Why is my flail mower binding all the time?

[brown1032]

I do roadside mowing for a township near me with a 63" flail on a 24 foot boom, kinda a diesel therapy hustle retirement gig, from what your saying your flail has hammers. From info from Tiger Mowers manual hammers are for brush, my mower is set up with knives. Now Tiger says the knives that are on my flail are for grass but believe me I do a lot of tree trimming and brush cutting along with mowing chest high grass and cane. Here is a photo from the Tiger manual, again the "knives" I have are the ones on the left. Hope this is helpful.

 

[leonz]

I am pretty new to this, so please excuse the noob question. There doesn't seem to be anywhere on the internet that actually tells you how to use farming equipment, and the manuals are next to useless, so no doubt i'm probably doing something silly.

I have a 125cm flail mower, and it just refuses to cut anything but short grass. Anything large or dense and it just binds around the drum, seizing and causing the belt to start smoking.

It doesn't matter if I'm in the slowest gear possible
It doesn't seem to matter the height I "cut" at.
It doesn't seem to matter the power - I've tried on a 17hp and a 45hp (I've seen people on youtube chewing through stuff with a 25hp)

It was my understanding that these things will clear scrub, but I can't seem to make any progress at all

What could be the problem? Should the hammers be sharp? They aren't sharp when new, and I can't seem to find any information in the manual or online (besides a single youtube video) about sharpening flail hammers - so I am not sure if you are supposed to.

Hello rehashed welcome to the forum,

Please do not worry, I just found your post and I am sure we can help you with this.

A properly ground hammer knife, side slicer knife and scoop knife/duckfoot knife have cutting edges ground at approximately 37 degrees.

If you have used the flail mower on two different mules with the same results the problem is the flail mower.

Let's start at the beginning:

1. what brand of flail mower/flail shredder is this implement?

2. did you use a bubble level or torpedo level to level the gearbox to horizontal with the top link and lock the top link in place?
a. A flail mower/flail shredder works best at a two inch cutting height to create the suction/pressure gradient to lift the clippings over the flail mower rotor
3. Are the hammer knives cutting edge facing the tractor? meaning the scoop of the knife is facing the rear of the tractor

4. how fast are you traveling while trying to knock brush down?
a. it's always best to travel at the slowest speed in heavy brush conditions and check the chaff screen on your mule every hour or so
b. when you have your first pass mowed it taking half cuts in the following passes will put less load on the mule and the brush will be more finely clipped

5. have you backed up to the heavier stands of brush to mow it down and then driven forward over it?

If the V belts are smoking, then that tells me they are slipping under load and or are improperly adjusted/loose

If you can send us some pictures of the flail mower and pictures of the V belt drive assembly behind the V belt guard that would
help us quickly find the problem.

Please don't worry.


Leon

 

[Bob Rooks]

Knives will cut in either direction, hammers will not. If belts are tight and in good condition, and you're turning at correct PTO speed, then, to me, says that your hammers are on backwards. How long have you had the flail? Has it always done this, or just started? I have had two Titan (Chinese) flail mowers, one PTO driven (sold), and currently a hydraulic driven for skid steer. Both have hammers, and work flawlessly.

 

[DieselBound]

I've cut 6'+ high grass with my flail with hammer knives. Note that this isn't recommended, but am noting it because I've demonstrated that it CAN cut tall stuff.

One question NOT asked: what kind of grass? I've cut some really nasty stuff (neighbor's), not sure what it was, that was like cutting steel wool. I believe I was cutting it with my B7800 and a 5' RC; I could barely make headway as this stuff was so thick. I could easily imagine a flail completely failing to win the battle with such grass.

The comment about grass getting wrapped up is a bit telling in that it sounds like there's no re-cutting going on. Again, I've cut some massively tall grass with my flail (7' Chinese - Nova Tractor - now in my second year using and it's doing pretty much all that any flail could do) and have not had an issue such as this. IF one had a rear door one would be best to open it up if hitting really tall stuff: I think; I just slow down a bit and let the flail chew up the long grass.

I could see the drum RPMs dropping too low with a slipping belt and that this could result in cut grass not getting re-cut. Improper tensioning or crappy belt(s) could be the source of the issue.

Really need to know what flail. Maybe pics, or, better, a video showing how it's operating.

 

[dieselscout80]

Knives will cut in either direction, hammers will not. If belts are tight and in good condition, and you're turning at correct PTO speed, then, to me, says that your hammers are on backwards. How long have you had the flail? Has it always done this, or just started? I have had two Titan (Chinese) flail mowers, one PTO driven (sold), and currently a hydraulic driven for skid steer. Both have hammers, and work flawlessly.

Not all knives are reversible, but many are.

 

[Tinhack]

Did the OP ever return?

Perhaps he's just driving too fast.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

If you are standing behind the tractor, pto turns clockwise? I've only had one flail. It was 8' and came with a 33 HP tractor I bought used. I could mow waist high grass, brush, trees, it didn't matter. You definitely have a situation going on.

 

[arto98607]

Did the OP ever return?

Perhaps he's just driving too fast.

He has only three posts in TBN, all of those in this thread - no profile information.

Oh well, it's summertime and people are busy.

 

[Bob Rooks]

He has only three posts in TBN, all of those in this thread - no profile information.

Oh well, it's summertime and people are busy.

There are many people that treat these forums like free owner's manuals - they get the information they want and then close the pages. You don't have to say "thank you" or give feedback to a book.

 

[Bob Rooks]

Not all knives are reversible, but many are.

I stand corrected, but I have never seen a Y-blade (knife) that was not reversible.