mathews company flail mower condition ?

[allenpercheron]

I live in nh never seen one working i bought it a few years ago at action it never had a problem i put new blades on it it been great on old fields i run it 2000 rpm with a john deere 2510 my problem is its never a clean cut am i doing something wrong our is this the nature of the beast

 

[rrlund]

I had a New Idea CutDitioner that I used for 13 years. Same thing for the most part. Never did get a real clean cut,even with new paddles. The sharper the better onviously. I always liked the dry down that I got with it. Left the hay quite soft. At one time they were kinda the standard around this neighborhood. More of those than actual sycle type mower/conditioners. One old neighbor wouldn't have one though. Called them a grab and tear.
I've got an MC now,but I only use it for cutting corn stalks to bale.

 

[allenpercheron]

This mower has never broke down its hit plenty of stuff great in bringing back old fields what do you do with the corn stocks no one out here cuts them are you feeding them to milk cows?

 

[730d se]

I have a FORD Flail Mower. It has 3 rows of cutters with 11 blade sets on each row, total of 33 blade sets.
It spins at around 100 MPH with PTO at around 550 RPM.
If the height is set right, the blades are sharp, and you are running the PTO at around 550 RPM, the only reason you would not get a good cut is the tractor is moving too fast, Try the next gear, especially in the very heavy stuff.

 

[allenpercheron]

i have a john deer 2510 63 hp i believe 540 pto 3 gear 2000 rpm is that to much our not enough the stock looks ripted

 

[Jim in Ma.]

Are you running it on the ground? If you lift the mower a little you get ragged a cut. Keep the roller on the ground.
Just my guess.

 

[rrlund]

I feed them to dry beef cows in the winter. Feed them along with hay. I just drop them on the ground and let them tear them up. They eat most of it,lay on the rest. I only feed half as much hay when I'm feeding stalks. I pretty much have to have them fed up by the middle of January or so. After that,the crust on the outside gets frozen too hard and too deep for them to tear them up any more.

 

[rrlund]

The dealer always told me to keep that roller off the ground. Said it's just there in case you run on a back furrow or in to a dead furrow or something.

 

[RodinNS]

Is it not a clean cut on the full width or does is simply not pick up and cut what you tramp with the wheel on the inside? You do know that you reverse your direction around the field or on the strip you're cutting with each pass so that you're traveling opposite to the way the grass is laying? It can't pick up something that's knocked flat in the direction you travel...

It's so long since we used ours that I really can't remember how cleanly it cut but I do remember that you can't just pick a direction and drive continously with it in that direction.

Rod

 

[GaryinKs]

We used MC rotary scythes for years, ran them with a Ford 5000 most of the time,keep the knives SHARP, I used a Makita grinder to sharpen them, lots of RPMS and slow ground speed.They also work great to condition hay mowed with a mower and to fluff up rained on hay, keep the RPMS down when using them to ted,I used to windrow oat straw for baling with one too.

 

[BushogPapa]

The Closer to the ground, the better the cut...right down to (almost) the ground and it will look like a putting Green...
Run that roller ON the ground and adjust the cutting height with the Top Link..
I"m telling you..IF the mower does get too near the ground, you WILL see SMOKE from you exhaust..!!
My JD 720 D has More than it wants with my Ford 78" Flail in Big stuff...but it always does a good clean job and I Never sharpen the "V" Knives..

Ron..

 

[Mike (WA)]

I used one for a couple of years, but had to quit because of the moles. It mixed the mole hill dirt very nicely with the hay, sometimes adding several pounds to the weight of the bale. When mama's favorite mare got the heaves from the dirt, the MC went down the road, in favor of a Taarup disc mower.

Mine had worn-out knives when I got it, so I replaced them, and it seemed to cut pretty evenly.