Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,811  
The EA guys are carrying flails again/now (not sure which).

https://www.(Temporarily blocked due to reports of company closure)/Tractor-Flail-Mowers-s/9833.htm
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,812  
The Phoenix brand of rotary and flail mowers are manufactured
by the SICMA company in Italy www.sicma.it/eng/
which is part of the family held Aurora group in Italy.

SICMA has been manufacturing farm equipment for both small and
large farm equipment for 50 years and it meets the higher farm
equipment safety standards of the European Union.
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,813  
Got to use the new to me flail mower this week. I'm very happy with it. Of course I'd been mowing my lawn with the bush hog so I'm not hard to please. The missus likes how the grass looks so that's a great endorsement.

One thing I've noticed is a "click" when mowing something heavier, like really tall grass or woody debris. Is that just the knives hitting the drum when they bounce off something?

I'll also hear a faint click when backing up, even on low grass. The roller bearings appear fine. Is there anything under there that could be making contact with the knives?
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,814  
Got to use the new to me flail mower this week. I'm very happy with it. Of course I'd been mowing my lawn with the bush hog so I'm not hard to please. The missus likes how the grass looks so that's a great endorsement.

One thing I've noticed is a "click" when mowing something heavier, like really tall grass or woody debris. Is that just the knives hitting the drum when they bounce off something?

I'll also hear a faint click when backing up, even on low grass. The roller bearings appear fine. Is there anything under there that could be making contact with the knives?
The click you heard was most likely on of the knives just being freed up from resting on the
flail mower rotor or bumping up against the flail mower rotor while back in reverse if the engine
speed is not set at the PTO Speed or when you encounter thick brush.

When your flail mower is operating at the 540 RPM Engine speed and the flail mower rotor
is spinning with the knives tip speed of rotation reaching 2,200 revolutions per minute it
should sound like a shop vac with the cutting height set at 2 inches.


Happy mowing.
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,815  
After using my new to me JD 25A this week I'm thinking new knives and rings may be in order. The rings are about the same price everywhere but the scoop knives or hammers are all over the place price wise.

This is the type of knife that's on there now. They look OK and could be sharpened but the D-rings are wearing a bit and should be replaced.

$1.70 per knife for these but then I see some that say "hardened" or "Super Koat" like these for almost three times as much.

Anyone have experience enough to know the difference and if one is worth that much more than the other? Flailmaster.com quoted me $5.50 for the knives but I do not know if they are hardened or specially coated or just the same as the $1.70 model above. I'll reach out to them to find out but would like to hear from others with knowledge as well.

Thanks
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,816  
To be hardened they have to be heat treated or have a carbide coating
applied to them.

If a cup knife/spoon knife is less expensive they are not heat treated.
You have to decide how much you wish to spend on them as you can
purchase a great number of regular knives to do a great deal of mowing
and not spend that much money on them per unit.

The only time a ring knife hanger/ring needs to be changed is when they
are broken or gone entirely along with the knife as the anchor strap is
also damaged and you want to use nylock nuts and washers or blue loctite
on regular fine threaded nuts and bolts for the hanger straps.
 
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   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,817  
Has anyone here ever drilled additional holes in their flail mower to allow a bit more height when cutting? I was thinking of adding a couple more holes to see if I could bump up the cutting height from 4 inches to closer to 6 inches for pasture mowing.

I want to do the same. I love my flail but mostly use it for cutting pastures which need to be cut at 4-6”. The flail does not seem to work as well at that height as like 3.5”

I use my 8’ rotary cutter instead to clip pastures and it does not do near as good of a job, but I can’t do the pastures at 3.5” in summer for risk of damaging the grass.
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,818  
After 100+ h on my 68'' offset palletforks.com flail mower, I sold it due to the lack of available service parts, then I went and got a Betstco AGL165 articulating flailmower. Still made in China I suppose, but they seem well made. Have absolutely nothing bad to say about the palletforks.com mower. Just the company itself suck.

View attachment 803190
Hi, you can get Titan mower spare parts from Nova Tractor
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,819  
I've read about kevlar belts in this thread but can't seem to find any for the 25a. Anyone got a source for a kevlar equivalent to a C54 v-belt?
 
   / Let's talk flail mowers #7,820  
You can order a Gates V belt on line from Walmart from $27.65 if their advertising is right.
KAMAN Industrial Supply is another source as well.
I've found belts galore, just none in kevlar like I've seen recommended in this thread.
 
 

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