Garden tractor flail mower. Best Flail Mower for Compact Tractor

Best Flail Mower for Compact Tractor

Mowing can be an appealing chore; however, as we know, cutting grass on rough terrain can be a significant challenge, not only requiring good skills but also having the right equipment. I am referring to the Flail Mower.

Looking for the best Flail Mower for your compact tractor, hunting the internet, seeing these different recommendations and manufacturers can be a little complicated. If this is your first time searching and found this blog, then lucky you, you won’t have to go through all the dilemmas of scouring the world wide web.

In this blog, I will be sharing with you the Best Flail Mower for Compact Tractor you can buy in the market today. But before we go further, let us first define what a Flail Mower is.

What is a Flail Mower?

The term “flail mower” comes from the flails connected to the rotating drum (also known as axle, rotor, or tube). Flails are usually referred to as blades or knives by professionals in the industries and attachments companies.

Flail Mowers have been available for a long time now and are the mower of choice for many large-scale jobs. They are typically chosen by park maintenance, large property owners, highway mowing, and estate conservators. Flail mowers are frequently known for their ability to effectively mow grassy, large areas of different vegetation and soil conditions.

Flail Mower 3-Point | Blue Diamond

Typical applications of the Flail Mower include agriculture and horticulture, such as vineyards or orchards, where the ground can be demanding and require equipment to bounce off solid objects, unlike rotary mowers that only grab and throws them off. In addition, most regular flail mowers can be positioned vertically, allowing the operator to trim the sides of bushes, hedges, and other dense shrubs.

Flail Mower 3-Point | Blue Diamond

The Blue Diamond® Attachments Flail Mower is perfect for tractors from 35 HP to 100 HP with Category 1 or 2 hitches. It uses a wide mowing width (up to 98” wide) and has multi-purpose capacity enabling it to mow grass and brush (1.5” thickness) using flails or hammers. Hydraulic side shift, rakes, and rear roller are standard.

Three of the many reasons why this is the best Flail Mover in the market for compact tractors are as follow;

Variations. This attachment comes in different options to choose from depending on your need and available machine. You can get it in either Category 1 or 2 with sizes ranging from 69 up to 98 inches.

CATEGORY 1 SIZE

Flail Mover Blade

Flail mowers are useful for tough jobs, such as cutting grass on uneven ground, cutting high grass, weeds and even brush or mowing in areas that have debris and rocks. A flail mower does not throw grass; instead it cuts grass finely, almost pulverizing it, and leaves the cuttings on the ground. The teeth or flail blades, also called knives, are short pieces of metal attached to an axle that turns rapidly, cutting grass and other plants. A flail mower can be mounted on the front, back or side of a compact, garden or farm tractor. For the best results, the horsepower rating of the flail mower gear box needs to match or be compatible with the horsepower of the tractor. Some flail mowers require a tractor to have a minimum of 25 horsepower, which some garden tractors have.

Flail Mover Blades

Due to the different brands and sizes of flail mowers, flail mover blades come in different sizes. Each size is the width of the drum or rotor, and the sizes usually range from 48 to 102 inches. The number of flail mover blades and their arrangement varies. Flail mover blades are measured as blades per foot of rotor; a mower with a large number of flail mover blades generally gives a closer and cleaner cut than a mower with fewer flail blades. Individual flail mover blades usually are attached to the rotor in pairs, forming a Y- or T-shaped configuration. In some mower models, flail mover blades are attached in staggered rows to provide a smoother cut.

Types of Flail Mover Blades

Flail Hammer blades (T shape)

Flail hammer blade is the blade that assembled to the flail mover using a bolt nut,which is a type pf powered garden or agricultural equipment, such equipment is used to deal with heavier grass or scrub which can not be removed by normal lawn mover. Flial hammer blades are attached to the rotating horizontal drum. And the rows of blades are usually staggered to offer a complete cut. If a flail hammer blades strikes an immovable object, it simply bounces off. Other rotary type mowers have a tendency to grab and throw the object out of the mower deck if its small enough.This fact makes the flail mower best suited for areas where thrown objects would cause damage.

Flail Knife Blades (Y shape)

Flail Knife blades is the blade with a Y shape apperance using a clevis.

Flail Hammer Blades VS. Knife Blades

When you design o buy a new flail mower, you will have a choice of the Y Knife Blades or Hammer Blades. The Y-Blades are great when cutting tall weeds and overgrowth and can also offer a nice cut to your lawn. However,if you are need to cut tree saplings and dense overgrowth,the flail hammer blades are used,which are wider, heavier blades than the Y-blades. No matter Flail hammer blades or Y knife blades,either set of blades will make a perfect solution for cutting.

