Flail mower angle

[bill9068]

What angle do you set your mower at? I usually keep mine where the roller in back is on the ground but the front is up 5-6 inches. Am I doing that right? I have a hydraulic top and tilt.

 

[K5lwq]

I set mine up similar but just a couple inches up in front. It depends on how low you want to mow but having it slightly up in front helps keep it from digging in when making turns.

 

[BukitCase]

I have the 6 foot Caroni, the skids are up as far as the holes allow - I let mine ride the roller too, then I set it down on relatively level ground and look under it from the front, and adjust the hyd. toplink til the knives are however much off the ground I want - usually 3 to 4".

I found out a few years ago that you do NOT wanna use this implement as a "gentle rototiller", unless you LIKE replacing belts ... Steve

 

[John0829]

Roller on the ground then adjust the top link so the skids are level but not touching the ground that gives a cut somewhere between 2 1/2 and 3 inches.

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

What angle do you set your mower at? I usually keep mine where the roller in back is on the ground but the front is up 5-6 inches. Am I doing that right? I have a hydraulic top and tilt.View attachment 708714

On my 48" Bestco Flail the guide suggested the top pin be slightly behind the lower pins, after using the mower for about 12 hours now and playing with it I'm staying with that position. Did about a hundred yards of trail clearing to the Cistern earlier today and it did the job.

Before and after shots.

 

[wirlybird]

I adjust the roller to the height you want within its range. Then with the tractor on a level surface and the roller on the ground and 3 point lowered all the way I use a level as directed in the manuals to "level" the flail.
The roller is supposed to control the height of the cut and when you "level" the flail it will set the blades at the proper height in relation to the roller.
Use the manual for your unit to set the flail correctly. It is important to do this.

 

[wirlybird]

What angle do you set your mower at? I usually keep mine where the roller in back is on the ground but the front is up 5-6 inches. Am I doing that right? I have a hydraulic top and tilt.View attachment 708714

Here is a snippet from the manual. Different process than mine but pretty straight forward.

2.2.2 FLAIL MOWER ADJUSTMENT
1. On a flat piece of ground, attach the flail mower to the tractor using the three point linkage
2. Use a solid adjustable top link
3. Lower the three point linkage to its lowest position
4. With the roller at the rear in contact with the ground, adjust the length of the top link so that the lower edge at the side of the flail mower is parallel with the ground
5. Rotate the blade drum by hand so that a row of blades hang vertically towards the ground.
6. Measure the clearance between the bottom of the extended blades and the ground. • Minimum 50mm •
Note in rough or lumpy paddocks the clearance needs to be increased to ensure that the blades don't impact the ground in operation.
7. Adjust the roller height to increase or decrease the blade clearance as required
8. Go through steps 4 to 7 until the required clearance is achieved.

 

[Thomabear]

On my 72" Vrisimo I place the tractor on a level concrete surface and adjust the roller and top link to achieve a completely level mower at the desired height which for me is 2". I then place the skid shoes level with bottom of the hanging knives which places them also 2" off the ground. My mower is used to finish cut right at 10 acres and I achieve a highly groomed cut with no windrows or skid digging.

 

[Fallon]

I have been adjusting cut height by the 3pth height & leaving my toplink in float. I do occasionally get a bit of vibration & am reconsidering this practice. It's worked for over 500 hours of often hard use though.

explains why you want your gearbox level & why I'm reconsidering using float (and other U joint issues).

The steeper the angle on a U joint the faster it wears out. Plenty of charts showing the exponentially decreasing lifespan on that.

 

[workinonit]

This^^^^. On my mower the toplink is a float toplink as are the 3 PH hookups. For me float allows the mower to follow the ground contours and give a uniform cut. On mine the toplink doesn't really do anything once the roller is on the ground. Then the 3 PH is adjusted to get cut height and the entire mower can float.

 

[Jack Yuan]

What angle do you set your mower at? I usually keep mine where the roller in back is on the ground but the front is up 5-6 inches. Am I doing that right? I have a hydraulic top and tilt.

