Flail Mower

[Agent Blue]

Are all six foot flail mowers belt driven ? I had a used one of Italian design that ate belts for breakfast. It also had a terrible time with tall grass and the cutters were new. I would like to buy a replacement. I like the fine cutting no clump debris left in the field. Any specific models better designed and functional ? Thanks.

 

[leonz]

Hello Agent Blue,

Whose brand of mower do you own if I may ask?


If you are mowing very tall grass you cannot mow it quickly as it can/will
plug the mower and shred the drive belts.


All flailmowers except for the forestry brush clearers are belt driven on the final drive to the flailmower rotor.

i have excluded forestry flailmowers with hammer knives in the description.

A flail mowers design is universal with the use of the Verticut Method
of grass and brush shredding.

The Flail Mower family tree branches off into several job specific types.

In agriculture specifically:
Flail Toppers for Sugar beets, which can employ a rubber paddled flail and
may use a stationary horizontal follwing blade to remove the crown of the
topped sugar beet, sugar cane stubble, cotton stubble, end of season
strawberry clearing, preharvest mowing of chemically killed potato vines,
full term red and white onion topping, fall mowing to ground of alfalfa and
clover grass crops to prevent winter kill, mowing for grass sod farming.

Flail shredders used in agriculture may use either a wide scoop knive or a side slicer.


For grass and brush mowing the flail,mower will use either the scoop knive or the side slicer.

This entails the use of four types of flailmower rotor drums


A finish mower flailmower rotor may have either three or four rows of knives
either side slicer or scoop knive.

The side slicer will provide the user with a fine finish cut worthy of a golf course greenand good residential grass sod permiting good management of invasives with a close cut
and very little mowing stress due to the high count of side slicer knives.This allows the flail mower to cut a small percentage of each grass blade as it passes over the sod and the
side slicer knives following the previous knive are overlapping to provide a full width of cut for the end user with few grass clippings left to dissolve quickly into the sod.

A finish cut flailmower with side slicer knives will permit the end user to mow over areas
again to shred the clippings even finer to eliminate the need to pick them up.
A scoop knived flail mower will not reshred clippings very well as the scoop knive design
will simply pick the clippings up again and not shred them unless the grass and brush is very dry and brittle


A flail mower rotor may have a shackle mounted side slicer or a shackle mounted scoop knive for mowing in rough brush cutting conditions which permits the use of scoop knives and side slicers in rough mowing conditions with the aid of the shackle mounting to reduce strike damage from unseen objects entering the mowers width of cut as it proceeds forward.



There are many good flail mowers for sale and a couple of bad ones with poor design
that are going to cause a lot of harm as the rotors are not balanced during the manufacturing process in this flail mower owners opinion.

Its always good to have a little extra horsepower when running any P.T.O. powered
flail mower.

It is also good practice to take half cuts when mowing tall grass to reduce the loading on a flail mower rotor and it also aids in reducing the brush to small clippings more quickly for the user as long as the mowingt speed is slow enough for the conditions in tall grass.


You may be simply overloading the flailmower you own when mowing and not realise ii.

Please tell us more if you would as we are only here to help you.

 

[Agent Blue]

Thanks for the info. I had a mott brand. Was not impressed. Crossed that one off my list. Neighbor has a 7' yellow flail. Have to ask what brand it is. He goes through hay fields at a good clip and it cuts well. Looks very heavy duty.

 

[Code54]

I had a VERY large heavy duty one and still was not impressed. Ended up selling it and using a brush hog and been 1000 times happier.

 

[leonz]

Thanks for the info. I had a mott brand. Was not impressed. Crossed that one off my list. Neighbor has a 7' yellow flail. Have to ask what brand it is. He goes through hay fields at a good clip and it cuts well. Looks very heavy duty.

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About your Mott Mower:

Was it a finish flail mower with four rows of the long side slicers for knives?


I also forgot to ask does the mower have the removable rear door to aid in mowing high brush? that may be the only issue with it.

 

[Todd727]

I have an older Alamo/Mott 84". It has a single belt. I use it to maintain six miles of forested trails and it eats heavy saplings and 1-1.5 inch branches. I do have the heavy hammer flails on it, but if you are just cutting grass, you shouldn't be having a problem. When I mow some of the open trail connector, which is just grass, it chews through even three foot tall grasses. I also use it to keep some of the kudzu under control. I do have to take it slow then, as those vines are tough and will wrap up if you feed it too fast.

 

[Agent Blue]

Yes it had four rows of L shaped cutters ( 2 per hanger ) and I put in a new set. No rear door, just a roller and shield. The spline on the drive was only 1 1/2" long... enough for a one belt pulley. It really needed two at a minimum.

 

[psj12]

I have a Caroni 6' flail that eats belts. They do not wear out, they overheat. I am presently trying to use the mower without the belt cover installed to aid in belt cooling. It takes three belts that cost $15 each and they only last about 20 hours.