Although flail movers are very effective when cutting overgrown grass,clearing brambles,and the perfect tool for hedge cutting even like a tree branch,it is very important for you to choose the right option.Below we will introduce different types of blades(hammer blades vs knives blades) for flail movers.

When cutting grass and brambles,a flail mower head fitted with knives,or Y shape blades is the best choice.They are more of a knife and less of a mulcher and they leave a very clean cut and a much tidier looking finishing. Besides,the Y shape blades(knives blades)can also be used for light hedges and they can cut branches up to 2 inches (some of our customers use them to cut much thicker things but this is not recommended!!) The knives are standard fitting for the LS1 series of hedgecutter, for mini diggers from 1,5 to 2 Ton, but can be used with flail mower heads up to 1200 mm for machines up to 16 Tons.

However,in most cases,more “cutting power” is required to remove thicker branches, or simply don’t want to worry about what they are going to hit when cleaning an area or they cut hedges. In this case,we suggest the flail mower head fitted with flail hammer blades.Flail movers with hammer blades can cut up branches up to 4 inches,and moreover,they can cut everything the Y shaped blades can do (grass, brambles, briars and bushes).So the fuction of hammer blade flail mover is stronger than that of Y blade flail movers.That is why flail hammer blades are more common sold in the market.

Maintenance of Flail Mover Blades

Smooth or fine-cut flail blades are largely self-cleaning. In order to extend their life, the blades can be resharpened. Sharp cutting edges reduces the horsepower needed for the blades’ operation.

Steel Forging for Flail Mover Blades

CFS Forge is the direct steel forging company for custom flail mover blades. Flial mover blades are recommended in steel forging production process because our closed die forging technique can produce flail mover blades in higher strength and better working performance.

Why Steel Forging for Flail Mover Blades?

• High production efficiency. In the chamber cavity of mould, the deformation of the steel billet is proceeding, so we can quickly obtain the required flail mover blades.
• Steel forging can produce any complex shaped flail mover blades, and the distribution of metal flow line is more reasonable. Besides, steel forging process can improve the serving life of flail mover blades.
• The size of steel forged flail mover blades is accurate,we can also achieve better surface quality, and smaller machining allowance.
• This closed die forging process will also reduce material waste and reduce machining work. Under the condition of enough batch, it will reduce the cost of flail mover blades eventually.
• The production operation is easy, so the work force is low.

Material of Forged Flail Mover Blades

Considering the wear resistance of flail mover blades, suggested material grade of flial mover blades is 42CrMo.

Heat Treatment of Flail Mover Blades

Quenching Tempering is the most cost effective heat treatment method to improve the hardness of flail mover blades. Normally forging blanks could only reach hardness around 20HRC. But after heat treatment, an ideal hardness 48-52HRC can be achieved. Higher hardness will help to improve the wear resistance of flial mover blades, thus to longer the serving life.

About

CFS Forge is the top custom steel forging manufacturer in China. We can supply all kinds of different closed die steel forging parts in stainless steel, carbon steel and alloy steel.

Pls contact us if you have any need for steel forging solution!

Offset Flail Mower on Subcompact Tractor

The Maschio Weekend Warrior Side Offset Flail Mower is a very versatile piece of equipment. Is it right for your situation? We hope to answer that question and more in this article on our video by the same title and linked below.

So why are they called Flail mowers?

The mowers consist of a drum that spins with attached flails, sometimes referred to as blades. Without going too far off topic, I feel it wouldn’t be fair to not explain the name a bit more. Flails are an old agricultural tool used in the threshing process. Flails consisted of a long stick connected to a shorter stick by a small chain. They were used to beat the grains to separate them from the stalks.

By having the flails attached to the drums in such a way that they are free to swing, flail mowers tend to be safer than rotary cutters (aka brush/bush hogs). When a flail mower encounters an immovable object (rock, stump, etc.), the blades breakaway instead of throwing the object from the mower. We’ve definitely experienced objects flying out from the underneath our rotary cutters!

The flail mower spins in a reverse direction sort of like a rear tine tiller does. This action tends to lift the grass up before it cuts it. It also tends to keep the grass inside the mower longer giving you more of a mulching effect. This reduces the amount of stuff you’ll see flying out as well.

Did someone say Hydraulics?

