Is there chart somewhere....

[Blue76]

I went to purchase a ditch bank flail last week and it looked like junk when I saw it in person. So I am back to looking again.
When I call around for pricing on new I get a different response from every dealer on what my tractor can handle. I have more than one tractor, but I want to put this flail mower on a L2501. It has a loader, and it has calcium filled rear tires. Of course, I would like to have as large of a mower as it can handle but some dealers are saying even a 48" ditch bank is too much for the L2501 and then others are saying I could go as high as 65"

Does anyone have some sort of chart for recommended flail mower for tractor weight and tractor tire width?

Or do any of you have experience to help me with making this choice?
What am I mowing? Around apple and peach trees which is pretty flat. Down my driveway which is flat on the area I would be driving but sloped on each side. The ditch on main road which is pretty flat. The only area with a slope that concerns me is laid out so I could just swing the mower behind me and not use the offset feature.

Thanks, Greg

 

[Bee-Positive]

Page 6 & 7 of the owner manual.

 

[Blue76]

Page 6 & 7 of the owner manual.

View attachment 162058

Thats good info. I bought used and didn't get a manual. Doesn't really say anything about a ditch bank mower hanging off the side though.

 

[imarobot]

Thats good info. I bought used and didn't get a manual. Doesn't really say anything about a ditch bank mower hanging off the side though.

Went through the same thing with my ditch bank mower. Manual listed the weight capacity for the ditch mower I wanted as compatible. However, after more research and inputs on OTT it was recommended that it would be too heavy for my tractor when extend and vertical. For mowing it would be ok. I was also advised of this by the manufacturer, Del Morino.

 

[GeoHorn]

Went through the same thing with my ditch bank mower. Manual listed the weight capacity for the ditch mower I wanted as compatible. However, after more research and inputs on OTT it was recommended that it would be too heavy for my tractor when extend and vertical. For mowing it would be ok. I was also advised of this by the manufacturer, Del Morino.

Yes,…I would imaging the mower manufacturer has great interest in their product being used satisfactorily and would be a good resource as to whether or not your particular tractor would be suitable or not for their mower.

 

[Grandad4]

Maybe it's my own limited experience showing, but every side offset mower I have ever seen was mounted on a 50- 100 hp utility tractor, mostly, I guess, for hydraulic flow and the rear axle being heavy enough to take the side loads. Only the largest "compact tractors" might be suited for that work.

Unless someone makes such a mower specifically for the size of tractors you have, they likely don't have the beef needed to operate a side mower (my opinion). You might be able to get one hooked up and running, but it could do some costly damage and may not be safe.

 

[Bee-Positive]

I bought used and didn't get a manual.

Free owners manual and workshop manual

Index of Kubotabooks/Tractor Owners Manuals/

 

[NorthwoodsLife]

Ditch mowers that hang off of the side of the tractor:

You will find power charts.

But you will not find common or uncommon-sense charts about their use.

As someone else mentioned, the gov county road service's use huge commercial machines to mow ditches. With trained persons.

Lifting a heavy flail mower, which is like 10 chainsaws at or above eye level, is a dangerous machine indeed.

And that doesn't consider center of gravity of the tractor and weight shift.

Nothing to play with.

Good luck

 

[PaulL]

From a rear weight viewpoint, I'd say same as any rear implement. They're heavier than a standard flail (the arm and hydraulics), and they stick out a bit further rearwards as the arm moves. So, fore and aft, make sure the weight and leverage are appropriate and ballast appropriately.

Left to right, the issue is that tractors aren't really built to have something heavy hanging out one side. Or at least, not that heavy and that far out. You should be able to calculate the centre of mass of your tractor and the weight of it, and how far the centre of mass is from the outside of a rear wheel. I haven't done the math, but if your tractor is 2600lbs, plus loaded rears. An L2501 is 5 foot wide? So 60 inches, centre of mass 30 inches from the outside.

When you put weight out the side, it has to lift 2600lbs at 30 inch centre, plus the outside loaded tire at 60 inch centre. If your mower weighs 500lbs at the end of the arm, that's 1/5th the tractor weight (plus loaded tire). In theory you can have the arm extended 5x30 inches I think.

A different thought is that when I see commercial tractors with large ditch mowers they have side ballast. Can you build ballast on the opposite side to where you're running the mower? 500lbs about 3 foot from the centreline would make a big difference - that's now 500 lbs that's 66 inches from the pivot point.

All that's a lot of load on an L2501. They're not exactly over powered to start with - a ditch mower, loaded tires, front ballast, side ballast. Hmmm.

 

[BAP]

Another thing to remember with offset 3 point hitch equipment is that the 3 point hitch lift arm closest to the side with the implement hanging off from is now carrying a majority of the weight and becomes a weak link.

 

[Kennyd4110]

Every time I see a video of these things on a compact tractor it looks like the tail wagging the dog

 

[Blue76]

Thanks for the replies. Somewhere I saw where one of the companies that sells these things had a tractor weight and track width recommended for each one of their flail mowers. I have not been able to locate that again.