 

[leonz]

If you have a NAPA, Kaman Bearing or Tractor Supply nearby please get a
set of the Green kevlar belts for your mower

Also be sure to properly adjust the snubber of the mower, it sounds as if
the snubber is too tight actually as the belt is not supposed to over
heat in use.

Under tension the belt should have no more than an eighth of an inch of
play and if it has no absolutely play it it is too tight.


Have I officially welcomed you yet as a member of the Flail Mower Nation?

 

[RFB]

Leonz,

What is the Napa part number or belt size for the "Green kevlar belts" for the Caroni 6 foot flail mower?

Thank you

If you have a NAPA, Kaman Bearing or Tractor Supply nearby please get a
set of the Green kevlar belts for your mower

Also be sure to properly adjust the snubber of the mower, it sounds as if
the snubber is too tight actually as the belt is not supposed to over
heat in use.

Under tension the belt should have no more than an eighth of an inch of
play and if it has no absolutely play it it is too tight.


Have I officially welcomed you yet as a member of the Flail Mower Nation?

 

[leonz]

I believe the V-Belt is a B53, just be sure to take the old belt
with you and they can measure it to be doubly sure for you.

ALSO be very sure the two new belts are from the
same batch number on the belt identification-if not
do not buy them the belts will not last.

The bad thing about belt snubbers is that the belts can be
overtightened without realizing it unloess you have a
V belt tension guage.

This is the designed in beauty of a spring tensioned
V-belt assembly for a flailmower with and without
a slip clutch like mine, you have no worries about
the belt until you examine it for the next mowing
season and you can pop it right off and replace it.

 

[brin]

I did not take the time to read all the posts so someone may have said this ...I have a Bush Hog brand bush hog...rotary cutter that is a mulcher model...it is closed in all around the bottom front , back and sides...No matter how high the grass is in the pastures I never have windrows of cut grass , it is all mulched...So that has been my experience...with high grass and belt driven mower is going to be a problem...and any mower that allows the cut grass to fly out of a chute will not give you the clean cut...only a mulcher....Good Luck.

 

[mikehaugen]

I did not take the time to read all the posts so someone may have said this ...I have a Bush Hog brand bush hog...rotary cutter that is a mulcher model...it is closed in all around the bottom front , back and sides...No matter how high the grass is in the pastures I never have windrows of cut grass , it is all mulched...So that has been my experience...with high grass and belt driven mower is going to be a problem...and any mower that allows the cut grass to fly out of a chute will not give you the clean cut...only a mulcher....Good Luck.

I believe you posted that in the wrong thread, i saw another thread asking the question that you just answered

 

[psj12]

I think I may have found out why my Caroni is eating belts. I suspected that the RPM of the PTO was not proper. The instructions for my Kama tractor said that with the PTO in the low setting and the engine on the green tachometer line (2,200 Rpm) then the PTO would turn 540 RPM. I did some extrapolation and determined I could run the PTO in high at around 1,750 engine rpm and get the same 540 PTO output. I've been running it like this since I got it several years ago.

I obtained an optical tachometer from Harbor Freight and set up the tractor as per the tractor instructions and found the PTO output was 650 rpm not the required 540. I only required about 1850 engine rpm (with the PTO in low) to obtain the require 540 at teh PTO. With the PTO in high I only required 1500 engine to get 540 at the PTO.

I've been running the flail and brush hog too fast and this may be the issue with the belts overheating.

 

[leonz]

Whoopsie!!!!

I am glad you were able to solve the issue
about the V-belts self destructing prematurely.



Happy mowing to you now that you have found out
what is wrong and how to solve it.

 

[boggen]

leonz already pretty much stated everything. but to re-hit on things....

not all belts are created equal. if you end up getting an option of different priced belts, most likely the higher cost belt is what you want. some belts can withstand a higher working temperature, before they begin to stretch or it takes a higher temperature before the rubber starts to become soft.

making sure you have required / proper belt tension is a must. if belt is to loose. the belt will wobble. and beat itself to death, if belt is to tight, it will over heat quicker and begin stretching.

also make sure your pulleys are nice and aligned with each other. ya majority of time pulleys should be just fine, but have had a few pulleys over years that loved to slip on the shaft some.

a properly adjusted slip clutch, can help reduce "belt slipping" on the pulleys and reduce belts heating up. but slip clutches have there own con's of rusting up / seizing up, and you may need to get them to start smoking to free everything up on them so they work properly.

if you have space, you might consider enlarging both pulleys the belt runs on. more so if one of the pulleys are little baby's as in diameter. that way belt does not have to bend as sharply around a small pulley, the more sharply a belt bends the more heat the belt will make just from simple bending around pulley and then straightening out and then bending back again around pulley.

never remember having any sort of luck with spray cans or liquids for belts that state help reduce slipping or cause a belt to last longer. and in reality have burned belts up quicker using the various stuff. due to the stuff caused extra friction and with friction more heat, more heat caused belts to just fall apart quickly.