An offset flail mower requires additional hydraulic connections which many of us don’t have available at the rear of our tractors. In addition to raising the mower up and down as you would with a typical 3-point mower, the offset configuration requires you to be able to both tilt and extend the head of the mower. By removing the FEL and running extra long hydraulic lines, we created a ‘poor man’s rear SCV’ that gives us the additional functions we needed. We worked with Discount Hydraulic Hose to develop a kit with all the required parts for this approach. About 100 for the kit, after applying code TTWT for the 5% discount.

While this works great for occasional use, we are working on a better (although more expensive) solution. information on that later. When we need hydraulic fittings, hoses, adapters, etc., Discount Hydraulic Hose is our choice. Remember to use coupon code TTWT for 5% off your purchase at checkout!

So how did Johnny do?

Overall this experiment was successful. We were able to trim around trees and other objects that otherwise would have caused us trouble. The 53″ FIXED Maschio Flail Mower would work well for a sub-compact tractor like Johnny or even the Kubota BX series. The offset flail may be a bit much though. I think the smaller 47″ Maschio Offset Flail Mower unit might be manageable on a subcompact due to it being slightly lighter. Johnny had a little trouble lifting the unit we tested, and when fully extended, the 1025r was a bit tipsy. We plan to try it with the 2038r when we get a chance. We expect it will be a good fit on this tractor. You can check out the larger unit we tested with Johnny or the others linked directly above by visiting Agfolks.com. Remember to use coupon code TTWT and you’ll save an extra 5% on their already great prices!

Summary

We really enjoyed trying out this offset flail mower on Johnny. We see several advantages of going with a fail mower over another style of mower.

• Flail mowers tend to be safer given their design and rotation of the drum.
• Flail mowers keep the grass in the chamber longer seemingly giving you more mulch
• You can cut lower than you would with a rotary cutter

The cut quality was not affected by the tractor having first mashed down the grass in front of the mower. This really surprise us and I think makes a strong case for going with the fixed flail mower from Maschio.

While I may not recommend an offset for a sub-compact the size of Johnny, if you’ve got a pond bank or a steep ditch you could manage it with that 4′ version. Once you get up into the large frame 2 series tractors, you won’t have any problems. We’d love to hear your thoughts after seeing our video and reading the article!

Tractor flail mower grass cutter flail lawn mower

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Product Certifications

• CE

Product information

GKH FLAIL MOWER1.Cast iron gearbox with free wheel2.Forged hammer blades3.Spiral blade axle4.Replaceable counter blade5.Rear door system6.Hydraulic side shift system

1.Cast iron gearbox with free wheel2.Forged hammer blades3.Spiral blade axle4.Replaceable counter blade5.Rear door system6.Hydraulic side shift system

Changzhou Kavan Machinery Co.,Ltd. has been fabricating the attachments since 2014.

Specializing in design, manufacture and marketing of different range of agricultural and construction equipment for customers.

We are proud of the relationships with cooperating customers and guarantee friendly, efficient service on your maintenance needs.

Ready to start good cooperation with you!

1.Factory direct price,high quality,delivery on schedule,perfect after-sales service;

2.Equipped with laser cutting, powder coat paint lines,highly efficient production line;

3.CE certification,strictly obey international standards;

4.With skilled OEM experience for distributors in Europe,Australia,etc,recommend popular implements for markets;

5.Our team:over 10-year-experience technical engineer and sales department,fulfill customization and trading requirement.

Clearing tall grass, weeds, brambles, undergrowth and uncultivated areas

Estimated reading time 5 minutes

If you need to perform intensive mowing tasks or clear overgrown areas, undergrowth or road verges, or if you need to get rid of dense vegetation on clear sloping or uneven ground, the equipment you need is a shredder.

Depending on its features, a shredder has different uses and, consequently, more specific names. A wheeled brushcutter is for cutting tall and wiry grass (but that’s not all, as we will see it later), whereas a flail mower is more suitable for cutting and chopping up thicker vegetation such as shrubs, brambles, brushwood and reeds, as well as pruning debris or crop residues.

So what is the best shredder? We talk about it in this article, clarifying the main differences between wheeled brushcutters and flail mowers.

Which is best — shredder, lawnmower or brushcutter?

Wheeled brushcutters are hybrid machines, halfway between a lawnmower and a brushcutter. With this single tool you can do just as much as could with the most high-performance models of lawnmower (especially over large areas) and brushcutter (particularly when mowing on slopes). With a wheeled brushcutter you can get larger areas done faster and, if you have to work uphill, with less effort.

