93" Caroni Estate Mower for a Kioti DK45SE?

[vanguard]

My tractor is 45 HP and 38 HP at the PTO. The 93" Caroni Estate Mower says that it requires 45HP and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake in ordering it?

I pull an 88" Flail mower just fine but it doesn't leave as nice as cut as I'd like. Do the five small finish blades require more HP and a similar sized flail? How do finish mowers compare to flail mowers in terms of how fast they can be pulled?

Does anybody have this mower? What do you think?

 

[leonz]

My tractor is 45 HP and 38 HP at the PTO. The 93" Caroni Estate Mower says that it requires 45HP and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake in ordering it?

I pull an 88" Flail mower just fine but it doesn't leave as nice as cut as I'd like. Do the five small finish blades require more HP and a similar sized flail? How do finish mowers compare to flail mowers in terms of how fast they can be pulled?

Does anybody have this mower? What do you think?

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Couple of questions for you:

Is your flail mower a Mott Interstater with a finish flail rotor,
four rows of knive pairs, 168 side slicer knives+-???????
Does it have the razor thin side slicers that are 5 inches long?
1. Is your flail equipped with scoop knives or side slicers?
a. when was the last time you flipped the knives over to a sharp side?
b. what shape is the belt in?
c. are you running the engine on your mule at the 540 rpm engine speed?
If not you need to be running that high as that would also zero in on the poor
cut. In order to verticut well the flail mower rotor has to be spinning fast enough
to have a knife tip speed of 2200 RPM+.



2. How fast do you travel in forward when mowing??
a. too fast and you will have a poor cut no matter the knife count.
b. scoop knives get dull over time and need to be touched up with a
wet well grinder.


3. where is the cutting height set?

4. If you do not own a wet grinder you should buy one and
sharpen your side slicers if your mower is equipped with them.
They are not that expensive to own, mine is 30 years old.

You should be able to putt on the grass if the sod is good after you mow.

 

[DK35vince]

My tractor is 45 HP and 38 HP at the PTO. The 93" Caroni Estate Mower says that it requires 45HP and I'm wondering if I'm making a mistake in ordering it?

Not sure why they claim it requires so much HP.
I run an 84" rear discharge finish mower on my 35HP (28.3 PTO HP) with no problem.

 

[Halftrack]

I pull a Sitrex 230 which I believe is a twin to your Caroni, 5 blades and 90". It will be hard to tell the mower is even behind you, it cuts that easily. It does a good job even at 7 to 8 MPH. In comparison, I've pulled my neighbors Woods 84" 3 blade finish mower and it takes more hp and fuel to make a narrower cut, but it does have the high suction blades. I think you will be very satisfied with the cut and finish of the Caroni.

 

[vanguard]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Couple of questions for you:

Is your flail mower a Mott Interstater with a finish flail rotor,
four rows of knive pairs, 168 side slicer knives+-???????
Does it have the razor thin side slicers that are 5 inches long?
1. Is your flail equipped with scoop knives or side slicers?
a. when was the last time you flipped the knives over to a sharp side?
b. what shape is the belt in?
c. are you running the engine on your mule at the 540 rpm engine speed?
If not you need to be running that high as that would also zero in on the poor
cut. In order to verticut well the flail mower rotor has to be spinning fast enough
to have a knife tip speed of 2200 RPM+.



2. How fast do you travel in forward when mowing??
a. too fast and you will have a poor cut no matter the knife count.
b. scoop knives get dull over time and need to be touched up with a
wet well grinder.


3. where is the cutting height set?

4. If you do not own a wet grinder you should buy one and
sharpen your side slicers if your mower is equipped with them.
They are not that expensive to own, mine is 30 years old.

You should be able to putt on the grass if the sod is good after you mow.

I'm pretty sure it's a Bush Hog FH88, like this one: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/buying-pricing-comparisons/184963-bush-hog-fh-188-flail.html

I'm sure at least part of the issue is the knives. Mine is pretty beat up and I'm sure it could use some sharpening. I feel like it's on its last legs. I bought it used for $1k, put about $800 into it because the entire drum was shaking around and the knives were hitting the main body. It was quiet and smooth for a mow or two but now I think it's shaking again. The seller was a mechanic that would have known full well what the condition of the mower is and what it would take to fix it. i suspect I inherited somebody's problem.


My plan is to keep the flail mower for the rough work and use the finish mower more often.

 

[GManBart]

I was running a 90" cut Sitrex SM230 finish mower with five blades, behind 45hp at the PTO on my Massey and you basically couldn't tell you were running a mower....like it wasn't really there. I think you'll be fine, and the worst case scenario is that you might have to slow down a touch in heavy stuff. It's kind of funny, but I sold it to switch to an 87" cut flail mower! I do all the true finish mowing with a ZTR, and the flail is better for field use, but the Sitrex did give a very nice cut. In fact, I sold it to a guy who said his tractor was around 30hp at the PTO and he e-mailed me a day or two later that he was very happy with the cut quality, and he had enough power for it.