Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[TerryCC]

Question for Island Tractor. As you have a bunch of years and hours on your Caroni. With the exception of replacing the belts, knives and shackles, have you had any other repairs on your mower?

 

[IslandTractor]

Question for Island Tractor. As you have a bunch of years and hours on your Caroni. With the exception of replacing the belts, knives and shackles, have you had any other repairs on your mower?

Nope. I just grease it before mowing and check for missing blades after mowing. Once or twice a season I take the belt cover off to have a look and check the gearbox oil.

 

[Fallon]

My ford 907 is not as heavy built as your 917. I think it's a older mower also. It's heavy enough for what I do with it but not as hefty. The 907 and 917 can use some of the same knives and mine had the wing looking blades until I changed them to scoop. The scoop knives were a bit longer so I also had to replace the hanger.../D ring or V/ring with a shorter one. I'd been better off the just replace with the original wing. The side slicers for these mowers are pretty heavy built but to me it's just not enough of them compared to my Mott. Mott has 4 rows of stations with 24 in each = 96 stations = 192 knives. Ford has 3 rows of stations with 11 in each = 33 stations = 66 knives. Both are 72" cut.

I was looking for a 917 when I ran across this 907 and settled for it since the pickens are slim for flail mowers around here except for the crop choppers used by farmers.

My 917 uses 2 belts.

Here in in the Denver area there have been about 11 flails listed on Craigslist in the past 2 years. 5 crop, 2 ditch ones on a boom. So not many used options at all.

I got mine for $100 before I even knew really what it was. The hood was bent bad & I had to torch out a large chunk to avoided knife hits. Knife brackets on the rotor are bent bad. Still was better than my new rotary cutter & enough to hook me on flails.

I keep abusing mine because it takes it & keeps on kicking. Side slicers do ok on light brush. They also do surprisingly well on softball sized rocks (one client has lots of rock & conctruction rubble in their field). Broke a shackle & couple knives finally on a football sized chunk of asphalt that was hiding.

 

[RoyJackson]

Finally got my Caroni flail mower hooked up to the tractor!

I had to take about 3" off the PTO Driveshaft...still plenty of overlap. Downside, I broke one of the PTO drive shaft shield clamps (similar to a snap ring) when removing it. It shouldn't be too expensive to replace...just a standard Eurocardan part.
The Caroni is a robust flail mower...I suspect a rather old design, however. The 3PH frame was not designed with a Quick Hitch in mind. I did manage to make it work, but if I lower the rock-shaft lever completely, the QH frame hits the PTO driveshaft. Like most rock-shafts, the Deere has a stop to prevent lowering the draft arms completely. I think I'll have to tweak this here and there to get optimal use. If all else fails, I'll hook up directly to the draft arms, but that will require more shortening of the drive shaft.
Adjustment of the cutting height (lowering the roller) is a bit of a pain for one person. Bolts have to be removed at both the roller and the skid shoes. That prevents use of jack stands (or I haven't figured out an alternative location to position them yet). This is also a two person job, but one (me) can handle it if necessary.

As far as mowing...well, it definitely does the job! Very nice cut, especially considering the height (1' to 3 or 4 feet) of the field grasses. I didn't have enough fuel in the tractor to make more then two passes...and, no pics this time.

All and all, I'm satisfied with the purchase.

 

[leonz]

Hello Roy,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the "Flail Mower Nations".

As far adjusting the skids and the rear roller you can always leave it attached to the top link and the lower links and use a sandwich of 2 by 12's from the front of the mower to the rear edge of the shroud to raise it above the ground making 3 stacks of 2 by 12's or other lumber essentially a pad for it to rest on.
It will shuffle around a little until the knife sets and shackles roll forward or back to allow the mower to rest on the dimensional wood sandwich.


OR you can always roll it over and flip it just be sure to drain the gearbox box before you do that to save the oil.

The first method is less messy and once you have the entire weight on the 2 by 12 sandwich while its still attached to the draft links you will have no problems adjusting the toy, er mowing implement, er flail mower, er forever mower in your stable.

Better to just glue and screw the wood together unless you have thick hardwood blocking to use otherwise

Happy Mowing

 

[IslandTractor]

Roy, I don't recall how I blocked the mower up when I adjusted skids and rear roller. Good news is that you really only need to do it once or at most twice until you find the right settings for your needs. I haven't touched either in eight or nine years.

Another setting for you to consider is the offset. The mower has about a 12-15" offset to the right with the 3PT hitch in the normal position. Moving just a half dozen or so bolts on the hitch allows you to move it further outboard which might be useful for mowing around trees or fences. Downside is that the tractor width increases by a foot or so which makes getting into a garage or barn tricky with mower attached. I leave mine in the normal position but push the 3PT arms all the way right. I find the 15-18" offset I get to be plenty for mowing near fences.

