I am seeking input from people who have experience with Rears flail mowers. Search brought up posts mostly from 2008 or earlier. The epic "Let's Talk Flail Mowers" thread might as well be called the Caroni thread. :laughing:
I am interested in a sturdy, honest medium duty unit with great longevity with proper maintenance. Tractor has 45 PTO - am thinking ~84" cut. It would be used for 10 acres of brush, pasture, fence lines, drive path / road edge tasks. No lawn duty will be involved. I'm looking especially at Rears because I live near them - my day job is in Eugene. I'll of course call them for suggested models, but they're selling something, and independent experiences can be invaluable during the research phase. Input welcome.
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98% of your decision is going to involve your wallet, 1% is what your cut is going to look like and the last 1% is
whether you want a 7 or 8 foot flail behind your mule.
You have plenty of power for an 8 foot finish flail mower, my father used his Ford Jubilee and a 7 foot JD25A finish flail to
reclaim pasture with 12-15 foot golden rod and underbrush to the point where he mowed 4 acre sections every other
week so power and mower size are not an issue YOUR TIME IS.
The lower the cutting height the better PERIOD. this makes the next weeks or biweekly mowing that much easier.
Do not forget at one mile per hour you are traveling at 88 feet per minute, at 2 miles per hour 176 feet per minute.
With a seven foot flail mower you are mowing almost 37,000 square feet per hour at one mile per hour and at
two miles per hour you are mowing 'almost 74,000 square feet per hour you have to think of it in those terms only
as your seat time is going to determine the solution to your algebra problem NOT whether your implement builder is near you.
Do not assume that you can operate a flail mower at less than the 540 RPM engine speed as the cut will be very poor as
the flail mower rotor will not be rotating fast enough to cut efficiently by creating the necessary pressure gradient to
create the lift need to slice and lift the clippings at the same time.
SO mush of this is going to be dependent on the ground conditions and the brush height as the mower must be on the ground to create the pressure gradient to work effectively as the side slicer knives become airfoils to to the work of slicing and creating the lift needed to carry the clippings up and over the flail mower rotor.
If you mow at a 2 inch height you will have many fewer problems and the clippings will rot much faster and decompose back into the soil.
The lower you mow the better as the brush will not get ahead of you ever!
you will also be able to mow in reverse backing over brush clumps and then driving forward to shred them even more.
You will have to shop if you are intent on buying new, SAYING THAT I would rather see you purchase a used or 7 or 8 foot JD25A
for your first season and then decide if you want new as a used flail mower will operate exactly like a new one with proper maintenance.
You should look at the auction time web site as well as tractor house as they have many used and new flail mowers for sale that may be excess inventory or from one owner estates and farms have very low hours on them.
You do not really need a heavy flail mower for what you are describing just adequate maintenance and spare knives for a 4 row finish flail mower that will give you years of service.
You have to decide if you want a true "flail shredder" with a rougher cut or a flail mower with a high number of knives per row, I think you will be very satisfied with a finish flail mower for your use- the high departments use the finish flails for road verges and ditch mowing as they are much safer to use while mowing along roadways.
