A different type of flail mower

[flyidaho]

When I saw this mower in a local used equipment rag, (not this exact one, a bigger and newer one but the same concept https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUoXc8Jya1A) it instantly made sense to me. It's always bothered me, struck me as inefficient anyway, to first drive over THEN mow brush and grass. With this design, the first thing to hit whatever you're trying to mow, is the mower. The rear turning wheels makes for real tight maneuvering, almost as good as a zero turn mower.

I already have a Woodmaxx 62" flail mower, with side shift, bought last year, PLUS a beater 4' brush hog, but both are awkward to use in the space I need to mow the worst for (hopefully) fire prevention. I have a L3301 by the way. The Woodmaxx is great for mowing my 400' by 18' grass runway, but a PITA when trying to work around trees and anywhere tight. I don't have a lawn, just volunteer native grasses that will grow to 2 or 3 foot if I allow it. The other thing about a tractor rear mount mower I don't care for, is when I want to mow I often, always, have another implement on back there so have to do the switcheroo first and then afterwards. Not a huge deal but another PITA and enough to make me put off mowing as long as possible.

In a couple hours I'm going to look at the "Jacobsen TurfCat TS 5280", and I'll have my trailer and checkbook with me. It has a 3 banger Yanmar engine, cuts a 6.5' swath, all hyd. drive and hyd. lift for the mower. Very compact, it would take up about the same room as an ATV, a lot less then a tractor with a FEL and a mower on the rear. IF I bring it home, my Woodmaxx will be for sale, as I for sure don't need 3 mowers.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

When I saw this mower in a local used equipment rag, (not this exact one, a bigger and newer one but the same concept https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUoXc8Jya1A) it instantly made sense to me. It's always bothered me, struck me as inefficient anyway, to first drive over THEN mow brush and grass. With this design, the first thing to hit whatever you're trying to mow, is the mower. The rear turning wheels makes for real tight maneuvering, almost as good as a zero turn mower.

I already have a Woodmaxx 62" flail mower, with side shift, bought last year, PLUS a beater 4' brush hog, but both are awkward to use in the space I need to mow the worst for (hopefully) fire prevention. I have a L3301 by the way. The Woodmaxx is great for mowing my 400' by 18' grass runway, but a PITA when trying to work around trees and anywhere tight. I don't have a lawn, just volunteer native grasses that will grow to 2 or 3 foot if I allow it. The other thing about a tractor rear mount mower I don't care for, is when I want to mow I often, always, have another implement on back there so have to do the switcheroo first and then afterwards. Not a huge deal but another PITA and enough to make me put off mowing as long as possible.

In a couple hours I'm going to look at the "Jacobsen TurfCat TS 5280", and I'll have my trailer and checkbook with me. It has a 3 banger Yanmar engine, cuts a 6.5' swath, all hyd. drive and hyd. lift for the mower. Very compact, it would take up about the same room as an ATV, a lot less then a tractor with a FEL and a mower on the rear. IF I bring it home, my Woodmaxx will be for sale, as I for sure don't need 3 mowers.

Kubota makes a model of those, it's an F series mower.

 

[greenacresnorth]

one thing about the Jacobsen is all pumps, motors, and valves are all easily found Parker parts. they are built for industrial and golf course maintenance... you dont get all the frills and bells like others but a simple tough ugly bruit!!

 

[flyidaho]

Good to know greenacresnorth, it sure looked that way! I made the drive to go look at it, turns out the farmer seller is also a pilot and also has a grass strip like I do, but as the weather was scary stormy it was a good day to drive! It is rough cosmetically, seat all cracked, paint faded, decals peeling, but it only has 1100 hours on it. And yes, I noticed all the components were name brand commercial/industrial type. It's a real simple machine, with not one computer on it, and I like that, it just needs a little loving care and restoration. The ignition switch is screwed up, partially anyway, so it took a alligator clip on the battery to open the fuel solenoid, but the big surprise was when the hood was open, it was NOT a Yanmar, but a Kubota 3 banger! My '95 'bota tractor (B2105 model I think it was, not sure) had what appears to be the same engine, and I loved it. "Sold", I thought to myself. But I still acted like I was looking at a piece or junk unsuited for my needs, and my drive over was a total waste of time, the usual good old boy dickering process. No leaks anywhere, and it fired right up and I took it for a spin, and that was all she wrote, I offered him 1 K less then his asking price, he met me halfway but also offered to deliver to my place, 45 miles away, deal!

