the gearbox.


THE MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember is to NOT OVERGREASE the flail mower rotor bearings and the rear roller bearings where 4-6 pumps at each mowing or after each mowing is all you need.

Make sure that you remove the V belt guard to check the V belts occasionally and also greasing any pulleys that have grease zerk's with one or two pumps of grease as needed.

Please, please, please ask questions before or after your first mowing.


Happy mowing.

 

[Trails End]

Please, please, please ask questions before or after your first mowing.


Happy mowing.

Thanks for the welcome, Leonz! I'm looking forward to using it for the first time, but I've got to
catch up on other work before that. I'm way behind in my yard work, including getting my lawn
mower ready for another mowing season.
I already have a plastic squirt bottle of 90 weight oil and will be ordering a spare set of v belts.
I still have to set up the mowing height as I need to start higher than normal due to excess rocks
in the area that I'll be using the mower in.

Again, thanks for the welcome and the advice. I've learned quite a bit reading this looooong thread,
and found it quite useful in deciding on the mower to purchase.

 

[leonz]

Hello and good evening Trails End,

Rather than ordering the V-belts remotely I would rather see you buy a set from a local vendor as then you can be assured the lot numbers are identical for each V belt.

All V-belts are metric just like ball and roller bearings so no worries there; if you have a KAMAN industrial sales room nearby they can help you quickly obtain the correct Kevlar V belts as the Kevlar thread V belts are more shock resistant than standard V belts and are usually made with a green color.

I see that you have a rock rake in your stable so that will be a big help in reducing the chance of damaging knives and knife hangers on your TM1900.

Happy mowing.


Happy mowing

 

[aslack99]

Hello all, I purchased a Ford 917 22-183 Flail yesterday, that seems to be in good shape mechanically but I can't seem to find the flail hangers anywhere to replace the missing flails.Also, when I go to replace them do I offset each blade from the previous mounting point in rotation? I have already ordered a new belt as well. Thanks for any help.

 

[Lnk]

Someone will be along shortly to tell you where to get the hangers. No, you don't need to move them to an offset position. Those blades are pretty worn, I personally would replace all, saving the best for spares. I use the Y blades or side cutters, but I am not looking for a golf course look either.

Good luck with your new mower.

 

[Lnk]

Try here:
<img src="images/btn_03.gif" /> : Hard Hitter, Wear Parts With Muscle

 

[aslack99]

Try here:
<img src="https://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/images/btn_03.gif" /> : Hard Hitter, Wear Parts With Muscle

I saw that site earlier, but they don't list for Ford.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never had any trouble finding 917 knife components in-stock at NH dealers. That might have been ten years ago. Has this changed?

 

[Fallon]

Someone will be along shortly to tell you where to get the hangers. No, you don't need to move them to an offset position. Those blades are pretty worn, I personally would replace all, saving the best for spares. I use the Y blades or side cutters, but I am not looking for a golf course look either.

Good luck with your new mower.

I got my side slicers for my 917 at Flailmaster, who sadly closed up shop recently. I replaced the blades & mounting hardware as some were missing. I wanted to keep things somewhat ballanced & figured all new had a better chance. I keep the old stuff as spares, which I have needed after some rocks & well heads.

I'd put the new ones in the old slots to maintain any balancing done on the rotor. It does surprise me though that it doesn't go to **** in a handbasket vibrating after losing a couple knives though. Obviously replace the missing knives.

 

[Xfaxman]

-----------------------------------
Also, when I go to replace them do I offset each blade from the previous mounting point in rotation? ---------------------- View attachment 658170

Yes, commonly referred to as "spiral". Mine is a single spiral:

This is a double spiral:

 

[aslack99]

Yes, commonly referred to as "spiral". Mine is a single spiral:




This is a double spiral

I thought they had to offset each other to avoid stripes. Thanks

 

[aslack99]

I never had any trouble finding 917 knife components in-stock at NH dealers. That might have been ten years ago. Has this changed?

Looks like Messicks has the U hangers for $9.05 each-ouch

 

[Fallon]

I thought they had to offset each other to avoid stripes. Thanks

They do, but it can be accomplished in at least 2 ways. You can have 2 or more rows where the knives on opposite rows overlap. Or you can have knives in a spiral that overlap.

My 917 was setup with the knives in rows. My new Peruzzo has the hammers in a spiral.

In woodworking the nicer planers have spiral knives where the cheaper ones are flat. A lot cheaper to make a flat knife than dozens of small carbide ones. Quieter & a better surface finish there. But I doubt that's as relevant for a flail. In theory a spiral would be a more even loading, but I'm not sure how much that's relevant in practice. Definitely easier to weld on 2-4 long brackets for all stations than dozens for individual stations.