Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[milesvdustin]

milesvdustin, that is an Alamo flail mower.

Yep but it was rougher than I expected or wanted to mess with. There are quite a few Alamo 88" mowers I found but they are all 5 hours away

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

I think I might hold off on buying a used flail up here in New England everybody wants top dollar for basically what looks like junk. I'm even seeing Chinese imports like sundown units where people are asking more money than what the brand new unit cost delivered to your house.

I think now I'm going to look at WoodMaxx vs betstco with hammer knives as big as I can get and something in the 84 to 96-in range. An 84-in unit will be cheaper and just be as wide as my tractor.

 

[leonz]

Save yourself some aggravation and call every JD dealer within 500 miles on this side of the border and ask if they have have a used 25A in good condition for sale that came in on a trade.

I would also do the same in calling any JD dealers in Canada if the search on this side of the border is not fruitful.

In my opinion the first place I would call is the green parts store in Indiana. At least with the JD flail mowers you will be able get any part you need in a short time.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Save yourself some aggravation and call every JD dealer within 500 miles on this side of the border and ask if they have have a used 25A in good condition for sale that came in on a trade.

I would also do the same in calling any JD dealers in Canada if the search on this side of the border is not fruitful.

In my opinion the first place I would call is the green parts store in Indiana. At least with the JD flail mowers you will be able get any part you need in a short time.

I'm not sure I want a 25A after looking at them the duckfoot blades look lightweight and not that good for heavy brush cutting like a heavy hammer blade would be. I think a WoodMaxx with hammer blades would be better for my needs

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

Save yourself some aggravation and call every JD dealer within 500 miles on this side of the border and ask if they have have a used 25A in good condition for sale that came in on a trade.

I would also do the same in calling any JD dealers in Canada if the search on this side of the border is not fruitful.

In my opinion the first place I would call is the green parts store in Indiana. At least with the JD flail mowers you will be able get any part you need in a short time.

I found one a few hours away honestly it looks like new for 2K but now I'm thinking I really need a flail with heavy hammer knives for what I want to do

 

[leonz]

All the scoop knives/duck foot type knives are made from formed sheet steel and then heat treated after sharpening them in most cases

The majority of side slicers knives are a heat treated flail mower knife.

Many of the so called hammer knives are smaller thinner castings with gussets(ribs)to the strengthen the thinner casting.

If you expect to purchase a true hammer knife orchard and vineyard flail shredder you will need to look at the Maschio line of orchard and vineyard shredder mowers.

You need to narrow down what frame size mule you can afford to buy or pay for over time and then invest in a flail mower, orchard and vineyard flail shredder or small boom mounted orchard and vineyard shredder.

 

[TheFarmerInAdell]

I'm not sure I want a 25A after looking at them the duckfoot blades look lightweight and not that good for heavy brush cutting like a heavy hammer blade would be. I think a WoodMaxx with hammer blades would be better for my needs

If I had not found my Alamo I was going to order a Woodmaxx. I would recommend the Woodmaxx over the Betstco mostly because Woodmaxx seems to be a better unit with more features. The belt is tensioned with an actual tensioner, betstco you adjust the jackshaft. Woodmaxx has the rakers to help shred, but they are removable. Woodmaxx also has an opening trash door to help clear tangles and debris.

The John Deere style duckfoot blades are good for grass, but not much more than 1" thick woody materials. I actually switched my Ford 917 from the airplane wings (similar to the JD duckfoot) to side slicers due to the increased flexibility in cutting with the side slicers. The hammers are not the best for grass, but they work decent when sharp. Nice thing about the Woodmaxx is you can put either type of blade on. You can order the unit with hammers, order a set of sideslicers to go along with it, and then switch them out as needed.

 

[p0opstlnksal0t]

If I had not found my Alamo I was going to order a Woodmaxx. I would recommend the Woodmaxx over the Betstco mostly because Woodmaxx seems to be a better unit with more features. The belt is tensioned with an actual tensioner, betstco you adjust the jackshaft. Woodmaxx has the rakers to help shred, but they are removable. Woodmaxx also has an opening trash door to help clear tangles and debris.

The John Deere style duckfoot blades are good for grass, but not much more than 1" thick woody materials. I actually switched my Ford 917 from the airplane wings (similar to the JD duckfoot) to side slicers due to the increased flexibility in cutting with the side slicers. The hammers are not the best for grass, but they work decent when sharp. Nice thing about the Woodmaxx is you can put either type of blade on. You can order the unit with hammers, order a set of sideslicers to go along with it, and then switch them out as needed.

for 3500 bucks shipped for the 84" with hammers i think that woodmaxx would really be the best way to go for my needs and shredding up to 2.5" diameter saplings. i wont really be using it for grass cutting, just trail cutting and maintenance with my M5-111

 

[jthibodeau89]

The JD 390A with 5/16" (8mm) thick side slicers shreds much heavier stuff than the 25A. I have both JD flails. Use the 700lb 25A on a 30hp 4300HST, and the 1300lb 390A on a 70 HP AGCO-ALLIS 5670.

 

[DieselBound]

I was looking really closely at the WoodMaxx but ended up with a Nova Tractors MXZ220: for smaller flails I'd be going with a WoodMaxx (I was initially aiming for a 5' flail for my B7800, but after thinking about things a bit more I felt that I'd be better off outfitting my Kioti with a flail as it is facing having to cut more and more grass).

Rear roller diameter on the MXZ220 spec'd larger than the WoodMaxx (at the time I was comparing). Hammers are 3 lbs each. I've pretty much run the flail through its paces and am confident that it's going to hold up just fine. Had one incident (scary!) that I was sure I'd damaged something, but NOPE. I figure I'll never break a hammer: fortunately I don't have a lot of rocks, nothing like many have. Flail is around 1,200 lbs.

If running through the woods I FULLY recommend hydraulic side-shift: and even if NOT for use in the woods, it's still very nice to have if you're working along fences (and ditches).