Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

Now I need the adapters to help with the oil all over the gear box.

I have the extension set up. Works well but another solution is to just let the oil level drop to the very bottom of the dip stick, even below the low level mark. That still is plenty of oil to bathe the gears (as evidenced by oil flying out the breather cap). You'll still get a little oil bubbling out with hard work but it won't pour out like it seems to when you top off the oil to the upper fill mark of the dipstick.

 

[GinNB]

8-10hp/foot is good for heavier stuff and faster cutting but takes a really good belt system for a top notch mower. I've got a lot of respect for the Alamo super heavy duty mowers (I've got two super 88s), but they won't take 10hp/foot for long. 7hp/foot can be too much, too. They aren't mowing well if they're being required to do that much work, either. 5-6 hp/foot is a much better "heavy" operating range.

 

[spo307]

I have a super 88 hd, run it off a kubota L4400, I can cut 5 foot grass in 2 passes, and clean it all up by cross cutting it a third time

 

[4105deere]

I have the extension set up. Works well but another solution is to just let the oil level drop to the very bottom of the dip stick, even below the low level mark. That still is plenty of oil to bathe the gears (as evidenced by oil flying out the breather cap). You'll still get a little oil bubbling out with hard work but it won't pour out like it seems to when you top off the oil to the upper fill mark of the dipstick.

Yeah I was wondering about that. Think I'll go that route for now. May try to get some pics tomorrow of the work i did today. The flail has totally impressed me. The tractor is 41 eng horse and has had no problem in the tall grass today, of course it hasn't greened up yet. But since the areas I mowed were often in tight areas and i wasn't in a hurry I only ran it at lower rpms. Some of this was sweet gum stubs up to 2inch diameter left by the rotary. The flail went right thru them down to the ground but I did take my time on those. Now I can keep these areas mowed better and establish grass. As soon as it dries out more I'm going to mulch a total of about 3 acres throughout the property and get rid of the trashy stuff.

 

[gtrippleb]

I joined the flail mowers group this weekend. I picked up a used 2007 Agri Machinery/Betstco EF115 flail mower. I didn't measure it but it's supposed to be 54". On my ccy Sc2400, it sits about 3-5 inches outside of the right tires. I was looking for a 5 footer but for $500 I figured I couldn't pass it up. Not to mention it isn't that much shorter. I was looking at the caroni TL1500 but I figured I could save some money with this one. Other than the pto being pretty much rusted to the pto shaft, I haven't had to do anything to it. After greasing the pto, cutting the pto to size and checking the gear oil, I tried it out today cutting the grader ditch in front of the house and a few areas in the yard. It's 8 inches wider than my rider and I would say it cuts just as nice as my rider does. With the taller grass, sometimes I don't get to mow for 2 weeks, it doesn't leave the clumps of grass like when the grass gets caught up in rider. While I was trying to figure out what a good height would be to mow, I was able to tell that you could probably use this mower for a dethatcher as I was seeing lines in the grass where I had it to low. I need to adjust my right side link as the right runner was digging into the ground but the left side wasn't. Other than that it works great. The blades look like this.

I think these are the F type but I don't remember which blades are used for which. I think that designation was somewere around post #35 or so.

It's much easier mowing with the tractor and flail mower as with the rider, it doesn't have much leg room. Plus you don't have the grass/dust flying everywhere like you do with the rider. Now all I need to do is make a canopy for my tractor and I'll be set as it gets hot in the carolina sun. Thanks for all of the posts regarding the flail mowers.

 

[Brahmus]

Is this the one that was on ebay used? The owner's tractor was to small to run it?

 

[gtrippleb]

Nope, this one was sold locally in NC. He had bought it 3 yrs ago. I had thought about bidding on the one on Ebay and taking a trip as my Bbother lives near Chicago, and my Dad lives in Cedar Rapids, IA. So I could have made a vacation out of it.

