Sundown Flail on L2501 Hammer Help?!?

Tunaslayer

New member

Equipment
L2501 TLB, Wheelhorse 417-8/414-8
Hello,

I just picked up a flail for my tractor in nearly new condition as a trade. It is a sundown? No real information online about this company.

I am posting to see if anyone in the community could point me in the right direction for finding some hammers or “duck feet”. It currently has the knives for grass installed, which worked ok, but I broke a couple, and if I continue, will probably break more.

Anyway, thanks for any help, and I have some dimension of the knives.
P.S.
I also searched using the part number 17295 from the owners manual with no results. It shows the flail having hammers installed, and calls them duck feet. There are 4 rows with 4 stations making a total of 16 on a 51” cut. Just emailed flail-master. Thanks again!!






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D2Cat

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,838
5,596
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
Instead of email, call Flail-Master. They'll know what you need and beat the cost of any place else.

You might adjust your mower. From your pictures it looks like you're using it as a tiller! Side slicers should do fine unless you're into very thick material, like larger that 1" dia.

There is a flail mower thread on the other tractor forum if you need information.

I have 3 flails of various lengths, and all have side slicers and I have no trouble with them.

Here's some pictures of a field I mow. It's about 18-24" tall and I cut it leaving 8-9" for grazing. I use an old 7' with side slicers as you can see.

I sure would not be in a hurry to spend the money for duck feet.

I have cut some weeds 5' tall and 1 1/2" in dia. but I have to go over it twice. I can lower the flail and an area without stemy weeds and the cut will look as good as if cut by any mower you can imagine, including a zero turn!
 

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Tunaslayer

New member

Equipment
L2501 TLB, Wheelhorse 417-8/414-8
Thanks everyone. These are foreign to me, and I have no experience setting them up. I literally picked this up yesterday, and put it to work. I did not really look into the adjustments. I did not really cut anything larger than 2", but I did hit a couple hidden rocks, and a cement block. I think that is where the damaged blades came from. If I am using this primarily for brush, briars and weeds, where should I set the height? It was at the 2nd lowest position about 1-1/2". Is it bad for them to run this low? I actually really like the results it had from running like this. It removed all the brush right down to the roots.

After looking at your flail, it seems like I have very few stations. There are 4 rows of 4, making up only 16 stations, and 32 knives. Kinda skimpy. Probably why the guy got rid of it. He wanted to mow his lawn. Yours has a bunch more cutters.
 
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Tunaslayer

New member

Equipment
L2501 TLB, Wheelhorse 417-8/414-8
So the dealer that sells these can get new hammers or knives. I definitely need to raise the cutting height with the roller, and possibly lower the skids. The primary use for the flail will be clearing brush and briars from my property, and possibly doing a little mowing if I ever get grass to grow. Just as a side note, this thing is built like a tank! It weighs about 800 lbs, and everything looks really well built. I guess the only draw back is the lack of blade stations, and the availability of parts in the future..once I get the hammers on, and do some fine tuning, I’ll report back with the results. Thanks for the the help again!




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sheepfarmer

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L3560, B2650, Gator, Ingersoll mower
Nov 14, 2014
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MidMichigan
To avoid the gouges in your ground and damage to the 3pt hitch, keep in mind that when you turn sharply raise the mower up. Those skids don't like to be pushed sideways and will dig in.
 

D2Cat

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,838
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113
40 miles south of Kansas City
I'd suggest to NOT lower the skids. They are there to keep from digging in when going over uneven ground. The roller is suppose to be down lower than the skids.

I cut grass high, so I disobey all the rules and set the mower where I want it to cut the grass. So my entire mower is about 8" above the ground. I use the tractor hyd. to hold the mower in position. One one tractor I have chains coming down to the pins to hold the position.
 

Tunaslayer

New member

Equipment
L2501 TLB, Wheelhorse 417-8/414-8
Ok, sounds good. Any suggestions on flipping this beast to change the hammers out? I tried disconnecting the top link and drive shaft and lifting it with the 3 point arms, but it did not go high enough. I think I can flip it with a chain and the loader, but I could see things going very wrong. Just wanna avoid working under it.


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D2Cat

Well-known member
Lifetime Member

Equipment
L305DT, B7100HST, TG1860, TG1860D, L4240
Mar 27, 2014
13,838
5,596
113
40 miles south of Kansas City
Do you have any hooks on your loader bucket? If so, put a chain on one of the hooks and then on one of the 3pt pins and around the support metal and wrap it so it won't slide anywhere. Then pick it up gently, and just flip it over on it's back so the flails are facing you.

Brace the mower so it can't fall. I leave it attached to the loader as a backup.
 

Tunaslayer

New member

Equipment
L2501 TLB, Wheelhorse 417-8/414-8
Hammers on, and much smoother. Ordered replacements for the grass knives too should I ever want to change em out. Definitely has a little more rotating inertia with these on. Have to adjust the roller down, and I’m back in action. Thanks again, and happy mowing.



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