Flail Mower EFGC flail review after 15 hrs

[kkimura]

I picked up an EFGC155 as part of a package not knowing anything about flails. It's 60" wide and the manual is generic so not reliable on details. I posted a general description earlier. I pulled the y knives to put an edge on them. There were 23 sets hung from brackets welded to a 4.25 inch rotor. The brackets were arranged in a spiral that allowed knives to overlap around an inch. The knives hung about 5 inches from the rotor and were .25 inch thick and 1 7/8 inch wide -so very heavy. But mild steel with double bevels. Edges were factory blunt about 3/16 inch and on the cutting side rounded. I pulled the knives to inspect and sharpen. One knife was slightly bent hitting a hidden stump and a couple had small chips where rocks got in the way. I set the knives to hang 2 to 3 inches from ground and usually set my top link on long side to reduce ground contact. I decided the fastest way to put an edge on the knives was to use my belt sander with 36 grit. The process was to first to flatten the bottom and second to put a secondary bevel on the factory bevel. I touched up the bevel with a double cut bastard. Here are a couple of pictures of the knives. The picture of knives hanging show the rotor with hangers arranged in a spiral. The knives in the second photo show factory edges after use (right side), edges belt sanded middle and edges after hand filing.
Hope this helps in your search for a flail. Ken

 

[DieselBound]

How well does your Kioti run this flail?

I'm thinking about a 5-footer for my B7800: thinking of one with hydraulic offset, though I don't have extra hydraulics- I'd look to use hydraulics from my Polaris or my Kioti to adjust depending on the need.

 

[kkimura]

diesel bound, I was concerned about the 30-40hp rating on the implement but the dealer assured me the ck2610 did not have any issues with the flail. I cleared an area overgrown with blackberry vines, saplings and unkept 20 foot vegetation without a problem also another area of 15 foot knotweed. I noticed the flail bogged when I tried a pass on reed canary grass but seemed to overcome that issue when I increased the engine rpm. Your B7800 is spec-ed at 22hp at the pto and the ck2610 is around 21hp so I'ed expect you to experience the same performance. Ken

 

[Ron50]

Did it cut all of ther blackberry vines, or did some get wound up on the rotor?

 

[kkimura]

ron50, the flail did a decent job on blackberries. I ran through the brush with the flail roller off the ground an inch or so and the first pass left vines and long saplings about 6 inches long and longer at times. Didn't have an issue with anything wrapping around the rotor but I lost a couple of pins as the tractor passed over the brush. The spiral set around the rotor worked like a spiral cutter head on a joiner. It probably requires less pto hp to spin and it's quite. When the roller is on the ground, all that's left is mulch. Ken

 

[DieselBound]

Ken, thanks much for the response. Nice to know that the flail can do a bit of whacking on blackberries: my main tool, however, is and will always be a bush hog for such- my NX5510 with its 6' bush hog is really nasty! My wife keeps telling me she wants to help mow. She has very little experience operating a tractor and I don't think I want to have her running a bush hog, so I figured a flail would be best: keep her in grass, or just on the edge of brush (never know what's in the brush).

 

[kkimura]

diesel bound, if you look at EFGC, examine the machine. I think they have different arrangements for the same model. I like the spiral arrangement of hangers on the rotor but I've seen rotors with hangers in-line. Adjusting belt tension is old school. You have to loosen the gearbox hanger bolts and drive line bolts near the pulley and adjust the drive line position with an adjustment bolt. Also, I've seen this model with one, two and three belts. My flail is hard to check gear box oil. The sight/drain plug is behind the pto shield. If the flail is going to be used for the lawn, I would remove the knives and put and edge on the cutting side. The factory edge is squared off and would seem to tear the grass. The rotor turns opposite the tractor wheels going forward. Ken