Flail Mower Recommendations

[JustinE]

I'm looking for a somewhat budget friendly, hopefully it $4k, hydraulic flail mower that's around 6' wide. I'm torn between the Titan, Woodmaxx, and Betstco mowers.

Which would you recommend or is there something else about the same price range you'd recommend over these?

 

[GBS]

I am considering Del Morino flails which are in the ballpark of these other brands, if a little on the high end of your quoted price range. Del Morino gets pretty good reviews on the web and You Tube. However, the Bestco appears to be a pretty careful copy of the Del Morino so maybe they are decent.

 

[Rebeldad1]

I am on my 3rd year with a Betstco flail. Quite happy sofar

 

[diesel85]

Had my FM62 Woodmaxx since 2017 and it gets used a few times a year. No issues. I got it with Y knives and I mow my lawn with it and cut tall grass and small brush it with. Does striping equal to a baseball field when done right.

Picked mine up right from them and they are very good people to work with!

I run it on a BX2200 too.

 

[Powellcrazy Gearman]

I purchased the woodsmaxx 62 couple years ago
So far great behind our B2601

Have the Y blades

 

[Bpdive]

I have the del Marino 60” offset flail I run it on a John Deere 1025r and I have been very happy with it runs very smooth and dosen’t bog down my tractor un less in very heavy brush

 

[JustinE]

Right now, these are the units I'm looking at.

https://www.palletforks.com/tractors/3-point/mowers/flail/flail-mowers-with-hydraulic-side-shift-category-1-3-point/FLAILSHFT.html

77" Cut Heavy Duty Hydraulic Offset Flail Mower, FH-EFGCH195KIT | Betstco Sales, Parts, and Service:

Flail Mowers are useful for jobs where you are cutting grass on uneven ground, high grass, weeds, brush, and small saplings. A flail mower doesn’t throw grass, instead it cuts finely and leaves the cuttings on the ground where it was cut making it an excellent choice for those places where you...

betstco.com

WoodMaxx FM-78H

WoodMaxx? offers various sizes of PTO flail mower attachments (54",62",78",88",96") Catagory-1 and Catagory-2 starting at ($1,949.00) Engineered in the USA. Free shipping in the USA & Canada. Call 855-966-3629 or visit www.woodmaxx.com for details

www.woodmaxx.com

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

I have the Bestco 48" HD with hammers and all good after over a year of some heavy work. One set of belts and regular grease is all it needs.

 

[DieselBound]

Check out Nova Tractor's offerings. I'm running their 7' MXZ flail, which actually IS heavy-duty (use caution when approaching stuff that's labeled such as most is nowhere near being heavy-duty). The MXZ is an absolute beast (1,200 #): I'm a bit under-powered (min HP is 60, I'm 55), but still am able to work with it. Maybe check out their MFZ model (compare to the others).

Everything that you could ever want to know about flails is (or is likely) covered in this massive thread: Flail Mower - Let's talk flail mowers

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Go with a Betsco, they are Italian made. I have a palletforks one....even tho it has worked good, they don't have any spare parts what so ever available.

As much as I would like to say my Bestco mower was made in Italy, I think your referring to Befco.

 

[JustinE]

So far, I've reached out to Titan, Betstco, Woodmaxx, and Nova. Titan probably has the best response upfront followed by Betstco while Betstco has the best chance of having repair parts on hand. Woodmaxx responded with my questions with a link to their website, which didn't have the information I was asking about. I did get a product recommendation from Nova but had follow-up questions. I haven't heard back yet but will update based off their response.

I'm a firm believer in how you're treated before the sale will indicate how you're treated after the sale.

 

[JustinE]

I think the Nova is out of the question. To get to where it can handle the same size material would cost a bit more.

I should specify this is primarily going to be on a John Deere 5400 but may get some time behind the 5420 or, without the hydraulics, the WD45 Diesel.

 

[JethroB]

Have Caroni (Italian made) brand flails fallen out of favor? I have a 12 year old 73” model that I’m fond of, Y blades without side shift. Downside is Agri Supply is the only US distributor I know of. Get my blades from Flailmaster for 1/4 the cost of Agri Supply.

 

[JustinE]

Have Caroni (Italian made) brand flails fallen out of favor? I have a 12 year old 73” model that I’m fond of, Y blades without side shift. Downside is Agri Supply is the only US distributor I know of. Get my blades from Flailmaster for 1/4 the cost of Agri Supply.

Best I can tell, Agri Supply is out and doesn't sell the hydraulic side shift.

 

[TractorTYMe]

As much as I would like to say my Bestco mower was made in Italy, I think your referring to Befco.

You're right, my mixup. I have a 68'' offset palletforks Flail mower. While it's been working great, spare parts are hard to source.

 

[diesel85]

Personally Betstco and Woodmaxx will be your best choice for parts.

I went with Woodmaxx because if I got in a true bind, I could load it onto my trailer and take it over to their facility and they can repair it at my cost.

 

[4Papa]

I’ve got the Titan 86” offset flail mower. Parts can be an issue as everything is coming from China, but customer service has been superb. At the time I bought it a few years ago the mower cost 1/6th what my 15’ Bush Hog cost, chopped just as easily thru heavy brush and saplings as the batwing and did so with a much nicer cut. Of course I’m waiting months now for replacement hammers, so there’s that.

 

[cbg8670]

Check out these folks. I have a non shift flail made in Italy been good and was reasonable

Tractor Attachments | IronCraft

Tractor Rotary Cutters, Tillers, Box Blades, Grader Blades--and so much more--available now from IronCraft Implements and Attachments.

www.ironcraftco.com

 

[ColdRider]

After researching my options, much like you,
I purchased a Titan FL165. Really liked Woodmaxx but they were constantly out of stock.Titan is somewhat local and I picked it up and saved some shipping cost.
My field hasn't been mowed this year. No brush but heavy hay and thick clover. Tried it out last evening and was not impressed. It has the hammer blades and cut is not good. I will play with it more today and see if I can get it set right maybe install the y blades that were included.
The clover was thick enough to bog my L 3800 hst unless I was just crawling. Maybe I expect too much after all my research. It worked really well in places that the clover was not so thick and had been mowed earlier in the season.

 

[JustinE]

Check out these folks. I have a non shift flail made in Italy been good and was reasonable

Tractor Attachments | IronCraft

Tractor Rotary Cutters, Tillers, Box Blades, Grader Blades--and so much more--available now from IronCraft Implements and Attachments.

www.ironcraftco.com

I've reached out but haven't heard back from them.