I had been looking for about 6 months to a year and I had planned to go to an auction this past Saturday that had one listed, but I found this one closer to me. I didn't feel like driving an hour or two to an auction to find out that the mower was to big since they didn't list the size. The mower at the auction was the same brand though. There were two other flail mowers listed on Craigslist in the area, but they were listed at $1000 and the one I bought was listed at $575 but I was able to get it for $500.

One thing that I noticed is that the end of the PTO shaft with the shear pin in it, can't be attached to the mower as it hits the mower as it goes around. So I have that on the tractor end. Which isn't good because of the limited space on the ccy sc2400, I assume most scuts are this way. If I raise up the mower to high while the pto is going, the lobe on the pto shaft that holds the shear pin, rubs on my sway bars that keep the lower arms tight so the implement doesn't sway left or right. I found this out while I lifted the mower up to go over my driveway and heard it knocking pretty loud. So I checked to see if the pto was hitting something and sure enough it was. So I turn the pto off now when I need to lift the mower any higher than 4, I think it is, on the 3pt lever.

 

[SensibleNick]

Wow. when I got to page 20 people were writing "I've just read this entire thread" and were mentioning how long it was. :laughing:

Now, after a couple of evenings, far too many mugs of coffee and a few glasses of whiskey, I too have read the entire thing.

Tractor: I've got about 20hp on my PTO shaft. I have the options of 540 of 1100rpm
Land: 4 acres, ranging between "Pretty grass I'd like to mow" and "Field-grass I want to shred". I have no stones, bushes, posts or truck axles (thanks for all the instructional pictures Iron horse) hiding in my grass, and nothing remotely "woody" - Not even half inch saplings.

I'm thinking 60" would be good.

Here's where I don't ask where I can buy a Caroni:

I'm looking to build my own, and I have a question about flail tip-speed. I'd be interested to know the swinging "diameter" of a lightweight flail as it spins. I've got 12"/300mm in my mind as a figure.. but I'd love it if someone could measure theirs.

Also, are all the 90degree gearboxes 1:1 ratio?
And... Most seem to have a slight step up in speed via the pulley system... does anyone know the recommended rotor/shaft speed of the flail system itself? I read 800rpm at some point: with the suggestion that it had been far too high.. but I suppose that this is relative to the tip speed.

Calculating from rotary mowers, I reckon about 7.5m/s or 1500fps should be about right.

The reason I ask is because finding a 90 degree gearbox here is like trying to find rocking-horse crap. I've got access to old car differentials that have (roughly) a 1:4 ratio and can certainly put up with 1100rpm input speeds, but if I'm going to have to step up the gearing from a top shaft that's moving at 275rpm, I'd like to know how much by

So.. is there someone out there with a "small" flail mower that they'd be happy to take these measurements from?

1. The ratio of the 90 degree gearbox
2. The size of top and bottom pulley
3. The diameter of the main flail shaft/tube
4. The distance from flail blade/hammer tip to the surface of the shaft/tube.

Thanks for any help you can offer

All the best,

/Nick

EDIT:
Sometimes I tend to get a bit blinkered

A brief google search shows me that most flails tend to have tip speeds of 7000fpm and the rotor spins at around 1800rpm-2000rpm with PTO speed of 540rpm.

So roughly 4:1 gearing. Sorted

 

[tjc1989]

Sorry if this has already been posted, the thread is too long. But I am not familiar with the flail mower. What about speed? Do you have to slow the tractor way down? Or can you travel as fast as you can with a brush hog?

 

[SensibleNick]

Sorry if this has already been posted, the thread is too long. But I am not familiar with the flail mower. What about speed? Do you have to slow the tractor way down? Or can you travel as fast as you can with a brush hog?

I read the entire thing over the last couple of days: Lots of info in places.

If I recall.... similar speed (a bit slower for really heavy stuff), but with much nicer results: while gaining better mulching of the chaff and with far quieter operation.... Oh... and less in the way of potentially fatal projectile throwing.