Very nice -- I have looked at this one with interest.

rob

 

Same here. Be interested in how he likes this unit.

 

Who did you buy it from? Everyone seems to be sold out.

 

@fatback
@GWT3046r & Good Works Tractor Co.

 

Congratulations! Looking forward to your thoughts after using it a bit.

 

Yes, please keep us all informed, they are scarce here in the South, but I plan to replace my mower with one in the next year or so

 

Another one looking forward to seeing how this unit works for you. I've been eyeing this mower up from Good Works as well. Congraduations on the new attachment.

 

My main use will be for keeping the horses pastures and back 40 trails under control. There are some small saplings & misc. "garbage" but the vast majority will be under 0.5". I know the Y-blades aren't ideal for the thicker stuff, but I took the trade off for the finer cut. The offset feature was a big selling point for me. Now instead of weed whacking under the fence line I can get the tractor to do it. Good Works Tractor has some good videos on YouTube about this thing, but after I run it I will get some Before & After pics.

 

As promised here is a quick update:
I got it greased up, and checked the gear box oil (it was fine), then did the break in procedure. Since everything was pretty painless I took and made four passes in a side pasture. First impression is we are going to be very happy with this! I dont know if the pictures do it justice, but it made quick work of this. It wasn't the most difficult test for it, but I am still getting used to it. I have to adjust the top link so the cut is a little higher. I will update again when I take on more.

 

As promised here is a quick update:

Thanks. Looks like it does a great job.

 

They do a good job. I'm pleased with the cut I get from mine. I think they do a much better job with a low cut than they do with a higher cut. I keep mine at about 1.5 to 2 inches.

 

I guess I will have to lower it on a spot that is more even and see what it looks like, thanks for the heads up!

Looks good. Does not look like the "Y" versus the hammer blades was an issue even in this thicker stuff. Thanks for the update.

What was pictured was just grass. In the next few days I will mow some areas with "trees" (read saplings up to 0.5") and give feedback.

If you only wanted to have 1 mowing implement (to handle both the 'mow 2x a year' tall stuff and an acre of weekly mowed lawn), do you think this would do an acceptable job on the lawn?

My initial gut reaction: Yea, I think that would work. I'll have to cut the grass in the next couple of days, just for giggles I can run the flail mower over a spot and let you know.

 

If you only wanted to have 1 mowing implement (to handle both the 'mow 2x a year' tall stuff and an acre of weekly mowed lawn), do you think this would do an acceptable job on the lawn?

 

If I could only have one cutter it would be a flail and I prefer the hammers to the blades.

 

Guja, sorry, I forgot you have blades and not hammers. Yours may be fine at a higher cutting height. It just seems with the hammers the lower you get the better it cuts.

 

Update 2.0
In between rain storms I was able to give the mower more of a test. Still no trees, but much more dense & taller grass, weeds, and cat tails. As expected, it did it just fine! The manual offset was well worth the extra price. Getting under fence lines is great! I need more practice with it, but I don't think it will take much getting used to.
I also took a little area of the yard (regularly mowed grass) just to see what it would do. In the last picture towards the top you can see the results. I would say it could cut yard grass just fine, the only downside is it doesn't do anything with the clippings.

We are very happy with this, another one of those things "why didn't we get this sooner?!"

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

 

Thanks for the update. I am considering this for more grass than field so appreciate the trial run.

 

Really appreciate the feed back on this flail. Keep us all posted on a long term review cheers

 

@Tlyons83
Will do. The next run will be the back 40 trails & then the horse pasture (both are mostly grass, some weeds, and some scattered trees under 0.5")

 

This is my 1026R with a Bestsco commercial 48 in flail mowing down sunn hemp with clay peas mixed in.

 

Ok, what am I doing wrong? I couldn't get the video to work...

 

I don't think he linked the video correctly. It has to be done through a third party such as YouTube, Vimeo or such.

 

Comparing a flail mower to a rotary cutter, would the flail mower incur more damage if you hit a rock? I was thinking of a situation like this:

 

Comparing a flail mower to a rotary cutter, would the flail mower incur more damage if you hit a rock? I was thinking of a situation like this:

Sorry, I missed this one...

More damage is relative. Either mower would probably damage a blade (depending on the rock/how hard it was hit, etc.). Depending on the unit, it could snap a shear bolt, the belts would slip, or the clutch would give. There are more blades on the flail, but I would guess the blades on the rotary cutter to be more expensive.

I didn't watch the whole video, but a couple of the blades would probably get nicked on that rock & maybe the belts would slip, but I would guess that's it. As far as cutting what was there, the flail would cut it just fine.

 

Sorry its a screen shot of a video so you can see what I can mow with a flail and sort of see what the end result is.

 

Another update (no pictures though...):
Over the weekend I was out in the trails playing around with it. Over all I am still happy with the unit. It cut everything I put through it (even some larger branches & saplings). My only real gripe with it is on uneven ground (left to right & up and down) it's tricky to keep it from scalping. I could still have it set up poorly for what I am cutting, but I ended up leaving the roller a few inches off the ground and ran it that way. They aren't walking paths, so the SxS & tractor wont mind 6" tall grass.
Next up is the horse pastures & I will get pictures of that.

 

I got the smaller pasture mowed over the weekend. I found a couple of smaller branches & a few small trees too. I have to get back and mow down the cat tails, but that will probably happen when we take the fence down. We can't wait to see what the pastures will look like next year.

 

 

We got the second pasture mowed. The only two things left are a couple of touch up spots (things I purposed left) & under the fence line, which I will wait until we take the fence down.

 

Looks like the flail does a pretty good job. How is the mower holding up?

 

So far so good. I've hit a couple rocks & some larger sticks / branches with it so the blades are not as sharp as new. I'll try and get a picture of the underside this weekend. Still glad I bought it!

 

i bought the 158 funny top flair mower from Del Morino. you will be in trouble if you ever have to replace the belts. there is no simple way to replace the belts and the instruction manual is useless. No one offer any guidance as to how to get the new belts on the two sets of pulleys