Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish

   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #11  
TIA for any advice on this one.

This fall I sold my Kubota B7500 and all the attachments, and bought a L5740cab for the same price as I sold the B for. The 5740 just needed the cab top repaired (Foam + Bondo + liquid seal worked great BTW) and it has alot more hrs. than the B7500. Anywho the whole idea behind the trade is I can cut down on my time with snow removal and mowing with some larger implements and more hp. I love the L5740, and I hope I can keep it running forever. I have a winter setup ready for Dec-April now I need a summer setup for mowing.

The non-forested part of the property is 5% lawn, 80% field, and 20% orchard aprox 9ac total. The B7500 had a 54" finish mower for the lawn and field (Mow about every 2 weeks) and an 42" hog for the orchard (I would mow ~3x a year). Just the lawn and field took about 3.5 hrs with the 54" finish mower.

Looking ahead I would like the least time spent changing belts, repairs, etc. and spend as little as I can while still cutting down on my mowing time. Tires on the 5740 are turf so they are about 80" outside to outside. I really like the idea of only 1 mower needed, which is why I'm thinking of the flail (like the woodmax 96H). But I don't like the thought of 1. Picking it up every time I need to turn/backup 2. Watching the Messicks video of Neil with a stick stuck and hearing it eat up the belts and took 2hrs to dislodge. 3. Maintaining and replacing knives sounds like a pain. I like the idea of they hydraulic shift getting around the trees sounds awesome. I also like the idea of the mulched grass breaking down and feeding the soil quicker.

The only other thought I can think of is getting a grooming and hog again. Something like the Caroni 93" and a cheap hog for the orchard? I really love the thought of the dual spindle 8' cutter with hydraulic shift, but those are crazy expensive. Any thoughts are appreciated.

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My advice to you is call every John Deere dealer east of the Missisippi and north of Tennessee and ask if they have a used JD290 or JD390 flail mower with side slicer knives IN GOOD CONDITION for sale and do not look back.

I would also start looking in tractor house for new or used land pride flailmowers for sale.

You can mow in reverse and not damage the turf as long as you have it set up correctly and they are not that hard to take care of as long as you read and listen to the owners of these fine mowers.

Once you get it down to a 2 inch height you will be able to mow quickly and recut the clippings so they dissolve quickly too.

Shipping it to a local John Deere dealer would not be that hard either.
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #12  
A flail will not cut in reverse, but you can back up with it on the ground just fine. I'm not sure if it the roller pushing stuff down or the rotation. But you only cut about 25% of the material when backing up. I just back up to realign or whatever then drive forward over the poorly cut ground.

A flail with hammers gives a decent cut on grass. I don't have any lawn, just pasture or field. But it would do OK on a lawn. 7k lbs of machine on R4s would be worse on a lawn than the cut quality.

My green Peruzzo Brush Bull will mow Christmas trees. The L4060 is a little weak on power for that & its noisy. But it gets the job done for occasional small trees that are dead or 9n the way. I can imagine it would be great for mulching limbs & pruning debris in an orchard. Unlike the old Ford, my Peruzzo was not cheap. Its also dubiously to big for a Grand L.

Side cutter knives tip out at finger sized material. My ancient beat to **** (bought for $100) yellow Ford 917 flail would do brush ok, but woody thing much over finger size would just get debarked & mangled, not really cut. Hammers are needed for bigger material. 20190505_122945.jpg20200419_165207.jpg20180509_190637.jpgIMG_20150626_200301.jpg20161025_152850.jpg
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #13  
I have those same hammers on my PERFECT ditch mower. Great for shreading trees and vegetaion but hit one stone and they get chunks out of them which you can't repair on account of the shape. And we have a lot of stones! I sold my old 917 normal knive mower (also beat to crap) to a friend years ago for $500.00. Saw he just sold it for a Grand at a local auction.
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish
  • Thread Starter
#14  
Thanks for all the great info guys. Appreciate it.
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #15  
I use a Woodmaxx FM62 flail with Y blades for cutting my meadows down once each year in late Summer or Fall. I'm happy with the cut quality and find it much easier to use than the RC I used to have. Somewhat gradual turns I leave it down but while making a sharp turn or backing up I lift it up a bit then drop it back down which isn't a big deal. One nice thing is how much smaller a flail is compared to a RFM or RC, I store mine (along with bucket and rear blade) on the edge of my carport between the posts.

 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #16  
I've never used a flail mower or ever seen one in person being used.

