Anyone With an L3901 or L4701 Running a Ditch/Bank Flail Mower

[diesel85]

One thing I forgot to mention, anytime you add hydraulic cylinders you add weight. Also, the offset can dramatically impact the tractor going in a straight line or not.

Only reason my little BX can muster the Woodmaxx, even though it's slightly offset, is because I'm mowing on a relatively flat surface. Which is what a majority of flail mowers are designed to do.

The dynamics are a lot different when the mower is sticking out 3/4 of the way out hitting ruts and uneven surfaces at a downward angle. Too light of a machine will have the mower drag the front end towards the ditch, which isn't good.

So one of those shift/tilt flails are different than most folks flail mower setups.

Another thing you may want to consider are the flails themselves. I got the Y grass blades, mostly because I'm mowing my lawn with it and will leave a nicer cut. You might want the grass blades too... since it sounds like you weedwhack it anyways. It will leave a much nicer appearance than flat hammer blades.

 

[welyell]

It's not a bank mower but I run a 5' caroni flail(shifted to the side) on our L4760, I could probably run 7' or 8' with no issues. The L4701 is pretty light for it's HP and the cost jump is significant for just 8hp which is why we went with the L4760. Started with a 18hp PTO Ford which is why the flail is shorter than I'd like.

Love the flail mower, good at cutting down tall stuff, I've done 3-4' grass, 2-3' high blackberries. It leaves a nice enough cut that it mostly replaces our riding mower except where our septic is. The adjacent field is bushhogged and you can really see the difference.

My "worst case" mowing would be 12"-16" high grass with some blackberry shoots (same height) and other weeds mixed in. This would be the first mowing in the spring. Have you had any issues with the blackberries wrapping around the rotor of the flail? I often end up having to cut them (strings) off the rotors of my Husqvarna riding mower

 

[vvanders]

No problem with blackberries, the shaft rotates forward and up relative to direction of travel. As long as you keep a reasonable groundspeed(~5mph on grass, 1-2mph in tough brush) you should have a nice clean cut.

 

[Fallon]

Power wise, no problem. My L3200 ran a 7' flail ok. I have a side shift 1,700lbs 8' Pruzo Brush Bull on my L4060 now. It puts a good side load when offset & it only goes to the belts even with the tire, not even close to half the mower past the edge of the machine.

I'd think twice about much of a offset mower behind my L4060.