I can get it looking cherry with locally sourced material pretty easily and quicklyaint mostly, (Kubota Orange, it's kinda close to that already) a new aluminum back panel for the instruments, a new ignition switch, a new battery probably, change all the fluids and filters, the usual. And some very simple fiberglass work where the hood has a hole punched in it from some yahoo closing it with something in the way. It's faster then I thought also, and as expected super maneuverable, with just a rocker pedal for forward and backwards like my tractor,and it mows great. I get it Monday or Tuesday, and have the usual new equipment jitters, fun stuff.

With the add on I did last fall to my pole barn equipment shed, that got a lot of gear out of my hangar, I now have plenty of room in it for this mower, compact as it is, so it's days of sitting outside are over. First use coming up, in 24" tall mixed field grasses. My barely one year old 62" Woodmaxx flail mower with side shift will be officially for sale if it works like I think it should, I'll post it here and on Ebay when I decide, and will sell it at a killer price and ship it via Fastenal.

 

[flyidaho]

I got it home, and used it for the first time and all went well. Next morning I noticed the shop floor had indications of a hydraulic leak. OK, not too bad...but already I was thinking I probably got screwed on the deal, and put off investigating down there as I assumed I'd find a major component JB Welded up or other indications that the leak was a jury rigged repair that failed, and would cost big bucks to fix right.

So I got side tracked in ordering a new seat and rear tires, lubed it, and generally went over it everywhere except where the leak was. So today I use it again, and then I noticed at one point I was leaving a trail of hydraulic fluid behind me, it had gone from a minor to "get it back in the shop before you lose it all" that quick. So I jacked it up (not real obvious where and how to do that, another reason I put it off), pulled the left side drive wheel, and totally expected to find I need a new drive motor or at the minimum a total rebuild on that side, as it was obvious that was where the problem was. But, just on a whim, wishful thinking, I first decided to check the torque of the main supply line going to the motor, and wonders of wonders, THAT WAS THE PROBLEM! It was finger loose, no mystery at all why it was leaking. Another bit of mowing, back in the shop, no leaks!

The Kubota motor runs like a champ, as expected, (no leaks there at all) this makes three Kubota engines I now have onsite, guess I'm sold on them.

 

[dalola]

What a great find! Looks like you've found your mowing solution. Post up more pix when you get it all pretty'd up. Congrat's!

 

[flyidaho]

Getting the big hydraulic leak so easily fixed, made me a bit nervous when the next day I noticed another much small leak. I mean, you never get off that easy! Turns out it was diesel not hydraulic, and the solution was as simple as could be: the main feed line from the fuel tank to the pump was poorly routed, so poorly that it got rubbed through from the grass brushing against it. It would easy enough to put a new line in, or so I thought.

All I had to do was siphon every drop of fuel out of the tank, as there was no operable drain, and then remove the tank totally from the tractor, after loosening the seat base and a few other things. Then I could finally get at the one hose clamp that was impossible to get to the way it was installed in the factory, probably by the same yahoo who so stupidly routed that fuel line. The new line is routed different/better, and that hose clamp is oriented so any future need to loosen it will be easy, with no tank removal.

The fuel tank is at least 15 gallons, ( a lot of fuel for the littler 3 banger) and the radiator is also quite large, an indication of the commercial heritage of the thing: you can mow all day in 100 degree temps, no problem, you can, I won't. This thing will lead an easy life from now on, kept hangared, not stored outside,used once a month for 15 minutes, it should last forever. New tires going on tomorrow, new seat arriving also, and the hood hole is getting repaired by a buddy who does fiberglass work. A bit of paint and then i'll post a few pictures of it doing its thing.

