Flail Mower Flail mower advice on JD 2640

[barnhay]

Hi,

I've never owned a flail mower before, and I want one to keep my CRP grass in check. My JD 2640 has about 70hp at the PTO, and I'd like to go as wide as possible, within reason. I'm considering a 96" Woodmaxx, but don't know anything about the brand, or if a 1400 lb attachment is too much for my tractor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[ericm979]

I doubt 1400 lbs will be too much for a 70hp tractor. Mine's 37hp and it has no problem with a 1000lb chipper. The chipper's CG is farther away from the tractor than a flail mower's CG too. My chipper's a Woodmaxx and I've seen one of their flail mowers in person. The chipper had one feature that bothered me which I solved by replacing the hydraulic control valve with one more appropriate for the system. Some tasks like replacing and adjusting the bed knife are harder than they could be. But overall I'm satisfied with it. The flail I saw looked a bit better made than my chipper and on the short run the owner did with it, it chopped up tall grass nicely.

They are changing their models around so if you want a door on the back talk to them and make sure that yours will have it. Some don't now.

 

[leonz]

Hi,

I've never owned a flail mower before, and I want one to keep my CRP grass in check. My JD 2640 has about 70hp at the PTO, and I'd like to go as wide as possible, within reason. I'm considering a 96" Woodmaxx, but don't know anything about the brand, or if a 1400 lb attachment is too much for my tractor. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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The one thing that you must understand is that wanting a wider cut is not the be all end all for your mowing needs.

flail mowers/flail shredders use a center mounted right angle gearbox connected to the cross shaft which rotates the V belt drive pulley
which then rotates the driven V belt pulley that spins the flail mower rotor to

If you have CRP ground and you only wish to mow it occasionally you have one issue already staring you in the face and that is long stem grass and weeds that can create problems for a standard flail mower with hammer knives or side slicer knives.



With CRP ground that is only maintained a few times per year you need a flail shredder with cup knives.

Please take a look at the Hiniker model 5710 towed 6 foot flail mower. It has a CV joint to allow tighter turns and it operates
with a 540 RPM PTO.

It has a dynamically balanced 32 cup knife flail mower rotor with the high suction lift cup knives mounted on ring hangers that can be replaced with hand tools following the service manual instructions.

It is equipped with 5.5 by 15 inch tires and an overrunning clutch to protect the mower and the tractor.

The Model 5710 flail mower can be equipped with either a ratchet jack to adjust the cutting height or a hydraulic cylinder to raise and lower the mowers cutting height.

The Model 5710 flail mower has a cutting height of 10 inches down to 2 inches in mowing height.

 

[Lnk]

I don't want to disagree with you leonz, but I am. I run a nine foot dandl with Y blades or side slicers and they do an amazing job on wild land. I have a field I cut once per year in August and as long as I wait until later in the day, I have no problems. Morning dew is a whole other ballgame. This field has tall thick grasses, muscadine vines, smooth sumac and sweetgum saplings as well as many other vines and weeds. A week after I mow it, you would swear it was maintained regularly. I had scoop knives prior to the y blades, they cut the low stuff better, and stand stuff up better, bit you will go slower in heavy stuff. Much slower.

Good luck with your choice. My tractor was 70 hp in 1985 and is gear drive, and handles a 108"flail.

 

[leonz]

Hello Ink,

My basic thought with this was he would be a new user and a smaller towed flail mower
with a constant velocity universal joint with the overrunning clutch will offer more protection
for the flail mower and the mule.
A flail shredder with wider cup knives will be even more friendly as he will only have 32 cup knives to worry about.

 

[Lnk]

Price wise a flail shredder is going to be costly. I bet he has read into the huge thread at least a little. Providing him with our experiences is going to help him with his decision. I see no problem with us all giving advice, just want to give it based on experience that is all. Hope you have a great rest of your day.

 

[barnhay]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your input. I think the shredder is out of my budget window. I'm not a total novice, I've got a plow, disk, rotary cutter, grain drill, sprayer and some other stuff too. I was just more concerned if I was overloading the tractor, but it doesn't sound like that is the case. I can get the Woodmaxx 96" for just under $4k, which my wife will tolerate.

 

[leonz]

Before you do that I suggest that you look for a used JD25A or JD290(seven foot cut)as you will be able to purchase parts
and side slicer knives from Flail Master, clean cutter and John Deere if needed if your in a bind time wise.

 

[the old grind]

barnhay, I went 'total economy' due to size of tasks at hand, but while shopping for, and since using, my flail mower I only have that sore leg. Perhaps I should have kicked myself with the other for waiting 15 years to $pring for it. :mur: Woodmaxx was the brand I'd have bought if $$ didn't matter. (That nice, ..features and price.)

Occam's Razor, Baby! The size and working power you began with seem very well matched. IMO, you'd be surprised at the handling ease, cut with cupped hammers, and how little hp the mower seems to demand. I have < 30 PTO hp, and my 53" cut FHM econo-flail reminds of my 5' KK tiller in wt and feel, but less power demand. I should have taken pics of the 1 ac food plot I went over for friends. You could have baled what their BH knocked down. I wouldn't want to try raking what I left of that for mulch. Pretty sparse.

3' sweet clover, lush and green, so thick you couldn't walk through it was my toughest test. Willows or blackberries, taller than me among the field grasses, <1" trunk, and maybe a piece of stem sticks up after one pass, but carving horse-riding trails across fields at random like snowmobiles did before it grew up with pines, cedars, juniper, and those d__ blackberries. :laughing:

I'm sure you'd thank us all no matter what you get. Even more sure that nothing would grow big/tall enough in a mere year to challenge your mower if mowed only that often. It's not afraid of anything, and most of what I've mowed here to widen my back road is also flat enough for my ZTR to keep mowed. ('hammers!')

If the wife OKs a 96" WDMX I dare say you'll thank her more just for for saying "OK".

btw, appreciate the CRP acres you don't convert to grow 'coon food for cars.