Definitely this is wrong and dangerous. If so, the flail mower rotor will blow everything on the ground out forwards, small stone will fly out like a bullet.

All the flail mowers are designed to blow out the mowed material backwards and towards the ground.

Please speard this information to people has flail mower.

Not all the manufacturer and seller knows what they make and sell.

 

[workinonit]

Definitely this is wrong and dangerous. If so, the flail mower rotor will blow everything on the ground out forwards, small stone will fly out like a bullet.

All the flail mowers are designed to blow out the mowed material backwards and towards the ground.

Please speard this information to people has flail mower.

Not all the manufacturer and seller knows what they make and sell.

This is actually wrong. Flails can be purchased with forward or reverse rotation. Mine is reverse and tends to throw material forward so that it can be picked up again until it is completely mulched and eventually discarded out the back. Mine has a set of metal gates on the front that prevent material from being thrown forward. They will hinge back to allow material in but won't hinge forward.

 

[Jack Yuan]

This is actually wrong. Flails can be purchased with forward or reverse rotation. Mine is reverse and tends to throw material forward so that it can be picked up again until it is completely mulched and eventually discarded out the back. Mine has a set of metal gates on the front that prevent material from being thrown forward. They will hinge back to allow material in but won't hinge forward.

There are front flaps on his mower, to protect things fly out forward. If he lift up his mower as he said, things will be blow out forward, and no protection there.
According to the safety standard for flail mower, the mowed materials should not be blowed out like that, also this is the function of the front metal gates on your mower.

 

[workinonit]

Yes. I doubt he is lifting it up high enough to keep it from guarding flying objects. And the higher you lift the front the less chance there is of picking something up and throwing it. Regardless, what everyone is describing in this thread is the way to setup a flail.

 

[Jack Yuan]

Yes. I doubt he is lifting it up high enough to keep it from guarding flying objects. And the higher you lift the front the less chance there is of picking something up and throwing it. Regardless, what everyone is describing in this thread is the way to setup a flail.

I guess he lift up the mower for higher mowing height. If he didn't lift it up, then his mower has nearly 3" mowing height at most, this is what his mower is designed.

 

[DieselBound]

Flails want to run low in order to create the up-lift to snag stuff. If setting too high they cannot create a vacuum force to lift up what you are looking to cut and will basically just run over and flatten stuff rather than cut.

Flails follow the terrain pretty well as they're riding (in total) closer to the tractor than other mowers (which will stick farther out and have tail wheels). Setting them low doesn't present the scalping issues that are more commonly found with other mowers.

I run my 7' flail such that the skids are right on the ground, but not digging in: the fronts curve up. It took me a while before I felt comfortable running like this (after hundreds of hours running rotary cutters).

I'm still adjusting to using a flail, this being my first year/season running one. Am finding that it is a good idea to raise the flail when making any significant turns: with RCs you can just whip around because the tail wheel will rotate and change direction whereas the flail's roller is fixed and will scrub along when turning.

 

[diesel85]

I run my flail mower level. On my FM62 it has a solid and also float position on the hitch. I use the float position as it gives the best cut on curvy ground.

I slightly pick it up when turning not to tear up the ground.

I do occasionally use mine to mow my regular lawn. Does a fantastic job.

 

[bill9068]

After looking at my flail on
my tractor, it’s only at a small angle in front lifted up. Maybe 1-2 inches. What you would want is to keep your PTO shaft as level and straight as possible. Thanks for all the suggestions and tips.

 

[Sportsman762]

From the manuals:
Alamo SHD: "Side Skid Shoes should always be parallel to ground"
Betsco FH-EFGC: "The Mower should be run with the back 15 degrees lower than the front" Please note the skid plates are angled upwards compared to the top of the mower.
The Alamo can be normal or counter rotating, the betsco is counter rotating.

The answer to Op's question is that it depends on what the manual says, however running it nose down is not acceptable.