Thoughts or advise

[nbryan]

Almost always the first run with new implement, or the first cut of the season, always finds the hidden tangle monsters.

Wear tough gloves as suggested, AND safety goggles too!

Springy steel wire can whip loose when cut from a tangle.

Work safe.

 

[SDT]

Well boys and girls I got my flail mower hooked up last month and started to cut my switchgrass and then all of a sudden the 2601 totally shut off. I jumped off and looked and could not believe the bone headed mistake I made. I ran over some woven wire fencing I took off a fruit tree a year ago and forgot to pick it up and the switch grass grew through it and camouflage it.
I cut the part outside the mower off but it is wound around the inside of the mower. I have not used the tractor since but Tuesday is the day to untangle this mess. I guess put some blocks under the mower and crawl under it and start cutting the wire out small piece by small piece. I’m going to use a wire cutter. Here is a pic of my mess. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

There is no easy way.

Obviously, you are not doing this in the field???

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Thanks guys for commiserating with me I guess it’s a club that only distinguished people get into.

Unfortunately, I belong to this club as well.

Like @bird dogger I also "located" a long lost barbed wire fence.

I think I used a series of tools, to push/pull/pry/cut/twist.............depending on what strand I was pulling on.

Lots of "colorful" language helps too

Took nearly 1/2 a day to get it "unwound"

Good luck!

 

[Kurt Shaul]

Don’t feel to bad, this is the number one obstacle for flail mowers. I recently bought 25 acres, wonderful agent failed to mention it was previously a pot farm. The growers left vinyl tubing at ground level, along with chicken wire every where. The 6 to 18” weeds hide it, impossible to see from my Kubota.Ive gotten real use out of my sheet metal shears.
By the way, I find it best to raise the 3 point all the way up and for safety , run a heavy duty ratchet strap from an anchor point on the ROPS frame to the mower. No way it’s coming down on me, and no underside blocks to get in my way.
What I’d like to know is, who makes the best hammer blades? The ones that came with my flail are essentially 1\8” formed sheet metal, dull quickly even though I’m not hitting rocks. The Y blades proved to be useful only for lawn type grass, as soon as I got into the tall weeds my drum would start wrapping weeds around it.
I have enough clearance to mount up to 3” wide at the drum.
I would think that the heavier cast blades are best to build up rotational inertia? Possibly stay sharper longer? As it stands now, I’m under the unit sharpening blades daily.