Calling leonz - question about the holy flail

[XSKIER]

I have an early Mott 48 utility mower. It has 60 stations of 4.7" blades mounted on 5/16" pins. (386 blades). I understand that it is designed as a "fine cut", by I would like to use it to keep a recently cleared brushy area knocked down. The maximum anticipated brushy material will be about 1/2" diameter 3' tall.

I would like to convert it to a ring or shackle mount blade with some more mass to help power through the material.

Would it make sense to go down to 30 stations of bigger knives?

Can you offer any ideas of the parts I could use to accomplish a "coarse cut"?

 

[leonz]

I have an early Mott 48 utility mower. It has 60 stations of 4.7" blades mounted on 5/16" pins. (386 blades). I understand that it is designed as a "fine cut", by I would like to use it to keep a recently cleared brushy area knocked down. The maximum anticipated brushy material will be about 1/2" diameter 3' tall.

I would like to convert it to a ring or shackle mount blade with some more mass to help power through the material.

Would it make sense to go down to 30 stations of bigger knives?

Can you offer any ideas of the parts I could use to accomplish a "coarse cut"?

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Good evening xskier,


Your Mott finish mower is a a monster mower when it comes to brush believe it or not as the finish rotors
will knock everything down to the sod to get rid of the invasives for you.

If you want a rough cut simply raise the cutting height and it will do that nicely as well.

There is no need to change the mounting for the grass slicers and reduce the number of knive stations as you
will in essence reduce the throw wieght of the knives by changing the long grass slicers for different knives and
thats a no win for you or the Mott as the rotor was designed for the grass slicers and dethatching blades.

The other 500 pound canary saying Here kitty, kitty, is that you will lose a lot of suction created by the aerodynamic
lift that is created by each grass slicer to cut everything and thats a lose, lose, NO NO NO NO!!!

You will be fine with flail mower the way it is really and all you need to do is sharpen the grass slicers or spring for
new ones from one of the venders we always mention of which there are 3 at least that sell flail knives and dethatching blades.

Just drive slowly when mowing until you have ther finish you want as the flailmower will work best when the rear roller is
touching the turf because of the aerodynamics(massive suction) created by the grass slicers and the mower hood.


No worries, no need to change anything, just raise the cutting hieght and spring for new grass slicers, as you should always
have spares anyway.


The kinves you have may simply need a bit of light dressing on a bench grinder-be carefull of the cutting edges as you can
foul them if the edge is not straight.


I have a Wen wet well grinder for table and carving knives that I use for or Lawn Genie knives and it is really slick as it cools
the grass slicer as it grinds the edges.



Welcome to the flail mower nation.


"Once you go flail you never go back"

 

[XSKIER]

The one concern that I have is that new slicers from either Alamo or flailmaster are .029" thinner than the .116" slicers that are currently hanging. I know from the lawnmower experience that a sharp blade always is more efficient for grass. However all I can think is that it takes mass to get through brushy material.

I talked to the tech dept. at flailmaster on the possibility of stamping some slicers out of .187" stock. He said that without a large quantity, it would be too cost prohibitive to tool up for it.

This should blow your mind...

 

[leonz]

You should be fine with your current knive thickness really
as your brush is not that thick.

Once you have the brush knocked down you wil be able to
zip right through everything.


Edit: please check with www.agrisupply.com about thier Caroni grass slicers
as they may be just what you want as they are substantial in thickness
as the same identical knives are used for both brush and turf.

 

[IslandTractor]

You should be fine with your current knive thickness really
as your brush is not that thick.

Once you have the brush knocked down you wil be able to
zip right through everything.


Edit: please check with www.agrisupply.com about thier Caroni grass slicers
as they may be just what you want as they are substantial in thickness
as the same identical knives are used for both brush and turf.

Not exactly. There are two types of blades for the Caroni mowers. The grass flails similar to those discussed in this thread and the "brush" knives which are mounted to a clevis rather than directly to the rotor. I do appreciate Leonz point that the grass knives do pretty well in light brush but there is a reason that heavy duty flail knives are available and they can be expected to live longer and probably do a better job in real brush or rough terrain than the grass finish knives.

 

[leonz]

MY apologies and A Big Whoopsie on the different slicer knives on my part;

at least you can find out if the Caroni slicers are the right length and thicknesss and pin size for the Mott if you want to try them.

The slicers you have on the Mott are pretty thick though, and will stand up to a lot of use and abuse.

The Mathews OEM tapered knives that I have left are an eighth of an inch thick approx., and three inches long.

The less worrysome issue for the mower is that you can install a fender washer to take up the difference if you can slip a fender washer in between the knives and not affect the mowers performance if you use the the thinner guage knives from Flail Master.

 

[XSKIER]

Well I ordered the .087" slicers from flailmaster. I'll give them a try and report back. If they don't meet my expectations, I'll try something else.

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[leonz]

I am glad to hear you will be running the new iron
on the Mott flailmower Xskier, I dont think you will
be dissapointed as you wil have a huge amount of
cutting surface slicing the living daylights out of
your grass and brush.

You can always set the cutting hieght a bit higher
at first and then go over it again at the lower(st) setting.


No worries, If you have any issues please send
me or Island Tractor a PM.


About the issue of mass and throw wieght;
your flailmower rotor is creating enough
centrifugal force to create the necessary
rotary energy and rotating mass with
all the new knives in the compliment and
that the new knives will be well up to the
task for your green beast of burden.

Once you have the P.T.O., up to 540 R.P.M.,
VROOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!, look out snakes,
chipmunks and gophers!!!

The mowing/brush slicing will look butts ugly
the first time or two but it will shred quickly
and compost quickly and leave no residue after
the first couple of mowings.

Oh an be sure to check your V belts as a cracked V belt
is a weak V belt ready to fail and grease all the fittings
under the shroud too.




Welcome to the Flail Mower Nation.


"Once you go flail you never go back"

 

[leonz]

The one concern that I have is that new slicers from either Alamo or flailmaster are .029" thinner than the .116" slicers that are currently hanging. I know from the lawnmower experience that a sharp blade always is more efficient for grass. However all I can think is that it takes mass to get through brushy material.

I talked to the tech dept. at flailmaster on the possibility of stamping some slicers out of .187" stock. He said that without a large quantity, it would be too cost prohibitive to tool up for it.

This should blow your mind...

Yes Sir,

that is a thing of beauty and perfomance.

 

[XSKIER]

Well the new blades from flailmaster are a good bit lighter. Since I'm using such a small tractor, I think it helps. The blades being all sharp definitely makes a difference, I'll try to keep them sharp. After I make a pass now there is less stubble left standing. Overall, I'm happy with the improvement for such a little cost, for now...