Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Aguanga]

Anyone try or know anything about these flail mowers? Price seems very good but I can't find any info on them. http://http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=170273588689&Category=66880&_trksid=p3907.m29&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2

Well, I'm waiting for one to arrive by the end of the week... We'll see how well it performs for me by the end of the year. This thread is very long, but if you want to limit yourself to this specific brand look for the posts by davitk and nuru who have purchased this brand. According to them they seem to work well for the price, but the longevity verdict is still undecided.

 

[BobBell]

REARS or VRISIMO?

I'm new to this forum but would like your opinion. I have an old Danl 8' flail mower that has been for workhorse for me. However, I just bought a more powerful tractor and would like to upgrade my mower to a 10'. I have bids for a brand new 10' Rears mower (Orange) and a brand new 10' Vrisimo (Yellow). Both mowers both look like they would do me great service but I have no experience with either brand. Both are located nearby here in Northern California and priced within $50 of each other. Your comments?

 

[DavesTractor]

REARS or VRISIMO?

I'm new to this forum but would like your opinion. I have an old Danl 8' flail mower that has been for workhorse for me. However, I just bought a more powerful tractor and would like to upgrade my mower to a 10'. I have bids for a brand new 10' Rears mower (Orange) and a brand new 10' Vrisimo (Yellow). Both mowers both look like they would do me great service but I have no experience with either brand. Both are located nearby here in Northern California and priced within $50 of each other. Your comments?

In my opinion, those are the two best mowers built. Of course I do not have experience with all the brands, so I am sure there are other quality mowers. Both will last a lifetime with the occasional belt or bearing over the years. The Rears is taller, that can get in the way if mowing around trees with low trunk branches. I like the extra square tube running full length front and rear on the Vrisimo. The Rears is built in oregon, the Vrisimo is built in California.

I am a Vrisimo dealer, so I am biased, but regarding Rears, I can't think of any thing wrong with them, they are a fantastic mower in every way.

I always recommend buying local, but if you need to chat about Vrisimo or you are looking for a display or demo model, email or call me here in Red Bluff.

 

[nunyabinis]

Sorry for "resurrecting" this thread but it's been a WONDERFUL teaching aid. I've read the whole thread and, unfortunately, it has caused me to do a danged fool thing....... purchase a Caroni TM1900. I'm picking her up this Friday since it's Good Friday and I don't have to work. Hey!!! That should make it a Doubly Good Friday!!!


My old 50" Craftsman riding mower finally died and I've been looking for a replacement. My yard is about 2.5 acres and I'm tired of it taking over half a day to cut it. I also needed something to cut shooting lanes at the Hunt Club so I settled on a flail mower. I seriously considered a high dollar unit from JD, Woods, Land Pride, etc... but since I don't make a living cutting grass daily I figured this Caroni unit should last me a LONG time and at less than half the price I couldn't turn it down. I also considered a Chinese model from eBay but I've been burned a time or two with Chinese stuff. I always end up having to spend time fixing/modifying them to work correctly and the older I get the more I just want something I buy to work without tinkering with it. I must admit they were TEMPTING at those prices though.


I'm not a neophyte with flail mowers. I've used my father-in-law's old FMC a few times and it always did a very good job. A flail seems to be a good all around mower. Not as good as a finish mower on yard grass and not as good as a rotary on real big sapplings but kind of a jack-of-all-trades.

 

[IslandTractor]

unfortunately, it has caused me to do a danged fool thing....... purchase a Caroni TM1900.

Yeah, foolish like a fox! You'll love it. If you need the little extension piece to keep the oil from burping out of the gearbox let me know as I have one extra sitting on my dresser and my wife wants it gone.

 

[nunyabinis]

One thing that puzzles me.... King Kutter doesn't make a flail mower but they make a tiller. I love my KK tiller. One would think that it wouldn't be a huge stretch to morph a tiller into a flail mower.


Too bad. Their loss is Caroni's gain.

 

[davitk]

Someone had a question regarding set up of the BETST tower; don't know if I could describe it but here's a picture.

Hard into season #2 and still working fine!

 

[TracksNIowa]

Slightly off topic, but I am a newbie trying to learn... is there a flail mower I can run with my case 1840 standard flow machine without over heating it? I have been searching the net and finding that most flails are built for 100plus hp high flow machines. Any help or guidance would be great!
Thanks in advance,
Beau Nelson

 

[Aguanga]

Someone had a question regarding set up of the BETST tower; don't know if I could describe it but here's a picture.

Hard into season #2 and still working fine!

Thanks again Davitk! I have 3 pics showing the three possible ways to assemble the upper triangular brackets to hold the top link... The first one is how I originally assembled, but it didn't seem right because of how much it was offset from the input shaft on the gear box (the same way Davitk assembled). So I started communications with Keith at Betst who has been helpful so far, but wanted more pictures. He recommended the setup in the second picture, but this places the height of the top link pin above the bottom link pins well beyond the standard Cat 1 spacing and the angles on the prebent brackets don't line up (pics 3 & 4). The third setup (5th pic) shows the way it should be setup to give a dimension closest to the standard Cat 1 spacing vertically between the lower pins and the top link pin, but again the prebent brackets aren't close to lining up (pics 6 & 7). I'll wait to see what Keith at Betst says...

 

[MJPetersen]

on this mower you have 2 possible setups that you can use depending on the amount of mower offset that you want. Picture #1 is correct as would be shifting it over one space. There is a mower here that sets up the same way, but it is green in color, that uses that adjustment for mower offset.

Mike