shaeff
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Oct 27, 2015
- Messages
- 1,042
- Location
- Hudson Valley, NY
- Tractor
- MF Utility 35 Gasser, JLG LJ500
I envy you and you SSQA bucket. Looks like your flail cuts nicely!
My bucket gets in the way. All. The. Time.
Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers
- Thread starter TNhobbyfarmer
- Start date
- Views: 3102053
I envy you and you SSQA bucket. Looks like your flail cuts nicely!
My bucket gets in the way. All. The. Time.
jabroni1m
New member
I like the idea of the verge/bank mower even though I don't see needing it right now, but the tractor has only got 1 set of rear remotes. Do the verge mowers not require 2 sets?
leonz
Super Member
You can get around that with a second control valve plumbed into the single pair of remotes in the second circuit as long as its plumbed properly making sure the flow is plumbed correctly with check valves if needed.
jkornbread
Member
So, at 447 pages there is a ton of info here. I have a couple questions that will probably take all day searching to find -
I have an old JD 25 flail. Bought it out of an orchard, tore down, cleaned up and basically rebuilt. I've been using the Y knives. For most stuff its great. I do contract field mowing in the area, so I do see a variety of conditions.
In normal field grass, if its dead I can mow at 3mph (low 4th gear) or better if the terrain isn't too rough. Green I'm 2.5-3mph (low 3rd or low 4th).
However we have a grass (I don't know what its called) that will grow in the low lying areas where water pools, and it grows thick! And the stalks are just tough as nails! Even dead I can overload the mower in low 1st gear. Would heavy scoop style knives work better here? Drawbacks? What are the pro/con to going to this style of knife?
I've had to overdrive the PTO just to get through a patch of this stuff without just blowing the belt. I've found running the PTO at 590 i have the best chance to eat through this stuff.
This brings me to my second question, how tight should the belt be? I have 63hp available and I can't seem to get it to the Flail. It will load up and slip the belt. I've been through 2 belts already this year, 1 very old belt (not surprising) and 1 cheap belt cause that was all I could find in a pinch.
I have an old JD 25 flail. Bought it out of an orchard, tore down, cleaned up and basically rebuilt. I've been using the Y knives. For most stuff its great. I do contract field mowing in the area, so I do see a variety of conditions.
In normal field grass, if its dead I can mow at 3mph (low 4th gear) or better if the terrain isn't too rough. Green I'm 2.5-3mph (low 3rd or low 4th).
However we have a grass (I don't know what its called) that will grow in the low lying areas where water pools, and it grows thick! And the stalks are just tough as nails! Even dead I can overload the mower in low 1st gear. Would heavy scoop style knives work better here? Drawbacks? What are the pro/con to going to this style of knife?
I've had to overdrive the PTO just to get through a patch of this stuff without just blowing the belt. I've found running the PTO at 590 i have the best chance to eat through this stuff.
This brings me to my second question, how tight should the belt be? I have 63hp available and I can't seem to get it to the Flail. It will load up and slip the belt. I've been through 2 belts already this year, 1 very old belt (not surprising) and 1 cheap belt cause that was all I could find in a pinch.
IslandTractor
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2005
- Messages
- 15,802
- Location
- Prudence Island, RI
- Tractor
- 2007 Kioti DK40se HST, Woods BH
1) Thick lush grass is difficult for any mower especially a mulching type like a flail. I just slow down for the first pass and then nibble at the edges with less than a full width cut to maintain speed.
2) I'm surprised that you have trouble with 60+hp at PTO even in thick stuff (mine is 30 something). If belts are slipping then they'll burn. I've found that Gates Kevlar belts are good enough to hold up for several seasons and I keep them tight enough that I stall the tractor rather than spin the belts when I get in too deep. Thumb deflection of 1/2" seems to be about right.
IslandTractor
Super Star Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2005
- Messages
- 15,802
- Location
- Prudence Island, RI
- Tractor
- 2007 Kioti DK40se HST, Woods BH
1) Thick lush grass is difficult for any mower especially a mulching type like a flail. I just slow down for the first pass and then nibble at the edges with less than a full width cut to maintain speed.
2) I'm surprised that you have trouble with 60+hp at PTO even in thick stuff (mine is 30 something). If belts are slipping then they'll burn. I've found that Gates Kevlar belts are good enough to hold up for several seasons and I keep them tight enough that I stall the tractor rather than spin the belts when I get in too deep. Thumb deflection of 1/2" seems to be about right.
jkornbread
Member
With the new belt I just got Sunday slippage seemed to be a lot less, but it would still squeak, id just stop the pto, pick it up, restart the PTO and let it clear out. I'll tighten it more. I'm researching adding the creeper gears to my M7060 to help save my clutch in the thick stuff, point here was to see if there was a more efficient way to handle this thick, tough, heavy grass. Like I said even dead and brown the stuff is just so dense and tough it plugs up the flail in a hurry.
What got me thinking on the other style of knives and the belt was while waiting for a new belt, I borrowed a tow behind (well behind and off to the side) crop shredder. Its a flail on steroids. Huge swinging paddles, chain driven instead of belt. When that thing would load up you could feel it but the Kubota would just send it more HP and the mower would power though the stuff I'm struggling to get through with my flail.........Downside is it rotates the opposite direction as my flail, and by the end of the weekend I blew the corner window out on the right side from a rock it sent my direction.......... Not a fun implement to run but it ate tough grass like nothing I've ever seen!
What got me thinking on the other style of knives and the belt was while waiting for a new belt, I borrowed a tow behind (well behind and off to the side) crop shredder. Its a flail on steroids. Huge swinging paddles, chain driven instead of belt. When that thing would load up you could feel it but the Kubota would just send it more HP and the mower would power though the stuff I'm struggling to get through with my flail.........Downside is it rotates the opposite direction as my flail, and by the end of the weekend I blew the corner window out on the right side from a rock it sent my direction.......... Not a fun implement to run but it ate tough grass like nothing I've ever seen!
jkornbread
Member
At 30hp ish I could see it stalling out for sure. I think the problem I'm seeing is when I have the load sensing system on, the tractor will increase power to maintain PTO RPM and thats when the belt will slip, its always the drive pulley slipping. I'll try tightening the belt I just worry that I'm sending more HP to the belt than the belt can take. I have 3 spares now so I guess I'll find out how tight I can run that belt lol
cch750
New member
I have a ls xr4145 is this tractor big enough to run a ford 22-124 flial mower? Thanks in advance
Dan in MN
Bronze Member
Having to let it clear out sounds similar to problems I was having last year. With the Value Leader flail I was running I had all kinds of problems with the mower loading up and pulling the tractor down. I found that when I had adjusted the roller to lower the cutting height there just wasn't enough room between the roller and the housing to eject the material and it would build up inside. If your roller is height adjustable try lowering the roller in relation to the mower to increase the amount of space for material ejection.