Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[powerscol]

OK folks my search is almost over. I have found two units that will clear my rear tires to the pivot points. The only units that will work for me need to have an outboard gear box so I can sit on the road to mow down the bank. The two units are Maschio Giraffetta 160SE and possibly the Teagle (Berti made) TA/L 145. I know many of you have these brands, How are they holding up?

BTW if you are considering a ditch bank/verge mower, double check the pivot point location. My tractor is not that wide, but many brands and models fall far short of shifting wide enough to mow a ditch bank and stay on the road to be safe due to the inboard gear box arrangement.

Jack Yaun, just a suggestion and I hope you dont mind, but you may wish to look at your swing arm lengths to get your mower head out further. This may take an outboard gear box arrangement though. In my case I needed 32" (CL PTO to outside of tire) as I am running r4 tires. I hope this helps in bettering your product line. Uwe in California, was excellent to work with, but the units you provide him wont swing wide enough. Possibly take a look at the TA/L 145 geometry as it gets 10" to 12" further out than the Maschio if I read the information correctly.

Thanks for everyone's help, especially leonz. This man is a gem folks - you cant find better help here. Leon - I hope your hat fits in the morning

 

[kimaran]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps and what's the largest sapling you would suggest trying to grind up with the flail mower

 

[CADplans]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps

Yes, and,, they can remove concrete driveways, dig trenches for waterlines, and till your garden,,,,
BUT,,, after this use, the flail mower will no longer,,,,,, mow,,,,,,,

 

[Steave]

CADplans you can also remove sections of knives that coincide with your row crops and use as a cultivator, and excellent for snow removal. Kimaran there's always one in every crowd and here there's at least two so far. Yes we're being sarcastic and almost a little mean I'm pretty sure you could eat away at a rotten stump with some type of heavy, heavy duty flail but most are intended for cutting grass.

Laying jokes aside I've seen a forestry mulcher that has a 3pt hitch and the carbide grinding teeth for heavy brush, stumps, and trees but man you talk about pricey. . . .$12K and up.

As far a saplings with a flail mower you'd have to check the specs of the specific mower to see what they recommend. I have a Mott 72 and its for finish cut grass. It'll cut a little 1/2" or so pop up pine tree or something like that but anything larger it'll run over it but usually just strips the leaves off. Of course that's what it's made for. If I need to cut larger my push mower or riding mower will cut it. :laughing:

There's so much variants in the cutting ability of different mowers I suppose that may have help keep this thread alive for so long. I've been tagging along here for a while and everyday I learn I know less and less about what I thought flail mowers would do. There are folks on here that know quite a bit about the different flails and a lot of different flails represented, that's why I keep reading to maybe learn a bit. Good luck with deciding what to purchase. I let my budget and availability decide for me and of course what kind of cut I wanted.

 

[IslandTractor]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps and what's the largest sapling you would suggest trying to grind up with the flail mower

They do a fine job of grinding stumps of bushes and saplings. I wouldn't want to try them on anything bigger. Photo shows the debris from a bush that was exactly the same as the bush next to the "white patch" where the flail chewed up its neighbor.

 

[Reg]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps and what's the largest sapling you would suggest trying to grind up with the flail mower

I wouldn't DELIBERATELY grind a stump with a flail, although I have been known to bump a few stumps and take some chips out of them.
Same with the Harley rake, it will leave its mark but would take a long time and a lot of bump 'n jump to make a big difference.
They will both chew at surface roots a bit, but grinders are for grinding, mowers are for mowing and Harley rakes are for seed bed prep and LIGHT grading.

 

[PRCWI]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps and what's the largest sapling you would suggest trying to grind up with the flail mower

I've got a Mott SHD88, it's a good and very tough mower, when I first got it I was reclaiming a lot of pasture that had been neglected, I've "mowed" up to 2"-3" sumac with it but I would not recommend this as everyday use and I'd never do anything bigger, even those are not really ground up so much as mowed off and leaving a small stump with sharp ends.

It's also **** on the knives to do that even going very slow.

In general if you've got stumps either dig them up or get a proper stump grinder.

 

[Jack Yuan]

Can you use a flail mower to grind stumps and what's the largest sapling you would suggest trying to grind up with the flail mower

Just some information to you, yesterday I just received a customer feedback, he told me the mower is with seriously vibration now, also he told me he mow a big tree stump, and that 6" diameter stump even stuck inside the mower housing then he stop tractor and take it out by hand.

I have to say, his mower's rotor shaft balance is seriously broken.

So, never try to overuse something.

 

[kimaran]

Thanks for the info the stumps am thinking about are anywhere from 10 to 25 years old that have been cut and are mostly rotten

 

[powerscol]

You would be better off to rent a true stump grinder. They do very fast work and can take them deep enough to have grass grow back over.