Advice on purchasing a flail mower and land plane for B2601

[bird dogger]

That's great advice. Thanks for the info, and I think I'll go with the Betstco 48". All the other flails also have gone up in price.

Andy, you should also consider dirtydeeds' thoughts about the 53" wide flail. It would certainly cover your wheel tracks rather than be an inch shy as the 48" wide flail would be. With a hydrostatic drive tractor you use the engine HP to decide if it meets the flail's HP requirement. You just adjust your forward speed to keep the flails rpm's up to speed. Once you open up an area with the first pass, you can always use less than the full width in thicker/taller/heavier brush or grass if need be.

My main use for the flail is in my thick woods so I wanted it to be as narrow as reasonable to get between trees, etc. And I can offset it to cover one wheel track while the left side's gearbox barely sticks out past the other wheel. If it was going to be used more in mowing open pasture grass, I would've opted for a wider cut as the B2650 would've had the HP to run it.

If getting through narrow/tight spots with the flail isn't a concern for you the 53" width is something to consider. But....it's only 5" wider, takes up a little more room to store, a little heavier, etc. But still, think about your mowing areas and choose what you think will work the best for you. Either way, you'll be happy. Especially on that new B2601 !!

 

[NHSleddog]

I would get a finish mower over a flail. Much simpler and less prone to failure.

An odd outlook. My truck has thousands of parts but I still trust it over my bicycle. Not to mention I have never heard of the simple bicycle going hundreds of thousands of miles.

I own a 60" flail, a 60" brush hog and a 72" finish mower so I am really used to the finish product they leave.

Can you show me the finish your finish mower leaves on 4' tall grass? It can be fairway grass I don't care, just the finish results? My flail will do a much better job.

They named the finish mower appropriately.

 

[Jchonline]

@NHSleddog I can fix my bicycle my self, it is a simple machine. If you have a newer truck good luck figuring out the issues without a dealer and a computer plugged up to it. I stand by my comment. To each his own.

 

[NHSleddog]

@NHSleddog I can fix my bicycle my self, it is a simple machine. If you have a newer truck good luck figuring out the issues without a dealer and a computer plugged up to it. I stand by my comment. To each his own.

SO you don't drive a car/truck because you can fix your bicycle? Odd. I have 50K miles on my truck with a set of tires thrown at it. I hope you never have to fly in an airplane - lol.

Let me guess, you own a finish mower and don't own a flail mower?

It's all good, you completely missed both points I was trying to make.

 

[Jchonline]

SO you don't drive a car/truck because you can fix your bicycle? Odd. I have 50K miles on my truck with a set of tires thrown at it. I hope you never have to fly in an airplane - lol.

Let me guess, you own a finish mower and don't own a flail mower?

It's all good, you completely missed both points I was trying to make.

Where did I state I don't drive a vehicle? I have also flown over 500k miles on airplanes.

We have had all types of mowers including flails. Bush hog, mid mounts, Zero Turn, flail, finish, and weed slingers.

You are bad at assumptions and even worse at guessing. Let's just agree to disagree on the flail and let the OP get some additional input from others. If you want to chat more about this PM me.

 

[NHSleddog]

Where did I state I don't drive a vehicle? I have also flown over 500k miles on airplanes.

We have had all types of mowers including flails. Bush hog, mid mounts, Zero Turn, flail, finish, and weed slingers.

You are bad at assumptions and even worse at guessing. Let's just agree to disagree on the flail and let the OP get some additional input from others. If you want to chat more about this PM me.

No need, you missed both points.

How about a picture of the finish after a 4' cut with your finish mower. Maybe I am just doing it wrong - lol.

 

[Andy L]

Andy, you should also consider dirtydeeds' thoughts about the 53" wide flail. It would certainly cover your wheel tracks rather than be an inch shy as the 48" wide flail would be. With a hydrostatic drive tractor you use the engine HP to decide if it meets the flail's HP requirement. You just adjust your forward speed to keep the flails rpm's up to speed. Once you open up an area with the first pass, you can always use less than the full width in thicker/taller/heavier brush or grass if need be.

