Flail Mower Toughest Flail Mower: Gearmore?

[Superduper]

this thread has made two decisions for me.

One,
I want a Vrisimo shredder.

Two,
I'm going to buy a Caroni TM1900 from Agri-supply.

Money ya know.

Now, I have a question,
When I have to replace the blade/hammers, reckon I can upgrade to better?
In other words, can I put cast hammers or something like that?

Putting knives on the Vrisimo will allow it to cut fine stuff with a better finish but for the cost of that mower, you can do better with the Caroni. On the other hand, putting heavy cast hammers on the Caroni, even if you could manage to shoe horn them in, might be ill advised. The machines that handle hammers use fewer of them than machines that use small knives. The hammers, being heavier will introduce a significantly greater rotating mass load, and probably beyond the design capabilities of the rotor or gearbox of the lighter duty machine. Then there is the anchor for the knives/hammers. The rotor operates at very high speeds and the centrifigual forces multiply greatly with speed. If you look at the pictures of the Vrisimo above which shows the hammers and how they are mounted, compare that to the pdf of the Alamo mower (they are well regarded around here as well) and the knives on that machine and I think you'll begin to see where I'm coming from. Can you upgrade the mount? I'm sure you can. But you'll need to balance the entire assembly when done. Then there is the belts. I don't know about the Caroni but the Vrisimo has heavy duty door secured by a pin that reveals triple belts. If the belts aren't up to snuff for the rotating mass, you can expect some problems. Finally, the chipper/shredder mowers (at least on the Vrisimo) are designed differently as it incorporates a recutter mechanism into the assembly, which helps to chip the wood/brush and keep the material in the rotating chamber until they are sufficiently mulched to be released. The quality of the shredded material will be noticeably finer. Keep in mind the great difference in weight between the two mowers for similar size and it is clear that the Vrisimo is constructed using significantly thicker metal. If you are shredding hay, it probably doesn't matter. If you are chipping 1.5" brush, the thinner guage metal on the lighter duty machine will probably take a serious beating.

In short, buy the respective machines for what they are designed for. The Caroni is designed for lighter duty occassional use. The Vrisimo is designed for serious heavy duty, even daily use but using it sparingly probably won't justify it's price tag (althogh it will probably last forever!) Just my 2 cents.

 

[Fred Cowell]

Great thread. I've learned a lot.

I've learned that the implement I need is a shredder.

I've learned that it needs to have hammers the size of my fist, not knives, to cut coffee branches up to 3 inches in diameter.

I've learned that 40 hp seems to be the minimum required for shredding (is that pto hp, or engine hp?).

I've learned that the Vrisimo S100 is next to impossible to find.

I've learned that "Super heavy duty" is a very subjective term.

BTW, it was 75 degrees and sunny today in the orchard. Although the surf was up, I had to work coffee issues. Ah well, tomorrow is another day.

 

[Fred Cowell]

One more thing. I only need to shred prunings once a year for about one month. The rest of the time a shredder would be in mothballs.

 

[IslandTractor]

I couldn't get photos to upload yesterday so will try again to post the Caroni TM1900 photos.

I completely agree with superduper's analysis. I think I stated that I consider the Caroni a "medium duty" flail which is akin to a medium duty bush hog (i.e. very good quality) but not a "heavy duty" machine. No doubt it is designed to handle material less than 3 inches even if it can handle the occasional bigger stuff. I have backed the Caroni into eight foot multistemmed bushes and left behind nothing but mulch but I don't do that every day.

I don't want to oversell the Caroni. It would not last long if used by a highway department running over cinder blocks every day but it certainly seems as tough as a good quality medium duty bush hog and cuts much finer. In the long run it will require more maintenance than a bush hog because of the many knives that require flipping and then replacing so that is the price you pay for the finer mulching cut compared to a bush hog. I've mowed through a few acres of pretty substantial brush and while I can see dings on the knives it will be quite a while before I actually need to flip them over. I don't know if the Caroni would serve as needed in a coffee plantation but it is a good enough value that one could probably buy three or four of the TM1900's for the price of one super heavy duty flail.

 

[Fred Cowell]

The underside of your caroni looks very much like my Gearmore GML49. I was loosing one or two cutters each outing. Some of the time they were cracking off where they attach to the main drum.

Here's a shot of the prunings waiting to be shredded or trimmed by hand (much more labor expensive).

The second shot is part of the coffee farm after pruning and clean-up.

Enjoy.

 

[IslandTractor]

The second shot is part of the coffee farm after pruning and clean-up.

Enjoy.

Nice spot. Lucky you live Hawaii eh? I used to live in Hawaii so I've visited that area south of Kailua quite a bit. You must be close to Captain Cook.

I'm not a farmer and don't claim to appreciate the practical issues in a commercial operation but if I had piles of clipping like those I would use my grapple to cart them off to a mulch or burn pile then run the Caroni over what was left on the ground.

 

[Fred Cowell]

Good eye. Exactly right; just mauka of Captain Cook. From where I took the second shot, Kealakekua Bay was at my back. The orchard is at 2200' elevation. I'm trying to minimize labor requirements on the 50 acre farm. Not only is labor is expensive here, but it's hard to find good help. Even multiple passes with a shredder are cheaper than hand work, chipping, or grapple runs.

 

[sodamo]

Aloha Fred

Did you buy the Gearmore on island? I'm on the Hamakua side and am considering getting a flail in future.

Nice pic of the farm.

David
Ninole

 

[allen in texas]

Superduper,
Thank for the info.
I had considered the weight of the hammers and everything you say rings very true.
Not to highjack but...
My uses for this shredder will probably fit right in with the build quality of the Caroni.
I am contracted to the city here to shred vacant lots. All of the lots have been shredded each year and the growth is just your everyday annual West Texas weeds. The occasional 3/4 or maybe 1 inch elm tree may show up but they are pretty soft.
The flail, I think, will be better than a rotary cutter in that I can back in and get closer to spots that I can't reach with the rotary and the flail will not windrow the cuttings. Plus, it won't hang off the back of my trailer.
I'll probably order one next month. The TMm1900BSC

Sure some pretty pic's on this thread.

 

[IslandTractor]

I like my Caroni a lot. You forgot one other advantage compared to a rotary cutter in a populated area: no lethal projectiles.