Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Parkanzky]

Its setup for a fine cut. When i was looking at it, it had a slight bearing whine so he let me have it for $500.
Ill be using it to keep about 1 3/4 acres knocked down. I had been using my brush hog but it never looked like I wanted it to. Plus Ive wanted a flail for a long time! ��

Congratulations! That thing looks really well built for $500!

 

[leonz]

Its setup for a fine cut. When i was looking at it, it had a slight bearing whine so he let me have it for $500.
Ill be using it to keep about 1 3/4 acres knocked down. I had been using my brush hog but it never looked like I wanted it to. Plus Ive wanted a flail for a long time! ��

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Good morning,

I hope the sun is shining in Oklahoma today.

I want to welcome you as the newest member of the Flail Mower Nation.

No worries about your purchase. The V belts and bearings are obtainable locally.
All Bearings and V belts are measured as metric in actual size.

Check the V belts and if any rubber dust falls into your hands you need to dispose of them
and buy new ones. purchase the Green Kevlar belts if possible as they are shock resistant.
Check to make sure the gearbox has oil and it has no water in the oil.

Just be sure to grease the flail mower rotor each time you mow or after you mow with six
pumps of high temperature grease to flush the bearings and no more, remove the V belt guard and
dig out/wash away the rubber dust with hot water to expose any buried grease fittings and check
the tensioner pulley if it is a spring type that has a flat pulley for movement to assure it is free moving.

Be sure to grease the open driven bearing that rotates the V belt pulley(the one under the V belt guard that
is connected to the cross shaft that is connected to the gearbox.

I have a universal joint connected to the output shaft and engine crankshaft on my flail mower and I need
to grease that several times per year when i use my flail mower.


Check the bearing housings on the inside to be sure that nothing is wrapped around them each time
you mow.

The rear roller should get at least four shots of grease and preferably when the mower is raised and you can spin the roller.

Happy mowing.


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Once you go flail you never go back!!
Only 17,870+- mowers to go.

 

[esbwn]

Thanks so much! Unfortunately *not really, we are in a drought!* its been raining for 2 days. As soon as its nice I'm going to hook it up and grease the crap out of it and check my belt, then spin that baby up. Glad to FINALLY be part of the fail nation!

 

[Troysie]

Welcome from New Brunswick

I purchased a 7 foot Hanmey flail mower last year, it was slightly used but like new it is one of the best investments I have made in a few years. I mow 20 acres of field with my flail set up as a finish mower, my fields look like a golf course after each mow. The flail allows me to operate tractor at a lower RPM with my PTO in the 1000 RPM range, I used a portable Tach meter to get the proper engine RPM so I do not over rev my flail.
I can mow at a higher ground speed and lower engine RPM and achieve a good result, love it.

Troy

 

[IslandTractor]

Thanks so much! ....... Glad to FINALLY be part of the fail nation!

Fail nation??? Wrong address, that forum is three doors down on the right!

Congrats on your purchase, you got a really good deal even if you need to replace bearings, belts and knives.

 

[CTWright]

I have an old Vemco flail with a 74 inch cut. The previous owner had welded chains to the attach points so it really beat and bent the lugs. Had to replace 18 and straighten almost all the rest. To save money on set up I skipped the fancy Jacobson style shackle and just attached the blades on either side of the single lug attachment points with a bolt/locknut setup. Getting cleaned up and finding the grease fittings was the easy part. I'm using a MF-65 diesel for power and it seems to be fine.

 

[CTWright]

I have an old Vemco flail with a 74 inch cut. The previous owner had welded chains to the attach points so it really beat and bent the lugs. Had to replace 18 and straighten almost all the rest. To save money on set up I skipped the fancy Jacobson style shackle and just attached the blades on either side of the single lug attachment points with a bolt/locknut setup. Getting cleaned up and finding the grease fittings was the easy part. I'm using a MF-65 diesel for power and it seems to be fine. M

 

[Kathryn M]

My husband and I have a 52-acre weekend farm in Magnolia, Mississippi with rolling hills. We cut several acres around the house with a zero turn and about 40 acres of thick hay grass / pasture with two late-sixties Ford 3000 tractors (38 HP at the PTO) with bush hog type rotary mowers. We also have 10 acres of thicket that we are slowly clearing and cutting trails through. Due to our schedules and the weather, we cut the grass / pasture area once every 6-8 weeks. I am interested in a flail mower due to the large clumps of grass currently left by behind.

I stumbled on this tread a few days ago and finally made it to the end, although I skipped a few pages here and there. I am considering the Caroni mower because it seems to be the best value and fit for us, but I just wanted to verify that I did not need a heavier duty mower due to the acreage and continuous operation time. There are no rocks or stumps in the grass / pasture area and I should be able to keep my husband from using the flail mower in the thicket as long as one of the tractors always has the heavy duty rotary mower attached.

 

[Troysie]

The thick hay grass explanation of your field and cutting every 6-8 weeks would be difficult to maintain with a light or medium duty flail, increasing the frequency of the cut would allow a flail to do a better job for you. I have found that in thick grass a foot tall the flail will have difficulty clearing itself of the clippings. I mow bi-weekly during grass growing season, this allows me to mow to golf course quality grass height.
A heavy duty Flail with the right knives will mow what you have described but like all of us part time farmers budgets sometimes prevail over needs.

 

[IslandTractor]

My husband and I have a 52-acre weekend farm in Magnolia, Mississippi with rolling hills. We cut several acres around the house with a zero turn and about 40 acres of thick hay grass / pasture with two late-sixties Ford 3000 tractors (38 HP at the PTO) with bush hog type rotary mowers. We also have 10 acres of thicket that we are slowly clearing and cutting trails through. Due to our schedules and the weather, we cut the grass / pasture area once every 6-8 weeks. I am interested in a flail mower due to the large clumps of grass currently left by behind.

I stumbled on this tread a few days ago and finally made it to the end, although I skipped a few pages here and there. I am considering the Caroni mower because it seems to be the best value and fit for us, but I just wanted to verify that I did not need a heavier duty mower due to the acreage and continuous operation time. There are no rocks or stumps in the grass / pasture area and I should be able to keep my husband from using the flail mower in the thicket as long as one of the tractors always has the heavy duty rotary mower attached.

The Caroni should be fine for your acreage even with long intervals between mowing. It won't leave the land looking like a golf course but it is much better than what a bush hog does. I mow typically every 6-8 weeks and in some areas just once a year. Just don't mow when it is wet. I'll repost a few photos showing what it looks like below.

If you are used to maintenance free bush hogs you will need to readjust however. Greasing of bearings (2 minutes) each day and periodic replacement of drive belts (about $50 every few seasons) are routine maintenance requirements. Blade replacement intervals will depend on how many obstructions you hit. Some guys seem to go forever without needing blade maintenance when mowing pastures. Others, myself included, mow in rocky areas and I probably replace about one set of two blades and clevis every four or five acres mown. If you have read through the whole 1947 posts before yours, you are probably aware that the Caroni supplied clevises used to hold blades are not as durable as those sold by Flailmaster (but which require minor modification to fit).

Based on my experience, the Caroni will certainly fix your problem with clumping. I would probably still use the bush hog to do first cutting of the 10 acres of thicket even though the flail can do that work too simply to save on broken clevises/blades.