Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[sloooow]

My current mower is leveled via the roller and lower links. The upper link utilizes a 4" slot to allow the mower to pivot and negotiate uneven ground.

I'm curious what mower did you move to and what moved you away from your Caroni? (This lower link system seems more intuitive to me, but I fear that Caroni is the only flail that fits my budget.)

 

[IslandTractor]

I'm curious what mower did you move to and what moved you away from your Caroni? (This lower link system seems more intuitive to me, but I fear that Caroni is the only flail that fits my budget.)

The setup slooow described is the same as Caroni as best I can tell.

 

[Thomabear]

I'm curious what mower did you move to and what moved you away from your Caroni? (This lower link system seems more intuitive to me, but I fear that Caroni is the only flail that fits my budget.)

I switched to Vrisimo for a few reasons including dealer location, stocking of parts, USA made and ease of service. I will be 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 rods when switching to a different task. I'm not getting any younger and I like to keep things as simple as possible. LOL

As far as Caroni I have absolutely no complaints. As mention just keep the bearings greased and keep an extra set of belts. They hold up really well. If I were you I wouldn't look back if you decide to purchase one.

 

[sloooow]

Thanks for the insight, Thomabear.

 

[GinNB]

When you get some age on a Vrisimo that rod system can turn a simple tooth change into a 2 man job. It'll help to keep it away from rocks and don't run it over a million acres though.

 

[Thomabear]

When you get some age on a Vrisimo that rod system can turn a simple tooth change into a 2 man job. It'll help to keep it away from rocks and don't run it over a million acres though.

I have 100% loam with no rocks so that shouldn't be an issue. Please do elaborate on how changing a knife would become a two man job. The design has 4 pins and 4 rods to pull which drops all knives. Each rod drops a row of knives. I'm thinking a 10-15 minute job to replace a complete set. Unless I'm missing something.

 

[IslandTractor]

I have 100% loam with no rocks so that shouldn't be an issue. Please do elaborate on how changing a knife would become a two man job. The design has 4 pins and 4 rods to pull which drops all knives. Each rod drops a row of knives. I'm thinking a 10-15 minute job to replace a complete set. Unless I'm missing something.

GinNB is the one with experience but given the mangled nature of some knife holding bolts on my Caroni, I would wonder if impact or stress caused bends in the long rod might not make it hard to remove and reinsert after a while. Just a thought.

 

[GinNB]

Try inserting a less than perfect rod into a less than perfect channel (picture a hammer and pin punch or two rods) in the cuttershaft while holding up the knife assembly. The Vrisimo design turns the cuttershaft into a spinning triangle that loves to beat on rocks. When the angle iron (creates the channel for the rod) on the shaft gets beaten in a bit the rods are hard to slide. Mine get used in what would be considered extreme conditions in a commercial operation though. When not used in a rocky environment, the rod system is a quick tool - free way to change teeth though.

 

[Thomabear]

GinNB is the one with experience but given the mangled nature of some knife holding bolts on my Caroni, I would wonder if impact or stress caused bends in the long rod might not make it hard to remove and reinsert after a while. Just a thought.

For sure no system is perfect but in this case the rod is pretty well protected by the angle iron which expands the full length of the drum. I attached a pic to illustrate the design. Not the best quality picture but you can see how the rod is protected.

Try inserting a less than perfect rod into a less than perfect channel (picture a hammer and pin punch or two rods) in the cuttershaft while holding up the knife assembly. The Vrisimo design turns the cuttershaft into a spinning triangle that loves to beat on rocks. When the angle iron (creates the channel for the rod) on the shaft gets beaten in a bit the rods are hard to slide. Mine get used in what would be considered extreme conditions in a commercial operation though. When not used in a rocky environment, the rod system is a quick tool - free way to change teeth though.

Thanks for the explanation, it makes more sense to me now. Actually, my property is clean as far as rocks go so I'm thinking this will be a non issue in my application. Just curious though, what year Vrisimo mower do you own? That angle iron seems to be pretty substantial on the new units. I'm guessing about 1/4"to 5/16" thick. I'm wondering if the drums were upgraded from the older models?

 

[GinNB]

I'm not sure what year the mowers were made. We've got three that were made into a single triple gang mower. They're identical as far as I can tell to the picture you attached. They're far from reasonably new but the angle iron IS quite substantial. Blueberry mowing around here is pretty extreme duty for a mower though. If it'll break we'll break it. I think we wore out about 7 sets of knives on three different mowers last fall. The Vrisimo heads haven't seen any action in a few years though. The whole thing is tired and needs some major TLC.