For example, the new Efco petrol-engine wheeled brushcutters for home use and professional petrol-engine wheeled brushcutters can shred vegetation using reinforced mulching blades with a cutting width of 51-52 cm, even when working on slopes (up to 20%).

With a flail mower you can mow grass and weeds no matter how tall and tough, in addition to cutting and shredding vegetation up to 1.5 cm thick. Everything is reduced to fragments that are left scattered over the ground, enriching it with organic matter. With a wheeled brushcutter (and flail mower) there is no collection system, unlike with lawnmowers (and most garden tractors). However, once the green waste is pulverised into small pieces, it decomposes faster than grass cut using other systems that leave the grass blades intact (lawnmower without mulching cut, brushcutter or cutterbar mower).

As for the flail mower, the name itself is an indication of what it does. A flail mower can tackle even the most difficult vegetation and heavy-going terrain, such as uncultivated areas and woodland where grass, weeds, saplings and brambles grow unchecked and multiply rapidly, and where scrub, branches and deep carpets of leaves are left to accumulate on the ground due to a lack of regular maintenance.

Wheeled shredders must be tough, especially their key component—the cutting unit—which must be able to shred thick vegetation and can vary in type depending on the machine (wheeled brushcutter or flail mower). Of course, the kind of work they can do is proportionate to the engine power. As we have seen, Efco petrol-powered wheeled brushcutters are equipped with reinforced mulching blades, whereas the Efco DR 65 K1100H, DR 65 HR11 and DR 80 HR11 professional petrol engine wheeled brushcutters incorporate a 65 or 80 cm roller with 38 or 46 strong Y-shaped blades respectively, depending on the model.

The forage harvester is a professional work tool that was designed for farming, so you can buy one as an accessory for hitching to a tractor, cutterbar mower, rotary cultivator or even a garden tractor. However, with a wheeled brushcutter or flail mower you have an autonomous machine (i.e. with its own engine) that is dedicated to a specific use and is therefore more effective. Furthermore, compared with multi-functional machines, wheeled brushcutters and flail mowers are more compact, stable (partly due to their low centre of gravity) and easy to handle, making them ideal for undulating and sloping terrain (for example Efco wheeled brushcutters can climb slopes with a 25% gradient). They are also useful when you need to manoeuvre around numerous obstacles or work between rows of trees, such as in vineyards or orchards.

Wheeled brushcutters and flail mowers are not purely gardening tools. In other words, flail mowers are not the optimal solution for precision work, or if you want a clean cut with no ragged bits, which is essential when grass health and appearance are the priority. In this regard, however, the mulching blades of a wheeled brushcutter guarantee you a better result. In any case, with both a wheeled brushcutter and a flail mower you can set your preferred height for cutting grass and vegetation in general, using a centralised control.

In short, if you need to mow the lawn in your garden, we recommend something other than a shredder: depending on the size of the lawn and the context, a brushcutter, lawnmower or garden tractor may be preferable.

To find out more, you can take a look at these guides:

Wheeled brushcutter vs flail mower: technical overview

Having explained the generic differences between the various types of shredder, we will now briefly look at some technical aspects of the Efco models. We already mentioned the different cutting attachments, but we should also add that the DEB 517 and DEB 5158 petrol engine wheeled brushcutters have a side discharge, whereas the DEB 528 and all models of petrol-powered flail mower discharge directly onto the ground from the underside of the deck.

As for their structure, these machines are compact and robust. Compared with professional petrol engine flail mowers, petrol engine wheeled brushcutters for private use and professional petrol engine wheeled brushcutters are more compact and lightweight, because they are designed primarily for cutting grass and small shrubs, rather than more drastic interventions or more intensive situations.

The drive unit gives them the necessary strength to attack tough vegetation and terrain. Wheeled brushcutters and flail mowers work with different drive systems: the DEB 517 wheeled brushcutter has a single-speed drive system, while the DEB 5158 has a 7-position variable speed drive. In contrast, the DEB 528 and flail mowers have a gearbox with 2 or 3 forward speeds and one reverse speed.

The steering system and wheels are also crucial factors when choosing a wheeled shredder. Flail mowers have two pivoting front wheels and solid puncture-proof rear wheels. Wheeled brushcutters, on the other hand, have a pivoting wheel in the case of the DEB 517 and DEB 5158, whereas the DEB 528 is equipped with skids. Large wheels (of anti-puncture type for the DEB 528 model) round off the equipment for tackling uphill slopes and uneven terrain.

Weeds are the ideal target for shredders, which can help to keep unwanted plants under control naturally, without the use of herbicides. Find out more here: how to get rid of weeds without herbicide.