brianidaho
Silver Member
I got my latest ebay purchase yesterday, an Alamo flail mower. I've been looking locally for a year or so with no luck. I thought I'd post my first impressons of the machine and operation. Pics coming over the weekend.
My impression of the unit is that it's a tank. Side walls look to be 5/16" the main housing 1/4" or better, the roller equally robust. I think it's what I'm going to want for my use. I have 20 acres of uneven, rocky ground with lots of brush and plenty of hidden stumps and logs.
First impressions of operation:
* With the roller raised a flail mower makes like a rototiller.
* Using a flail mower as a tiller in rocky ground makes for lots of "flail tinkle".
* Former owner wasn't too bright, roller wasn't adjusted equally side to side.
* A floor jack makes adjusting roller height fairly painless.
* Unit works much better with roller adjusted. Cutting heavy grass and light brush went very well, tractor doesn't seem to feel the load and cut looks good, given what I'm cutting. The tractor turns the flail fine at low RPM, seems to cut much better with 2000 RPM (450 PTO) or more.
* Clumps of heavy, 1-2" brush bend over readly under the weight of the mower and don't seem to strain the mower frame or roller at all. It doesn't cut much going backwards, the roller holds them down, but forward cut knocks down the bulk of it. With this material it leaves quite a few stripped stalks that pop back up. Sharpening/reversing the flails might help, they are pretty worn. Also, I have the light (standard) flails on it, heavier ones might help.
* Large rocks and hidden stumps create a lot of "flail tinkle", but don't seem to do much damage. Makes me wonder about the heavier flail blades, they might knock down brush and small stumps better, but the extra weight might add drama with rocks.
* Barbed wire and flails combine to make unpleasant noises.
* "They don't make them like they used to" applies to barbed wire. This old stuff was thick. No damage to the mower.
* I was impressed how quiet and vibration free mowing in nasty stuff is with a flail. I didn't notice any "projectiles" evey after hitting some softball to basketball sized rocks.
* Getting brush under control probably should be done in the spring before it leafs out, or after the leaves drop in the fall. Seems like it would be a whole lot easier to see obsticles and avoid them.
* Trying to type a long post with a new kitten walking across the keyboard every couple of minutes is very aggrevating.
I think I'm going to be happy with this impliment. My intentions are to use this once or maybe twice a year just to keep brush under control in my forest. Once I get the heavy brush knocked down and the stumps cut back, I think this work well for my use.
I'll probably spring for a set of the forged, "heavy duty" (M-108318) blades from Flailmaster. At $1.45 each times 72 flails, it's not too bad. It will be interesting to see how they compare to the standard ones. One nice thing about the standard blade (100759), at $.70 each it's not painful when one needs to be replaced. At that price, I'm not sure it's worth sharpening them, run one side, flip it and toss might be in the works.
My impression of the unit is that it's a tank. Side walls look to be 5/16" the main housing 1/4" or better, the roller equally robust. I think it's what I'm going to want for my use. I have 20 acres of uneven, rocky ground with lots of brush and plenty of hidden stumps and logs.
First impressions of operation:
* With the roller raised a flail mower makes like a rototiller.
* Using a flail mower as a tiller in rocky ground makes for lots of "flail tinkle".
* Former owner wasn't too bright, roller wasn't adjusted equally side to side.
* A floor jack makes adjusting roller height fairly painless.
* Unit works much better with roller adjusted. Cutting heavy grass and light brush went very well, tractor doesn't seem to feel the load and cut looks good, given what I'm cutting. The tractor turns the flail fine at low RPM, seems to cut much better with 2000 RPM (450 PTO) or more.
* Clumps of heavy, 1-2" brush bend over readly under the weight of the mower and don't seem to strain the mower frame or roller at all. It doesn't cut much going backwards, the roller holds them down, but forward cut knocks down the bulk of it. With this material it leaves quite a few stripped stalks that pop back up. Sharpening/reversing the flails might help, they are pretty worn. Also, I have the light (standard) flails on it, heavier ones might help.
* Large rocks and hidden stumps create a lot of "flail tinkle", but don't seem to do much damage. Makes me wonder about the heavier flail blades, they might knock down brush and small stumps better, but the extra weight might add drama with rocks.
* Barbed wire and flails combine to make unpleasant noises.
* "They don't make them like they used to" applies to barbed wire. This old stuff was thick. No damage to the mower.
* I was impressed how quiet and vibration free mowing in nasty stuff is with a flail. I didn't notice any "projectiles" evey after hitting some softball to basketball sized rocks.
* Getting brush under control probably should be done in the spring before it leafs out, or after the leaves drop in the fall. Seems like it would be a whole lot easier to see obsticles and avoid them.
* Trying to type a long post with a new kitten walking across the keyboard every couple of minutes is very aggrevating.
I think I'm going to be happy with this impliment. My intentions are to use this once or maybe twice a year just to keep brush under control in my forest. Once I get the heavy brush knocked down and the stumps cut back, I think this work well for my use.
I'll probably spring for a set of the forged, "heavy duty" (M-108318) blades from Flailmaster. At $1.45 each times 72 flails, it's not too bad. It will be interesting to see how they compare to the standard ones. One nice thing about the standard blade (100759), at $.70 each it's not painful when one needs to be replaced. At that price, I'm not sure it's worth sharpening them, run one side, flip it and toss might be in the works.