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy, I don't recall how I blocked the mower up when I adjusted skids and rear roller. Good news is that you really only need to do it once or at most twice until you find the right settings for your needs. I haven't touched either in eight or nine years.

Another setting for you to consider is the offset. The mower has about a 12-15" offset to the right with the 3PT hitch in the normal position. Moving just a half dozen or so bolts on the hitch allows you to move it further outboard which might be useful for mowing around trees or fences. Downside is that the tractor width increases by a foot or so which makes getting into a garage or barn tricky with mower attached. I leave mine in the normal position but push the 3PT arms all the way right. I find the 15-18" offset I get to be plenty for mowing near fences.

Thanks for the posts (both Leon and IT)

The Caroni manual isn't the most comprehensive I've read, so it pays to see how things are put together under the mower. Right now, I have the mower set one hole from the bottom (referring to the roller height). I'll see how that works for the first mowing. Might raise it up one hole, depending of the results...although the two passes I did make yesterday seem to be about right.

I set the 3PH frame for maximum offset since I do have trees and such to mow under. The normal mowing would require an offset to the left, rather then the right. Just a matter of changing my habitual way of mowing.

It's raining now..and looks like much of the week will be rain...probably no pictures until next weekend.

 

[Iberian]

First off this is the most impressive collection of flail mower advice written anywhere. Like most people in the US when I decided that mowing with my ride on mower was taking too long I started looking into getting a rotary cut mower. Now I am not so sure.

I have a Kubota L2501 and have 5 acres that are sloped, with trees, mostly grass/weeds, not overgrown, contain rocks of which some are loose and some are part of outcroppings that go down farther than I have been bothered to dig. Previously I was mowing this with a Snapper ride on which has great maneuverability and slow enough to allow me to dodge most rocks. Nice cut, slow as molasses, easy to steer. I won't cut the nice grass near the house with the tractor it is too small with how it is broken up and laid out to be worth not using the Snapper. I know a RC mower will easily roll over rocks and cut anything I throw at it while being near maintenance free. Concerned though that as oddly shaped as my land is and with the hills that don't always allow side slope mowing that it will not be able to efficiently mow as well as a flail.

Now I suspect a flail will be a lot easier to use as it is much smaller. What I don't know is how well it handles hitting rocks, especially those that are buried 20ft deep and don't move when they get hit, or how it will handle undulating terrain this isn't nice and flat. I do have top 'n tilt but not sure how much that will help.

What I think my options are-

LandPride FM21: FM21 Series Flail Mowers | Land Pride

LandPride RCR1860: RCR18 Series Rotary Cutters | Land Pride

Caroni 59in: Flail Mower, Flail Mowers, Caroni Flail Mower

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

*Not my video but this is about what type of land I have if you imagine the terrain in the video at 1:30-2:00 with the under growth cleared and smaller trees removed.

Mountain Biking Auburn California - Trail Guide - YouTube

 

[Steave]

First off this is the most impressive collection of flail mower advice written anywhere. Like most people in the US when I decided that mowing with my ride on mower was taking too long I started looking into getting a rotary cut mower. Now I am not so sure.

I have a Kubota L2501 and have 5 acres that are sloped, with trees, mostly grass/weeds, not overgrown, contain rocks of which some are loose and some are part of outcroppings that go down farther than I have been bothered to dig. Previously I was mowing this with a Snapper ride on which has great maneuverability and slow enough to allow me to dodge most rocks. Nice cut, slow as molasses, easy to steer. I won't cut the nice grass near the house with the tractor it is too small with how it is broken up and laid out to be worth not using the Snapper. I know a RC mower will easily roll over rocks and cut anything I throw at it while being near maintenance free. Concerned though that as oddly shaped as my land is and with the hills that don't always allow side slope mowing that it will not be able to efficiently mow as well as a flail.

Now I suspect a flail will be a lot easier to use as it is much smaller. What I don't know is how well it handles hitting rocks, especially those that are buried 20ft deep and don't move when they get hit, or how it will handle undulating terrain this isn't nice and flat. I do have top 'n tilt but not sure how much that will help.

What I think my options are-

LandPride FM21: FM21 Series Flail Mowers | Land Pride

LandPride RCR1860: RCR18 Series Rotary Cutters | Land Pride

Caroni 59in: Flail Mower, Flail Mowers, Caroni Flail Mower

Appreciate any advice.

Thanks!

*Not my video but this is about what type of land I have if you imagine the terrain in the video at 1:30-2:00 with the under growth cleared and smaller trees removed.

Mountain Biking Auburn California - Trail Guide - YouTube

I enjoyed the video but if its really that rough you might think of getting some goats or sheep. I was expecting to see "Angry Ram" around one of the turns.

 

[whirly]

You only have 5 acres and some of it is around the house ... take some pics, post 'em and lets see what kind of ground you really have. It will help us to help you:welcome: to the Flail Nation