Here we go again... Flail Mower vs. Rotary cutter question... New England / upstate N

[couchsachraga]

Well, it appears Deere won't be honoring a warranty claim for my MX6. I don't blame them - I didn't check the slip clutch this spring, and the deck has taken some good slashes (blades riding up over rocks. My last brush hog (Woods) was a 5'er and worked well for years with no really issues. MX6 didn't hold up as well, and then the spindle broke).

So, I'm in the market for a new cutter. I started looking at the Brown 416 and Woods BB720x (and Brush Hog BH26) as the "obvious" replacements, but happened across the Flail thread (200+ pages!). I see lots of folks love their flails, and I see road crews using them exclusively around here.

But I wonder if they are a good fit for me. I keep a few old fields open (mowing once a year...), grass and small brush at this point (well under an inch, but I've been known to tackle up to 2" when enlarging things). But LOTS of rock (Adirondacks. We grow more rocks than trees...and we have a lot of trees). When I find them and can move them I do, but there is lots of ledge, boulders, etc..., particularly on the ski and sled trails I mow once a year as well.

If a flail will handle this uneven, rough terrain well I'm inclined to go that route (seems quieter and certainly safer).

I don't want to waste my $ on something that won't work though. Particularly after just purchasing the MX6 3 years ago.

Any thoughts / experiences from folks with similar conditions and experience with flails would be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and if it matters the tractor is a Deere 4520 (replaced my Yanmar 336D. the Deere is a more comfortable, more capable, faster machine, but I still miss the Yanmar).

Thank you!

 

[RickB]

Highway crews use flails for one reason; safety. No liability from consequences of flying broken rotary cutter blades.

Beyond that, or even including that reality, look around any location and count the number of flail mowers and stack that up against the number of rotary cutters found.

Woods, Bush Hog and Landpride are the big players for good reasons.

Now I'm gonna stand back and let the fun begin.

 

[brown40]

I also tasted the MX cutter bitterness--poor materials, design, and having the manufacturer wash their hands of it soured me to any more green... but I was stubborn and fixed it with a Comer LF 227J gearbox, a welder, and more time than it was likely worth. Safety and cut quality are the main reasons I hear about the flail mowers. They won't pick up and sling the same size object a cutter can. Lots of little blades vs. two, much smaller footprint, more maneuverable... I don't own one though.
If you wore out a woods, and an MX deck took a lot of damage, I don't know you have a good application for a flail to hold up--someone must own both.
Slip clutch aside, your less than 60 hp PTO snapped a 90 hp rated gearbox--glad it did not, but it should've gone the other way when it failed to slip--if it failed to slip. Don't give them too much credit--they knew it was a problem too costly to fix cheaply (i.e. bolt-on), so they elected to go ostrich on it years ago, and switch from the Comer factory in Spain, to the Comer factory in China for sourcing their 'new and improved' gearbox with a castle nut at the end instead of a bolt threading cut into it. JD could have called them back, but it would have cost them a bundle, and they were busy ridding themselves of Mom & Pop dealers and reducing the number of units displayed in small markets at the time, so...

 

[couchsachraga]

To clarify - the Woods was in decent shape when I sold it with the tractor (so that one I didn't wear out ).

Looking at all the Flails in Europe I'm not sure that simply looking at the numbers of units out there is a good indicator of what works.

As you noted what I am indeed hoping to find is someone in the Northeast US, or Canada who is also plagued with glacial till, rocky soil, uneven ground, etc... and has used both and can speak to a flail working well or failing miserably.

My "newer" gearbox (MX6) spindle shaft failed, so yes, I personally agree that it is a manufacturing defect. That said, given the rocks it's rolled around and blade impacts on the deck I don't blame Deere at all for not covering it. Had the blades never impacted anything but soft material (vegetation) it probably would have been fine. But I've also been under-impressed with how the MX6 deck has held up vs the Woods. I assume it is the larger width coupled with a different design and different materials.

 

[GreatWhitehunter]

I've been pondering this very subject as a New Englander. Subcribed!

Matt

 

[leonz]

To clarify - the Woods was in decent shape when I sold it with the tractor
(so that one I didn't wear out ).

Looking at all the Flails in Europe I'm not sure that simply looking at the
numbers of units out there is a good indicator of what works.

As you noted what I am indeed hoping to find is someone in the Northeast US,
or Canada who is also plagued with glacial till, rocky soil, uneven ground, etc...
and has used both and can speak to a flail working well or failing miserably.

My "newer" gearbox (MX6) spindle shaft failed, so yes, I personally agree that it
is a manufacturing defect. That said, given the rocks it's rolled around and blade
impacts on the deck I don't blame Deere at all for not covering it.

Had the blades never impacted anything but soft material (vegetation) it probably
would have been fine. But I've also been under-impressed with how the MX6 deck
has held up vs the Woods.

I assume it is the larger width coupled with a different design and different materials.

===============================================================

Good morning couchsacraga,

I wonder if you were a victim of a gearbox that was a composite gearbox?-compressed metal grindings like many new timing gears.


Theres lots of glacial till in the Finger Lakes with rocks that love to pop up.

One of our members in Australia-OZ to the un-enitiated named Iron Horse has a flail mower with cast hammer knives.

I do not remember the brand he owns but I think it is a Seppi mulcher.
He has lots of wonderful pictures of clearing brush down under on the forum.

He has a york rake or some other brand mounted under or in front of the tractor
he uses and it has prevented a lot of potential damage.


Island tractor uses a Caroni rough cut flail mower for his mowing needs and uses a brush hog on some rocky areas of his farm on Prudence Island, Rhode Island.

If he encounters rocks that pop up he simply replaces the broken knife hangers and side slicers as needed.


NOW in your situation a dual purpose flail mower like the Maschio flail mowers/shredders which is specifically labeled with the Land Pride brand has the cast hammers with an overlapping cut.

The Seppi flail mowers/shredders are an excellent piece of farm machinery as well.


Both of these flail mowers were designed to be used in vineyards an orchards to shred prunings, branches and tree limbs in orchards as well as mowing heavy brush and grass.

The Maschio/Land Pride flail mowers also have a trash door that can be opened to change the cast hammers without climbing under the mower and the trash door can be left open to prevent clogging of the mower while mowing from what I remember of it.

i am unsure of what the retail price is of these units currently but I would suggest that you look at them and the Seppi mulchers both. Seppi has dealers nation wide. The nice thing about flail mowers is that all bearings and V belts are metric and easily obtainable locally.The maintenance of flailmowers is easy too.

 

[davethegundoctor]

Go with a woods. A lot better than John Deere.

Vermont

 

[RickB]

Go with a woods. A lot better than John Deere.

Vermont

Most anyone makes a better rotary cutter than John Deere.

 

[allen in texas]

different applications require different machines. there are flails that will handle the rocks. There are rotary cutters that will handle the rocks.

I can't afford either.

 

[RickB]

Looking at all the Flails in Europe I'm not sure that simply looking at the numbers of units out there is a good indicator of what works..

Check the country of origin for most flail machines vs. most rotary cutters. The majority stay on whatever side of the pond they are built on.

As you noted what I am indeed hoping to find is someone in the Northeast US, or Canada who is also plagued with glacial till, rocky soil, uneven ground, etc...
.

Not hard to find in the Northeast, you just described 85% of the land mass.