 

[flyidaho]

I finally got it jacked up enough to get a good look at the flails, wow, they are hammered! I'm surprised it cuts at all, but it does OK. I noticed they are double sided.... so I am reversing them all, exposing the unworn sides. A tedious task, but I'll knock it out before the next time I need to mow, it will be interesting to see how "new" cutting edges effect things.

I am still on the fence on getting rid of the larger spare flail head, my first thought when I saw how worn mine were, was to steal the pretty much as new ones off the spare, but then I noticed the reversibility feature of the worn blades so held off. I think by the time I wear the reverse side down to need replacement, I'll be long gone, and it won't be my problem.

I continue to like the snappy handling of the thing, sure gets around obstacles better then the tractor.

 

[NoJacketRequired]

That looks like a heck of a good find. Kubota power seems to be pretty dependable power.

As a fellow pilot I'm curious to know what it is that's the main occupant of that hangar. Four thousand feet of grass sounds pretty sweet! I built and fly a Glasair Sportsman (no, not the Two Weeks to Taxi - I did it the long, slow way). I wouldn't need a quarter of that runway unless it's at a very high field elevation. Still, more runway is always a good thing, and that flail will do a dandy job of maintaining it.

 

[flyidaho]

That looks like a heck of a good find. Kubota power seems to be pretty dependable power.

As a fellow pilot I'm curious to know what it is that's the main occupant of that hangar. Four thousand feet of grass sounds pretty sweet! I built and fly a Glasair Sportsman (no, not the Two Weeks to Taxi - I did it the long, slow way). I wouldn't need a quarter of that runway unless it's at a very high field elevation. Still, more runway is always a good thing, and that flail will do a dandy job of maintaining it.

It's four HUNDRED feet, not thousand! 12 % grade, 5640' ASL, a big tired VG'd RANS S-7S with some mods, it handles it easily. Clear approach/no trees.


I took the mower out for a test mow today, after swapping all the flails around, so now back to almost new. A PITA job, but really only took around 4 hours total. Air tools helped, as did WD-40, one of the biggest hassles was wire brushing the nuts and bolt heads off enough to be able to get a wrench on them, they were gunked up good. It cuts so good now I am going to officially put my 1 year old Woodmaxx flail mower, 62", with side shift, up for sale, here, and on ebay. It has about 4 or 5 hours on it, and has never hit a rock, bought it new. I will keep my beat up 4' rotary as a backup and for sage brush etc. $2,000.00, and I'll pay half the shipping, via Fastenal. Preferably to someone not in Florida or the east coast, where it seems most of the stuff I have sold in the past goes to! It works great but I need the maneuverability the Jake offers. Jacobsens are nicknamed Jakes it turns out by the guys who work them hard, like the school employee who was mowing near me while I was doing a crane job, I also got a parts contact from him. The Jake is overkill for my needs, the Woodmaxx is over, over kill, it has to go, I need the room as I always store it inside.

 

[NoJacketRequired]

Ahhh that makes more sense! Four thousand feet would mean you had an airline operation going there!

The S7 on big wheels will get into some tight places, that's for sure.

Glad to hear this new mower is working well for you.

 

[flyidaho]

So I got my new battery installed (about a 5 minute job) in the "Jake" (like referring to a Peterbilt as a Pete) and then the last big remaining item, wiring in the new ignition switch. This is a heavy duty, $95.00 from NAPA, switch built to handle lots of amps, with a glow plug position. The old one was so worn the ridges on the key were almost totally smooth, and you had to wiggle it just right to make it work. The new switch had terminal ends different then the old, so first determined what wire did what function, then since the new switch had no diagram with it I did the same to it. Plus I installed a new relay, ($20.00) as I suspected (but wasn't sure) it may have been responsible for the hit or miss starting issue, sometimes even wiggling the ignition wouldn't work, so I figured to replace both.