My main use for the flail is in my thick woods so I wanted it to be as narrow as reasonable to get between trees, etc. And I can offset it to cover one wheel track while the left side's gearbox barely sticks out past the other wheel. If it was going to be used more in mowing open pasture grass, I would've opted for a wider cut as the B2650 would've had the HP to run it.

If getting through narrow/tight spots with the flail isn't a concern for you the 53" width is something to consider. But....it's only 5" wider, takes up a little more room to store, a little heavier, etc. But still, think about your mowing areas and choose what you think will work the best for you. Either way, you'll be happy. Especially on that new B2601 !!

Bird Dogger, you've got me thinking about the 53" flail. It's HP requirement is 2 HP more than the tractor, but you're saying that I can always slow down a bit in tall grass or brush, and it should easily handle the short grass right? With the 53", I could mow the field faster and get closer to the fence line.

 

[B737]

Andy, I wish my 48" was a little wider. 60" may be overly optimistic on B2601, but 53 is prob just right. I would love to run a 60"

 

[bird dogger]

Bird Dogger, you've got me thinking about the 53" flail. It's HP requirement is 2 HP more than the tractor, but you're saying that I can always slow down a bit in tall grass or brush, and it should easily handle the short grass right? With the 53", I could mow the field faster and get closer to the fence line.

Andy, when I bought my flail mower from Betstco they had a chart on their site that stated the HP requirements for their different models. And at the bottom of the chart it stated that for gear driven tractors you use the rated PTO HP to match up to the flails HP requirement. For hydrostatic driven tractors you use the engine HP.

But now that chart seems to have disappeared. There's info on other websites that state both ways, also. But Betstco seems to have removed that "clause" from their HP requirements. Hopefully someone else will comment on the HP requirements for the flails.

You can always slow down. But it's still a balancing act. Faster with a narrower cut vs slower with a wider cut. If your grass isn't tall/heavy but instead somewhat well maintained you'd most likely be happier with the 53 inch width. I'm disappointed I can't find that reference to the different HP requirements. I'll look in my paperwork that came with my mower to see if its in there or not.

 

[bird dogger]

Here's that old chart with the note on the HP requirements. See the * at the bottom of the chart in the dark orange horizontal line.

But unless this chart is still cleverly hidden on their website, they've since removed it. I found it by searching images of flail hp requirements.

 

[dirtydeed]

Andy, you won't have any trouble spinning the 53". I can easily over rev mine unless I'm in deep/thick grass.

Just think about what flail style you want. "Y" blades for grass/weeds, or hammers for "everything".

 

[PaulL]

Just think about what flail style you want. "Y" blades for grass/weeds, or hammers for "everything".

Advice from Neil from Messicks I think was to use Y if you're absolutely certain you'll never cut the ground, sticks, other trash. Even then, Y's need sharpening. Hammers if you have any doubt, or if you don't like sharpening.

 

[dirtydeed]

Advice from Neil from Messicks I think was to use Y if you're absolutely certain you'll never cut the ground, sticks, other trash. Even then, Y's need sharpening. Hammers if you have any doubt, or if you don't like sharpening.

Ha. I sharpened my hammers a few weeks ago. Not a big deal to do on a rainy afternoon. But yes, I would agree with you.

 

[NHSleddog]

Ha. I sharpened my hammers a few weeks ago. Not a big deal to do on a rainy afternoon. But yes, I would agree with you.

On mine the hammers have one edge to hit/grind. With the Y blades there are 4 edges. No thanks - lol.

 

[B737]

beneath the hard sell, there are some good nuggets

 

[Andy L]

Advice from Neil from Messicks I think was to use Y if you're absolutely certain you'll never cut the ground, sticks, other trash. Even then, Y's need sharpening. Hammers if you have any doubt, or if you don't like sharpening.

Thanks, definitely going with hammers.