Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[hunt4570]

I will do a full report when it comes in, from uncrating to hooking it up and mowing.

 

[hunt4570]

Yup.. it was 55 just the other day, only supposed to be about 40 today though. No snow and I have stuff ready to mow down!

This kind of winter is why we left colorado!!! Gotta love it!

 

[Thomabear]

Well its done! I ordered the 73" Caroni from Agrisupply this morning.. might be here by the end of the week!! I feel like a kid before Christmas!

Congrats and welcome as the newest member of the flail mower nation! Please let us know how you like your mower and if you see any changes to the new model please let us know.

 

[Thomabear]

Used flails can be a great deal but we haven't heard of ?any new flail buyers who wished they had done something else. Take care of the Caroni and it will serve you well for many years. Get a set of Gates kevlar belts and figure out a blade/clevis replacement strategy. Grease before every mowing and you'll be golden.

Since the question of greasing has come up recently and on other occasions I was wondering if we could get some sort of real life data from our members. Personally I'm not sure if I'm over or under greasing but I'm hoping I'm in that sweet spot. So far I haven't had any u-joint or bearing failures and here is my routine. My operating conditions are average dust running 500-540 PTO speed. I'm greasing every 10 hours roughly with 2 shots to cutter drum bearings and rear roller bearings and 1 shot to U-joints or until I see grease. As mentioned I've had no issues but that doesn't mean I'm on par with greasing. My original Caroni only had about 200-250 hours and my current Vrisimo has less than 100.

 

[IslandTractor]

My routine for greasing my Caroni is to grease the main bearings before every mowing. (Clearly doesn't need it that often but I could never keep accurate count of last greasing). I give three squirts to the main cutter rotor bearings and to the drive shaft from the gearbox to the belt drive. I occasionally grease the PTO shaft and roller drum, maybe once every four mowings, and about once or twice a season I remove the belt guard and grease the tensioning arm. I check the gearbox a few times per season.

 

[hunt4570]

Well I'm not sure if I would notice any changes as I've never seen an older on in person.. but I will give a report that's for sure... now I wonder how hard it will be to paint it orange?

 

[hunt4570]

Since the question of greasing has come up recently and on other occasions I was wondering if we could get some sort of real life data from our members. Personally I'm not sure if I'm over or under greasing but I'm hoping I'm in that sweet spot. So far I haven't had any u-joint or bearing failures and here is my routine. My operating conditions are average dust running 500-540 PTO speed.
I'm greasing every 10 hours roughly with 2 shots to cutter drum bearings and rear roller bearings and 1 shot to U-joints or until I see grease. As mentioned I've had no issues but that doesn't mean on par with greasing. My original Caroni only had about 200-250 hours and my current Vrisimo has less than 100.

Interesting.. so why did you get rid of the Caroni, and why did you get a Vrisimo? Is that a more expensive/better unit, and how much do you use your flails?

 

[Thomabear]

Interesting.. so why did you get rid of the Caroni, and why did you get a Vrisimo? Is that a more expensive/better unit, and how much do you use your flails?

I switched to the Vrisimo due to dealer location, stocking of parts, and ease of switching knives. Ease of switching knives was important to me because I'm using this mower for brush cutting, finish cutting and dethatching/over seeding. I like the ability to remove all the knives with the simple removal of 4 rods when switching to a different task. Takes just a few minutes... As far as Caroni I have absolutely no complaints. As already mentioned just keep the bearings greased and keep an extra set of belts. Pretty much the same routine for all flail mowers. My Caroni held up really well and I'm sure it's still running fine. You will be very pleased with your purchase.

 

[IslandTractor]

I switched to the Vrisimo due to dealer location, stocking of parts, and ease of switching knives. Ease of switching knives was important to me because I'm using this mower for brush cutting, finish cutting and dethatching/over seeding. I like the ability to remove all the knives with the simple removal of 4 rods when switching to a different task. Takes just a few minutes... As far as Caroni I have absolutely no complaints. As already mentioned just keep the bearings greased and keep an extra set of belts. Pretty much the same routine for all flail mowers. My Caroni held up really well and I'm sure it's still running fine. You will be very pleased with your purchase.

Man, would I love to be able to change knives by removing 4 rods. I love my Caroni but each set of knives with clevis takes about ten minutes (plus set up time) to change if damaged (probably a lot less if new). Problem is that the threads on the bolts that hold the clevis to the rotor mounts invariably has been dinged up with use so that unthreading the nut requires more force than putting a new one on. My cheapo HF air ratchet usually fails to move the nut so I am forced to use a regular ratchet wrench with cheater. Work space and angle doesn't permit any other tool. All of this is done sitting on the ground behind the mower which is raised up to max of 3PT and hydraulic topping lift pulled in...not the most comfortable working position. It would be faster with a more powerful air ratchet but I haven't sprung for one of those yet. Good news is that putting on a new set is pretty easy.

Honestly, if I bought a new Caroni today I would immediately switch out all the clevises for the modified Flailmaster clevises and recoup all my costs by selling the Caroni clevises at a discount. I doubt that the Flailmaster clevises will break anywhere near as often as the lighter gauge Caroni versions so that would minimize time spent changing knives. In seven seasons, I have never had to change a knife because it was dull. They all get replaced because the clevis breaks. I use mine for bush hogging and we have a fair number of rocks in New England too. If someone was just mowing pastureland in non rocky soil, they would probably get many years of use out of each standard Caroni knife/clevis set.

 

[newbury]

Any idea what this would be worth?

View attachment 411274
I believe it's the 90" model.
It's on a local auction.
It's a new holland 918H

Somebody NOT ME paid $470 for it.

So now everyone can tell prospective sellers "well I could have gotten a 91 inch new holland flail for $500"