Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

It's very, very, very wishful thinking on their part.

When you are dealing with winter storm damage both the small and larger limbs
are usually already dead and have already lost a great deal of strength in the lignin
and the longer they are dried out before you clear the easier they will be to break up.

The key to this is the moisture content of the limbs and whether they are trash hardwood
or conifers.

The heavier the hammer knife the more energy you will create to break the limbs and trash trees.

I will have to look back at my notes to see how heavy the flipper knives are and get back to you on this.

Both the Del Morino and Maschio boom mounted Orchard and Vineyard Shredders are designed for this work.

The flail mower rotor on this Del Morino unit can be used for both the hammer knives and the side slicer Y knives.

 

[Smokeydog]

You find something that can do all that, is rugged, low maintenance and works well with the M59 I want one one too. Don’t have the snow pruning but have incredible growth at the forest boarders. Managing now with 8 attachments.
Alamo SHD 74 with side cutters handles 1” sprouts, 5’ kudzu, stemy weeds remarkably well. Not leaving a windrow like a rotary cutter has more grass showing this spring in the paddocks. Happy to report that after a year of cutting with occasional ground contact, rocks, stumps, big limbs the blades show very little wear.

 

[JWR]

Am I being realistic? Spring clean up is a PITA with tons of fallen branches during winter snow and ice storms. I want a flail to do the following using my M59 for clean up around the farm fields:
* chip fallen branches up to 2"
* be able to side shift on flat ground while cutting to get close to fences to cut tree suckers and fallen branches
* be able to operate vertically to chip small new growth branches along fence lines
* use hammer blades to handle dirt clump (ant mounds), wood and occasional rock and stump strikes
* ideally I'd want to get something between 60 and 72 inch cut width
* I'd probably use this 5-6 times a year, early spring then once a month in the growing season

Here's the three models I'm looking at

61" Gold Ditch Bank Flail Mower, VL-AGFN160 | Betstco Sales, Parts, and Service:

AGFN takes our AGF mower and adds an openable rear deck for faster mowing when you do not need fine mulching (it is also nice for changing blades) a holder for your hoses when not attached and a floating right side 3-point connection to allow the mower greater flex when following the contours of...

betstco.com

Flipper Super | Del Morino

Resistant, flexible and versatile. It allows an excellent maintenance of slopes and embankments.

delmorino.it

https://www.maschiogaspardo.com/en/web/usa/giraffa-xl

The Betstco claims up to 4" diameter chipping and shredding vs 2" on the Delmorino and Maschio. Is this wishful thinking?

Will I be destroying these 3 units based on what I want to shred? I've been using forestry mulcher rentals over the years to get things under control, I would like something I could use with my CUT to keep new growth under control and aid in spring clean up.

Gracious -- you have a lot more faith in flails for cutting heavy stuff than I do. The 2" stuff will cause frequent stops for maintenance and the 4" stuff is simply absurd. Yes, unrealistic. I understand that hammer style flails will take a lot more beating and survive heavy brush and limbs way better than the "Y" lighter types. One problem is that cutting pastures, clearing growth and doing edges of larger fields you are absolutely going to hit stuff much heavier/thicker/stronger than you intended. I have yet to find a head-sized rock, hidden fence post or limb that did significant damage to put my 7ft Bush Hog out of commission. And I have hit a heck of a lot of those things. My Alamo Y-blade style 88" flail loses a cutter, starts vibrating/shaking, and sometimes worse everytime I go out of the meadows into the pasture fields where rocks, limbs and hidden debris live.

I stopped using a flail mower except for the more tame meadows and areas I know to be free of obstructions. For that reason I invested in a set of "Jiffy Hitches" so that this feeble old man can swap back and forth between the heavy Bush Hog and the Alamo fail mower quickly and easily -- by myself. Far less time wasted on blades and repairs.

 

[mikester]

Both the Del Morino and Maschio boom mounted Orchard and Vineyard Shredders are designed for this work.

It's the videos showing the orchard stuff that got me thinking. Currently I use my grapple to remove the bigger items and stuff them into the bush but I always have a ton of small leftovers and I don't want to go hand picking in amongst the corn stubble if I can avoid it.

I like the looks of some of those bidirectional articulated 80HP Italian tractors pushing those shredders. I need a bigger machine...

 

[JWR]

It's the videos showing the orchard stuff that got me thinking. Currently I use my grapple to remove the bigger items and stuff them into the bush but I always have a ton of small leftovers and I don't want to go hand picking in amongst the corn stubble if I can avoid it.

I like the looks of some of those bidirectional articulated 80HP Italian tractors pushing those shredders. I need a bigger machine...

Yeah, I have been over to Europe a couple of times and looked at the tractors and attachments in use. Especially in steep mountainous areas they use a LOT of front mounted implements, cutters, etc. Much more so than I have ever seen in the USA.

 

[leonz]

Hello Mike,

Do you think you have enough blowdown and brush to invest in the
smallest 59 inch Rinieri TRR2? It sounds like you will have plenty of work
for it for at least 6 months of the year.

You would have no issue with putting it on a bigger mule in the future.

The TRR2 would out last any mule you put it on as long as it is maintained
by greasing it, checking the oil level in the gearbox and checking the V belts.
I will suggest that you look at both the TTR 59" mulcher and the SEPPI MINIFORST
mulchers then make a decision.

 

[mikester]

Unfortunately I have champaign tastes on a beer budget

If I was maintaining orchards I would do it. A heavier duty flail would be middle of the road for me at this point...less driving backwards too

 

[leonz]

Vrisimo, maschio, Del Morino are the three I would recommend.
The Vrisimo orchard flail shredders have been made for a very
long time and have very heavy heat treated side slicer knives
that have been used in orchards in California for many years.

The Del Morino and Maschio flail shredders with the heavy cast
hammers would probably cost you less for shipping if you are in
Ontario or the maritime provinces.

I would wait a month longer than you normally would to do
any shredding with the Vrisimo, Del Morino or Maschio units
which would assure the brush and limbs are much weaker
and the limbs are not as solid though.

The smallest Vrisimo brush shredder being the 500-6 model
is a real workhorse with recutting rakes and uses standard
bearings, grease seals, SAE bolts and nuts and V belts.

 

[LouNY]

I bought one of the chinnese flails in May of 22, I haven't broke it yet and I do get it into some larger stumps and it has hit some rocks. I got the EMHD-86 and it's all my Branson 8050 wants when it's hanging off the side and down a bank. The 800 gram hammers are a bit over 1 1/2 pounds each. One of the reason besides cost is that I don't put a lot of hours on it in a year. The first year I did put quite a few hours on it doing off farm jobs that my Nephew was lining up using either the flail or the brush hog, I actually preferred the flail over the brush hog. I would run it in the extended position so it was working ground I hadn't driven on.
EMHD-86 Extra Heavy Duty Embankment Flail Mower - Victory Tractor Implements

 

[10backacres]

I bought a Seppi m sml 200 in 1998 for occasional use with Y flails and it does an excellent job on grass , blackberry vines (generally if I can drive over it it's muulch) and 1" limbs ( I've abused it running over larger diameters and it just keeps going after replacing lost side slicers) I'm ready to replace all flails. OEM are 6mm thick and the after market ones I'm looking at are 1/4" thick. I lightly sharpen the edges ( to prevent changing the temper) The originals have lasted a long time. What's the concensus on OEM vs after market ?