[Wj80]

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:
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After:

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

 

[Cmpeter1]

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

 

[Guja0501]

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

 

[PJR832]

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.

 

[JDGreen-n-Yellow]

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:

 

[Cmpeter1]

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.

 

[Guja0501]

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.

 

[Guja0501]

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.

 

[Guja0501]

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.

 

[Guja0501]

 

[Guja0501]

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.

 

[Tlyons83]

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

 

[Guja0501]

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!

 

[John Linderman]

Last night I took delivery of a Funny Top 158 C with Y-blades (yes that's actually what it's called). Pulled it off the truck (I should have bought pallet forks with the tractor, but that's another thread) and plopped it down in the shop to put it together. It bolted together easily, so I had to hook it up and try the manual offset. So far I am impressed with the build quality. I have to grease it tonight, and do the "Run In" procedure. I'll add to this post this weekend after I get a chance to use it. More to come!

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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

 

[Guja0501]

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

Thanks for the heads up.

 

[SupercarSean]

Morning! Just took delivery of my Del Morino yesterday. Haven’t gotten a chance to get it off the pallet yet but wondering if you’ve got any tips or tricks for setting this up or maintenance, etc that you’ve learned along the way? Appreciate any insight!

 

[Guja0501]

Welcome for the forum.
Double check the gear box fluid level, I gave a pump of grease to each zirc fitting, and checked the belt tension. Do the same in the spring and you should be good to go. Depending on what you are cutting, it might be a good idea to have a couple of replacement blades on hand.

EDIT: there is a break in procedure in the manual. follow what that says.

 

[SupercarSean]

Perfect, thank you for the advice! I actually bought a half a dozen replacements when I ordered in case - looking forward to turning this thing loose.

 

[Tron]

Double check the gear box fluid level, I gave a pump of grease to each zirc fitting, and checked the belt tension.

I did the same on my Funny Top 132.
You do know that the manual says to run it 15min lifted off the ground to run it in?

Only issue I had was this: the rear roller was mounted on the extensions, so for the initial run I moved it to the spot near the rear of the mower. Bad idea, first few feet the blades literally dug up the ground with the mower being level. No idea why that is, shouldn't be, it's not an in-ground implement. I had to tilt it way back with the top link to get an acceptable cut height. That, however, exposed a lot of the open front, which I deemed too dangerous.
I then re-installed the extensions to give it more height at the rear, which works well regarding cutting height. However, it seems that the extensions, which are a slight S-Shape to accommodate for the width of the casing, did not bend in enough. That resulted in the roller popping out of it's bearings within the first half hour or so. I fixed it by installing a washer between the case and the extensions, so they would come in more. That has worked well so far.

So if you mount the roller directly to the mower without the extensions, lower it to the ground, level it out and then see how far the blades are from the ground.

Also, I totally like the manual side-shift, but you need to make sure the mower is level (via top-link) if you want to move it, otherwise the weight of the mower is on the pins, making them impossible to remove (and you'd have to actually lift the mower up to move the side-shift).

 

[SupercarSean]

This is great info - I’ve not even got it out of the wrapper yet, but I’ll take a dive into the manual as soon as I do. I really appreciate the insight here, hoping it will make things as seamless as possible.