I have a 84 inch rear finish mower and a 72 inch rotary cutter. The rear finish mower does a very nice job, but you have to keep mowing all the time so the grass doesn't get too tall. If that happens, I have to take it off and use the rotary cutter to get it back down low enough to use the finish mower. The tractor and finish mower do now maneuver well around the house or trees. It's great for open areas!!!!

I had a Craftsman 42 inch riding mower that I really liked, but a part in the rear axle broke that Sears no longer had anymore and I had to junk that mower. I spent way too much money on a zero turn, but now that I've had it for awhile, it really is the best cutting machine ever made. I can't imagine trying to mow around the house with anything other then my zero turn.

In my opinion, you really need two mowers. Either a riding mower or a zero turn for around the house, and then something for pastures and trails. I now keep my rotary cutter on my tractor almost all of the time, and I haven't used my rear finish mower in years. It's sat so long that the tires have rotted off of it.

On the rear mounted finish, I had the same problem around the yard with trees, flower beds and such. The ZT rider is best for that.

On the rear mounted rotary does a great heavy duty job on rough terrain, high grass/weeds/small saplings etc. Problem doing over the hood height vegitation is that the tractor sees it first. Using the FEL bucket a short distance off the ground does a good job of laying the stuff down and keeping it off the front of the tractor, out of the grille, chaff out of the radiator and such. Going slow is really necessary to give the mower time to cut the matter in short enough pieces to get the ground contacting part of the stem to stand up so that you can whack it.

I did see mowers like Grasshopper with front mounted rotary mowers that might handle the above....get one big enough. Then there are low volume special market commercials out there...no experience with them. Then there is the one the county uses to trim roadsides, overhanging trees, and ditches, on a boom attached to the side of a tractor, that cuts anywhere in a 90 degree vertical to horizontal area are again the (expensive) exception.

Side cutters, like sickle, drum, and disc mowers used for hay are great to get the mower blade to the material first but excel in haying operations. Wen the going gets rough, they can't hack it....even the mfgr of my current drum states that in the instructions.

I too never saw a Flail, nor saw used nor saw for sale locally.
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish
  • Thread Starter
#17  
I use a Woodmaxx FM62 flail with Y blades for cutting my meadows down once each year in late Summer or Fall. I'm happy with the cut quality and find it much easier to use than the RC I used to have. Somewhat gradual turns I leave it down but while making a sharp turn or backing up I lift it up a bit then drop it back down which isn't a big deal. One nice thing is how much smaller a flail is compared to a RFM or RC, I store mine (along with bucket and rear blade) on the edge of my carport between the posts.


Thanks for the testimony and the pic. How do you like the cut on already well kept grass. I am used to cutting about 7 of those acres on a regular basis to keep the rodent and tick populations down. What kind of speed are you traveling on the once a year meadow vs the well kept grass?
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #18  
Hello cfarmnh,

Have you had time to look for a used JD 25A, 290 or 390 flail mower?

With seven acres using a finish flail it will not take you long to mow to keep it down to 2 inches in cutting height.

My father used his Ford Jubilee with a John Deere 25A with side slicer knives and he mowed 4 acres blocks every
two weeks and kept it well mowed using his Ford Jubilee tractor and John Deere 25A flail mower.
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish
  • Thread Starter
#19  
Hello cfarmnh,

Have you had time to look for a used JD 25A, 290 or 390 flail mower?

With seven acres using a finish flail it will not take you long to mow to keep it down to 2 inches in cutting height.

My father used his Ford Jubilee with a John Deere 25A with side slicer knives and he mowed 4 acres blocks every
two weeks and kept it well mowed using his Ford Jubilee tractor and John Deere 25A flail mower.

I just saw a 390 pop up today on craigslist. They're asking 3500 and they are still working on it. It's really hard for me to drop that on something so used. I do really like the HP requirements are lower for a ~90" mower, so I know I could scoot along. How often was a belt changed needed or flails replaced?
 
   / Mowing Advice - Cutter vs. Flail vs. Finish #20  
Thanks for the testimony and the pic. How do you like the cut on already well kept grass. I am used to cutting about 7 of those acres on a regular basis to keep the rodent and tick populations down. What kind of speed are you traveling on the once a year meadow vs the well kept grass?

I normally cut my grass with a ZTR but early on when I got this flail I played with it on grass. It actually cuts nice and the lower the better. In the pic I have set as high as it goes for the field but set lower on grass it seems to generate more vacuum effect lifting the grass as it cuts, and mulches better too. It looked much better than the field pictured but not as good as the ZTR, and certainly not as fast, but I would be perfectly satisfied with it.
Given I only mow the fields once a year I do it in low range so fairly slow especially in thick sections. I imagine I'd use mid range for cutting something like 7-8" grass down to 3".
 
 

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