But, when done, nothing worked, nothing! Long story short, I got frustrated and loaded it up on a trailer and took it down to my mechanic who works on my crane, he is a great mechanic, especially in pesky wiring stuff. I downloaded the wiring diagram for it (something I didn't think to do until he asked me to) and in less then hour found the problem, a blown fuse probably caused by me shorting when replacing the switch. So I bring it home, fire it up, and start mowing. About 4 minutes in, it stops like the fuel was cut off. Tried to restart, no dice. A minute later it starts, runs for 30 seconds, then dies. An hour later it starts and runs for, again, about 4 minutes.

Pretty obvious it would seem, to be fuel related. I had no luck in finding the replaceable paper element in the existing fuel fuel, so I removed it and just used a cheap NAPA plastic inline fuel filter, (without specifying it was for diesel) semi translucent type, and it eyeballs to be full of fuel. BUT, after trying again today, with the identical results, I started thinking: I ASSUMED diesel would flow through a filter meant for gas at the same rate, but maybe not? All my other diesel rigs use the original/OEM stock filter setup, so this has never came up. The old filter is trashed so I can't reinstall it. With all the inline filters I have bought over the years, all I have ever specified is what dia. hose is was for, and since I have never been asked by the parts monkey if it was for gas or diesel, I have to think it wouldn't matter?

After posting this, I googled the question....and got mixed results, many saying a plastic filter and bio diesel for sure is a bad combo, but I'm using straight diesel. Whatever, I was a little unhappy not having a water trap, and when I saw this 30 buck filter w/trap and drain, and free shipping, I clicked on it. I'm guessing the odds are 95% it will solve my problem, I'll report back in a few days. https://www.amazon.com/Fittings-Marine-Spin-Filter-Separator

 

[D2Cat]

Does your engine have a fuel pump that is not working? Maybe just not enough pressure with gravity feed. Is the fuel tank able to breath?

Did you get rid of you other flail?

 

[flyidaho]

Does your engine have a fuel pump that is not working? Maybe just not enough pressure with gravity feed. Is the fuel tank able to breath?

Did you get rid of you other flail?

The fuel pump seems to be fully operative, and since the problem only arose since I messed with the old filter system, I suspect that is the issue, we'll see. I have sold my WoodMaxx flail and also the other flail mower I got with the Jake.

 

[PaulL]

Without looking or thinking too hard....you changed the electrics, then it stopped going well. You say it stopped going after you messed with the filter, but it sounds like the reason you messed with the filter is that it stopped going - i.e. the last thing you changed before it stopped was electrical. Yes, it could be a fuel supply problem. But are you sure it's not an electrical problem? It doesn't sound like one on the face of it, and a diesel shouldn't stop with no electrics, but maybe it has some sort of cutout or something that's getting sad about your new electrical arrangements? A mower I was trying to fix started and fired, but then stopped after about 5 seconds. It had a cutout on the carby if it thought it wasn't running, and the solenoid that controlled that was busted. Potentially there's a cutout on your fuel pump that isn't getting driven properly any more - so it runs until it runs out of fuel in the line?

 

[flyidaho]

I initially was going to replace the filter just because I assumed it hadn't been done in a long while, like I also greased every zert I could find, etc. And just yesterday since it's back in my shop and I won't need to mow for a while, I am replacing the hydraulic filter, meaning I had to drain all the fluid out, so new fluid also. Used hydraulic fluid makes great winter shop wood stove starting fluid BTW, not explosive and just right for starting fires, but i digress.

This thing did have two ignition cutouts, one under the seat and one by the brake pedal, ensuring you'd be sitting in it with foot on brake before it would crank, they are both permanently disabled, and wired properly (as in disabled properly), and all I can tell about the pump is that it runs when the key is turned. Once it starts it's too noisy to tell. The only other fuel related change is a splice in the line from the filter to the pump, as the part of the line I needed to replaced due to chaffing was between the tank and the pump. The discharge end of the pump fitting looked to be a real bitch to get at so I didn't, plus it's line was in fine shape. It's on the pressure side of the pump, so if it was leaking (doubtful, doubled ended barbed brass with proper hose clamps) I'd see seepage, and it's not sucking air either. But just for grins, if the new water trap diesel specific filter I have coming doesn't change things, I'll do what it takes to replace that entire line, which is a lot of work the way they routed it. The mower weighs 2000 lbs and does not have easy pick points to rig to, but I have figured out a way using both my L3301 and my MiniX to pick it up high enough to be able to work on, after blocking it up. Havng had a 3 cylinder Kubota before, I know how little fuel they consume, making this thing of me suspecting the inline filter even more unlikely, but it's easy and cheap to replace it with a more proper one for the long term so only after that is done will I look deeper for the cause. Typical mechanical detective work, fun stuff!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

