Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Menagerie-Manor]

I have the Betsco 48" HD Flail too and it does a great job. Rocks chip the hammers pretty easily and I am sure the belts that come with it won't last long. But the cut is good and it chews up 1-2" stalks pretty easy on my little 25 HP tractor.
Congrats on getting the flail.

The belts on my Bestco 48" HD Flail only lasted a few hours, this is a Kevlar replacement belt from NAPA and I probably have 10 hours
and they show no sign of wear since replacement.

 

[arto98607]

Thanks for the read. Took me forever to get through all these posts. To tell the truth I've skipped through quite a few. So, I just bought 8 acres in south east Kentucky. About 3 of it is grass and the rest is steep woods. Looks like I can clear at least 2 more. Bought a Kioti LK3054. After reading this I really think a flail will be my best bet allowing me not to buy anything else for keeping it trimmed. Wasn't wanting to spend a fortune but a couple grand would be doable. Really concerned about some of the slopes but would be comfortable on the rest. I'm looking for suggestions from this knowledgeable crowd. Needing something ASAP.

Welcome to flail mower users or watchers!

I would suggest take a look at Betstco medium and heavy duty models, as well as Woodmax to start with.

You choices will be very limited if you are in a hurry, and "couple of grand" budget will limit it further?

It's probably not the time to be buying any implements "ASAP", but lets hope you will succeed.

 

[workinonit]

The belts on my Bestco 48" HD Flail only lasted a few hours, this is a Kevlar replacement belt from NAPA and I probably have 10 hours
and they show no sign of wear since replacement.


View attachment 710892

Does your mower only have a single belt?

 

[Menagerie-Manor]

Does your mower only have a single belt?

It has a set of 2.

 

[workinonit]

You may need to get a matched set. Mine has 4 matched belts.

 

[Fallon]

My 917 had 2 belts, the new Peruzzo has 4 (rated up to 90hp). Of course they are metric belts & nobody local has them. Even a bit scare online. Had to order them online & hope for a matched set. They show up today so we'll see. Even if one or 2 is a bit looser than the rest I'm hoping that a 40hp tractor on a 90hp rated mower means I'll be fine.

Haven't checked them in longer than I care to admit. All 4 had huge cracks in them but had been performing fine.

Interesting fact for any Peruzzo owners. The belt length (but not size) is stamped on a tag on the frame under the belt guard. Metric V-Belts - SPZ, SPA, SPB, SPC | VBeltSupply.com lists out details for the metric belts. SP is the standard prefix & the 3rd letter is the belt thickness & height. The following number is the belt length in mm.

 

[cstamm81]

I recently purchased an Italian made Lipa brand flail from Phil at Needham Ag LINK. I went with a TLS series, 72" cut, hydraulic offset, mulches 3" plus material with hammer blades, and leaves a really nice finish cut. The quality of the unit is exceptional. Phil has been amazing, it;s really nice to deal with someone who sincerely cares about what he is selling you, before and after the sale! He said Lipa makes him carry spare parts for all his flails, and all he ever sells are belts and hammers, nothing else wears out, and he has some people abusing the hell out of them he said. I bought a demo and saved a bunch of cash. It's all but 1300lbs, but surprisingly my little 28HP Mahindra can handle it, unless the cutting is too thick then it bogs down. I have many, many trees on my property and it;s so nice to mulch them as they sit, it makes little wood chips out of 3" round 10 foot long branches.

If you want a really well made piece of equipment that will seemingly just continue to work, give them a serious look. He can get anything Lipa offers, just takes some time to get a container in from Italy.

 

[arto98607]

Just what we needed - tractor implements with V-belts you can not find locally and end up having to get them from the dealer!

I will stick with the old stuff that woks!

 

[Fallon]

Just what we needed - tractor implements with V-belts you can not find locally and end up having to get them from the dealer!

I will stick with the old stuff that woks!

$70 for 6 belts (2 spares) & they showed up in 3 business days. Not to bad & they aren't to hard to find from a decent number of places online, once you understand the nomenclature. All the belts have the belt size on them, but not a number that matches belt length.

All 4 are now on the flail & seem to fit fine with equal tension.

 

[workinonit]

Say what you want about belts but they sure make heavy bush hogging much easier on the tractor. The one thing about my Maschio and I have no idea if it's standard with all flails but they have "freewheel". Very nice feature for tractors with PTO brakes. Can't get that on a standard bush hog.