Reliable pull behind mowers?

[DrRod]

I had a commercial grade Alamo flail mower with the Honda red engine. An excellent machine. But towing with my ATV was not good. ATV's aren't geared for slow, steady towing under load and every hill or turn was met by a bog-down followed by a leap forward. And sitting on an ATV isn't near as comfortable as on a tractor. No experience with a side-by-side so that might go better. I'd look at a large riding mower or the Ventrac thing.

 

[DrRod]

Do we have any reviews of this PK-AT145E Flail Mower yet??? If you seen or used one, please tell us about it.

Noticed this after mentioning it above but . . .

This is a case of "Can't blame the horse for being a cow."

I had an Alamo much like the one in your picture and it was a very high quality machine. Commercial model with Honda red engine ran about $2,400. Aside from the shortfalls of using an ATV to pull it [covered above] it just didn't fit my application. I believe they are made for mowing public places such as parks and ball fields -- they throw everything down, not out. So they cut pretty short and have relatively small wheels. I found that the front lip would catch on a chunk of high grass or small brush in a field and it would flip over forward. I added a brace and it still did it. Then I put some large go cart wheels and tires on it and it would still find something to snag on and flip over.

When doing so, it would stay running so as you went back to disengage it there were 80-some knives whirling at blinding speed -- easy enough to avoid but still not a good thing. Twice during the flip it spilled gas on the muffler which caught fire and ignited the field. A small spot but again not a good thing. Can't blame the machine, it just wasn't meant for fields and trails.

 

[ponytug]

Slopes and ATVs pulling mowers just doesn't sound very safe to me.

Perhaps a used Power-Trac 425?

Or: I put a steel cutting disk with three cutting blades on my Stihl and it cuts like a demon. Just don't cut near windows, or near anything else that you care if it gets nicked.

All the best,

Peter

 

[MIkeWard]

just saw this pic

 

[two_bit_score]

^^^^^^^ genius

 

[nmz787]

Yesterday was my first day using the Titan AT100 flail mower behind my 2003 Bombardier Quest 500. Other than my ATV being 2wd and spinning tires on some of the steeper slopes, I think it went great! I drove it up and down some pretty steep sections of my property, through some fields, got stuck and had to reverse a few times (no trickier than any trailer reversing maneuvers, aside from lack of traction a few times). I was able to drive through 5ft tall brush no problem and the mower ate it up. For some blackberry thickets, I just went a little slower and made two passes. A few places I was even able to reverse the mower into the brush and it worked real nice.

I am using the "max coupler" articulating offroad hitch, so I wouldn't have any trouble with it binding on tough terrain.

 

[ArlyA]

Yesterday was my first day using the Titan AT100 flail mower behind my 2003 Bombardier Quest 500. Other than my ATV being 2wd and spinning tires on some of the steeper slopes, I think it went great! I drove it up and down some pretty steep sections of my property, through some fields, got stuck and had to reverse a few times (no trickier than any trailer reversing maneuvers, aside from lack of traction a few times). I was able to drive through 5ft tall brush no problem and the mower ate it up. For some blackberry thickets, I just went a little slower and made two passes. A few places I was even able to reverse the mower into the brush and it worked real nice.

I am using the "max coupler" articulating offroad hitch, so I wouldn't have any trouble with it binding on tough terrain.
View attachment 703209View attachment 703207

Thanks for posting. Does that machine have a clutch??

 

[Quickster2]

I have a Swisher T14560A tow behind. Not underpowered but build quality sucks. Leaves 2 rows of uncut grass because the blades have gaps in between (Gator blades have helped but have to mow twice for a clean cut). Can't keep the belts on. I'm on my 2nd rebuild of all the pulleys. I would never buy a Swisher product again. I'm looking at a Kunz when I finally decide to stop dropping $$$ into the money pit Swisher. FYI I have only used factory parts and belts. It performed horribly under warranty as well, taken in several times. Bought at a TSC.

 

[Cougsfan]

My neighbor has A DR pull behind mower that he pulls with his ATV. It, unfortunately, is a real piece of junk. Twice I have rewelded the unit's main frame that broke in two, and it has had numerous other problems in the three years he has had it. (electrical problems, fuel leaks, etc). Don't know if there are good ones, but the DR certainly isn't one.

 

[ArlyA]

DR = junk

 

[nmz787]

Thanks for posting. Does that machine have a clutch??

Maybe a centrifugal clutch, controls are just the key to electrically start it, choke, and a throttle control on the engine itself (not remote).

 

[nmz787]

Thanks for posting. Does that machine have a clutch??

It has a centrifugal clutch.

A few weeks ago I was using it and the belts were squealing like crazy... never having used a machine with a belt that did this (other than a car/truck with the fan/alternator belt making the occasional fuss) I assumed it might have been normal. Well, that ended with the belts smoking! It seems the two side-by-side belts they shipped the machine with didn't stretch the same amount during the overheating period, so I tried going to NAPA to get two matching belts. They ended up giving B43 belts, but when I tried putting them on yesterday, they seemed too small, so I put the originals back on. After getting things reassembled and taking the machine out (with no squeals) I stopped working and took a look at the belt area. (as a note, the belt cover doesn't seem to come off completely without removing the wheel... which seems like bad engineering to me... but there's still enough room to work, albeit annoyed) Anyway, the old belts had stretched more, and I realized I installed the tensioner belt on the WRONG side (pressing the small side, causing it to twist I think, as it pulled around the tensioner wheel). Oops! It had been too many weeks since I'd taken the machine apart, and I simply forgot how it should have gone back together. I fixed the tensioner position in the field, and got things running again. Again no squealing.

So long story short, if you hear any squealing more than once during operation, stop and tension the belts. Also, it seems two belts aren't necessary, and maybe just there for back-up in case one snaps while out working (please feel free to correct me if this is wrong).

Other than that, and some loose nuts/bolts, I haven't seen any bent metal plates on the machine yet.