24HP tractor with flail

[vsteel]

I think I have read about all of the threads on the board about flails and I am still a little confused about what kind of horsepower it takes to run one. I know that it somewhat depends on what you are doing with it, but some seem to say it takes a lot of horsepower and some seem to think its easy on the tractor. I thought I would throw out my specifics and see here what everyone thought.

I have a JD 2320 tractor, 18HP at the PTO, 24 at the crankshaft. I am looking to run a 36 to 48 inch flail. It will be going through about an acre of 3 foot tall grass, some brush and hopefully taking some 1 inch saplings. There are some possible stumps I could be finding. Its a flat area I am going to be clearing so no major hills to climb. I don't really care if I have to go slow as I think that one time through I should be able to keep up on it so it won't be so bad the next times. I have some pictures of what it will be going through, I did take one picture closeup of the brush so you can see how thick it is.

Ok, so what is the opinion, a flail going to be ok or do I need a bush hog?

 

[ChuckinNH]

The Kubota manual that I have for my B2620 says that they recommend a 42" flail mower for the B2320 which is one hp less than yours at the PTO. It recommends a 48" for the 19 Pto HP That I have on my tractor. The recommendations in Kubota manuals are generally thought to be pretty conservative, so I think you would be OK with what you have in mind. You have a great small tractor there, and I think it would handle things just fine. Your manual may have specific recommendations too.

 

[IslandTractor]

A flail should be fine for the grasses and shrubs/brush in the photos you show. With a 25hp tractor I'd be looking for a five foot flail myself. Certainly no less than 48 inches. Unless you are trying to turn that land into a lawn, I'd favor a "rough cut" flail over a finish cut style.

Here are some examples of material that can be cut with a flail. In my case it is a six foot rough cut flail on a 40hp tractor. I rarely run over 2000rpm engine speed which is below standard PTO speed so I am confident that a smaller, say 30 to 35hp tractor could also run my flail effectively at PTO speed.