The inline filter shouldn't be causing you issues.

But after you change the filters around, if it gives you any fits, install a loop of clear fuel line to see if you can see if it's either not moving fuel or inducing air into the line.

 

[flyidaho]

I manned up and got rid of the spliced fuel line, after I figured out a much easier way (relatively) to get where it ties into the fuel line. Then my new filter came in, it's much more appropriate for this machine, it has a water trap, with drain, and a clear glass bowl. When pulling out the plastic inline, I noticed a fair bit of what looked like some kind of black sediment in it, and chalked it up to messing with the fuel line and tank, maybe stirring up sediment in it that had been lying there for years. I fired it up (didn't need to bleed it, it ran rough for a few seconds and then ran normal) in the shop and as expected, it ran great.

Once out of the shop and on the area needing mowing (24" high volunteer alfalfa) I promptly ran over and chewed up a hose I had forgotten to move, one that never used to be there, it's the overflow for my solar powered spring pump, all part of my runway watering "system". When the 700 gallon tank in the hangar is full, it's the over flow hose. No big deal, I'll splice it. Then I got another 20' and the SOB died again, just like before! There is plenty of fuel in the glass bowl, and the fuel pump is pumping as it should. And just like last time, if I wait a beer or two's worth of time, it will fire right up and run for another 2 or 3 minutes before it does it again. Frustrating, as all the other little things are fixed and it cuts great.

 

[D2Cat]

Sounds like you have a strainer in your fuel line that has a blockage in it.

You want to have fun with a flail, run over some elec. fence wire, or barbed wire. It's fun cleaning that out!

 

[flyidaho]

The Jake has plastic, rotationally molded, fuel and hydraulic tanks. The diesel tank has those rubber compression type fittings, not a welded in solid fitting you can pull on real hard. A NPT bulkhead fitting that compresses a two rubber washers, one in , one out. It's spooky when you can move it around....the rubber has a lot of give, and it doesn't leak, YET. As a result, when I replaced my fuel line, not even trying to pull the pull old fuel line off the barbed fitting, instead cutting it off, being careful not to score the brass barbed fitting with my box knife. Even then, the tank fitting was moving around a bit. I did not check for any internal strainer in that tank fitting, there could be a screen over the outlet, inside the tank.

I think my next move is to, once again : 1. Take the seat off. 2. take the structure the seat attaches to off, exposing the fuel pump. 3. Then pulling the inlet hose from the tank off the fuel pump, (it's solidly bolted and messing with it won't create a larger problem, like that rubber compression fitting can if it comes loose). 4. Rig up a temp fuel jug, (or just stick a longer inlet line from the pump's inlet into the fuel tank directly through the filler cap)and stick a temp fuel inlet line into it, going to the fuel pump inlet. 5. See if it runs more then the usual 3 or 4 minutes. If so, then I'll mess with the tank fitting, again, and try and ascertain if there is some blockage happening there. IF there is.... I am not sure if the clear filter bowl would be empty of fuel, (which it isn't) or maybe full (as it is), but maybe if the tank outlet was totally blocked, it'd be pulling a vacuum, preventing fuel flow, while still showing a fuel filter bowl full of fuel?

Another thing I can try: when I had the pump exposed last, I ran it a bit to, and sure enough, could see a good flow rate from it's outlet. But, it would be interesting to do that again, but this time let it run for several minutes, and see if the flow rate dropped, stopped altogether, or continued at the same rate. My big fear is something wrong with the injector pump....