Flaial mower - how good is it?

ukrkoz

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I finally found a dealer in OR that sells ATV tow behind flail mowers. Self powered.
Have no idea how good or bad they are.
I have back breaking reasons to get an ATV mower, so I am more than interested.
I think, some here do have them, in Australia.

I saw several videos. Apparently, they do go through a very tall grass. That case, I can mow once a month, not every weekend.
But, as most of my lawn is "curb appeal", though in very rural area, I don't really want it to look bushwhacked.

Any one has first hand experience with them?
Also, what hammers are best for them? They come in several kinds.

Thank you
 

bertsmobile1

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What do you want to know ?
A flail mower is not a finish mower, it is a rough cut pasture or clearing mower so you will never get a golf course finish let alone a bowling green cut.
From 30' away it will look fine and usually you do not get clumping like you do with rotary types of mowers.
The hammer type will depend upon what you are going to cut.
The local fencing contractor uses a 4' up front flail mower on a bobcat when fencing a new block
He mows with it then comes back the next day and runs over the cut grass with a side discharge to toss all the debris out of the way if the fence line goes through a lot of thick brush.
If it was just grass he does not bother with the second cut.
Another contractor mows road sides and he uses flails cause they do not throw stuff into the passing traffic and the blade just pass over things like old engine blocks and other crap nice clean people like you & me dump on the side of the road.
 

ukrkoz

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Will it go over the mole mounds?
I love Aussies... Good sense of humor.
No, I don't give mole's tail about golf course quality. My lawn needs to be nuked next year, it is so poorly graded. I just don't want to do 2 things:
1. mow every weekend spring to late summer (4 hrs of back breaking ride due to super bumpy lawn)
2. getting stuck with tall grass. Explanation: where I live, it can rain for - yes - 9 months non stop. When I moved in 3 yrs ago, I got caught spring time, because of rain, with grass that was taller than my rider deck. Took me several months to inch through it, hence darn obsession with mowing. Does it make sense now?
Hence, something that I can tow - ATV is much more comfortable than mower ride - and can take on tall grass producing half way decent look.

As of the hammers... they come Y and T shaped... I'll Goggle what's the difference. One is for rough and one is for finish cut.
I don't care if grass stays in the lawn. We are basically in farmland.
 

John Fitzgerald

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The "sister site" to this site, tractorbynet.com has a lot of info on flail mowers. Good reading there. I think the Y type knives are used for grass, and the "hammers" for brush.
 

ukrkoz

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A flail mower uses it entire width of cut at all times to mow.

A rotary mower uses one cutting edge with the blade behind it following
and the rotary mower will tear the grass as it cuts rather than slice it with
a fine edge as is done with the verticut method which was pioneered by
Mr. Mott.


A finish flail side slicer knive will have 1.5 inches or more of cutting edge
exposed to the work and it is paired with a second side slicer to double
the cutting edge at each hanger station.


In my case as an example My 48 inch mower has 4 rows of finish type
side slicers to mow with. with a total of 64 knives stations including 4 single
knives stations per row which all over lap. I have a 128 side slicers with 1.5 inches of cutting edge exposed to the grass and I have total of 192 inches of cutting edge to use for mowing on one side of the 128 knives which is 16 feet of actual cutting edge exposed to the mowing task and 16 more feet of cutting edge on the opposite side of the side slicers available for use.
The same specific factors applies to larger all flailmowers as well.


In comparison a rotary mower would have only 48 inches of cutting edge of which only half of which is used at any time during the mowing cycle.


The maintenance for a flail mower is not a big issue as long as you
are greasing the rotor bearings every time you mow which is a MUST
be done thing at each mowing or every 8 hours as needed as well as
the belt tension snubber bearing(s) as well as greasing the the rear
roller as needed(8 hours).


About the flail mower rotor bearings- in our case we replaced our
original equipment rotor bearings after 25 years of continuos seasonal
use(they last very long time as long as you grease them regularly.


The rear roller is what regulates the mowing height of a
flailmower and it also reduces the chance of scalping sod
to an absolute minimum.


The flailmower will need these spares (depending on the manufacturer)

1. side slicer knives (all types). The great thing about the side slicers
is you can buy hardened knives and the side slicer knive has two cutting
edges so all that is needed is to flip the knive to the opposite side to expose
a new cutting edge for your use.

2. knive hangers
3. bolts, nuts and lock washers to secure them
4. D rings

A flailmower requres very few tools to change side slicers
(with my flail mower I do not need them as it is spring tensioned hanger).

1. half inch ratchet
2. box end spanner(wrench)
3. Blue Loctite(to allow you to remove the nuts from the bolts


Its always a good idea to have a set of jack stands available to keep
the mower at a higher point to aid in changing knives as you should never
be working under a raised implement unless it is secure with jack stands or
hardwood blocks.

You need a side slicer knife for finish mowing as it will
give the best finish for good sod.
 

ukrkoz

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I think I'm convinced. He talks about PTO tractor flail mower, but essence is same.
 

ukrkoz

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HAMMER BLADES Vs KNIVES BLADES

To cut down woody plants and grass, flail mower with knives or Y shape blades is considered the ultimate choice. Reason being, they act more like knife; thereby, giving a clean cut and a tidier finish. Apart from these perks, these blades are highly helpful when it comes to deal with light hedges as they are able to cut branches that are up to 2 inches. These knives are fitted as per the right standard to get expected results.

It’s important to know that in most of the cases, cutting power is needed to remove branches that are thick. Here, it is required to go for flail mower that has flail hammer blades fitted at the head. These tools are known to cut branches that are up to 4 inches. Also, these are designed in a way to cut everything that is possible for the Y shaped blades. In other words, they work well on brambles, bushes, grass and briars. This way, it gets clear that hammer blade is way powerful than Y shape blades. For this very reason, hammer blades are common and personal favorite of many.
 

bertsmobile1

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For rough cutting very tall grass it can not be beaten no clogging up the discharge chute .
The up front on a bobcat ( generic term for a skid steer down here ) goes through anything in front of it apart from power poles and steel pickets.
The local council have a few mounted on back hoe type arms and they use them to trim trees back off the street line, crop tress under power / phone lines & mow embankments too steel for a ride on & too close to traffic to use a string trimmer.
On the land lord farm, he sets the rotary hoe 1" clear of the ground and mows down the tussock grass clumps after they have been slashed to smash the roots up out of the ground.
Go for the heaviest hammers you can get.
Down here we also have them fitted with chains
 

ukrkoz

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Chains? One I am looking at takes only Y blades. What should do for what I need. Then I'll take good look at it, they may not be knowing what they are talking about.
But chains? As in, runs of chains, several links long? It just smashes everything? I could do that. I was actually thinking about partially fitting one I'll get with hammers. Like every 3rd one or so.
I am simply waiting on sale. That I shall get one is done deal. 59 inch deck.
 
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