Well, almost 2 weeks without a reply - guess no one has the shift kit. Not surprising - Vernon at ASC was able to answer my above question. You don't get any MORE shift to the right using the shift kit, the kit has a total range of about 14 inches, so the ONLY reason to spend that much $$$ would be if you wanted to CENTER the mower more. My Long 460 has 70 inches outside to outside rear tires, and if I had NOT mounted the hitch for max offset it would still miss covering the left tire by about 6 inches. The shift kit would probably reduce this to zero, whereas just moving the hitch over on the standard mower only buys you about 8-9 inches shift to the left.
I just tried out the flail last night (no shift kit) and it works well, did some 3-4 foot tall grass, blackberries, some light brush, etc, no problems. Couple of places my 45 horse tractor bogged down a bit in 2nd gear (not a real low-geared tractor) - other than that, I'm pretty happy. Still need to play with pitch, etc.
One thing I was NOT happy about - apparently Caroni doesn't have a copy of the spec for 3-point hitches. No big deal if you are NOT using either an iMatch or other quick hitch, but if you ARE, here's the deal -
Some 3-point hitch info -
http://www.tractorsmart.com/main/Tractor Three Point Lift Types.htm
Note that a Cat1 hitch spec for height between draw pins and top link is 18 inches vertical - The Caroni TM1900 uses correct Cat 1 dimensions in all BUT the vertical, where they (for some unknown reason) decided to adopt the VERTICAL dimension of a Cat 2 hitch (24" instead of 18")
I wondered about this when I saw other members' pix showing a couple of flat bars and an extra pin, etc, when hooked up to the Caroni - even though there was some sort of "quick hitch" installed on the tractor. Now I know why the bars...
My goal is to utilize the Harbor Freight quick hitch for ALL implements, WITHOUT having to move the upper hook which fits my 6' Priefert tiller (with correct Cat 1 spacing) - I expected to have to modify hitches on older gear (3 bottom plow, 8" 3 point disk, back blade, etc) but was surprised that a brand new mower was nearly 7 inches OFF. Oh well, moving on -
My fix - sorry, no camera avail. just yet, I'll try to get some pix when I can -
I took two pieces of 1/2" x 3" flat bar, cut to 9" long, let them hang vertically and aligned with the top edge of the existing toplink mount - I marked the front position of the slotted hole AND the upper round hole in the top mount, clamped the bar stock temporarily in place and hooked a bungee cord between the two lower draw pins (making sure the bungee was even with the top of the pins), then measured from the bungee up 18", made a mark on the new bar stock, and made THAT the top of the new 3/4" hole for the toplink pin. I clamped both pieces together, drilled pilot holes (drill press) and then enlarged the upper two holes to 5/8" and the lower (toplink pin) hole to 3/4". Works well - I can back up to the Caroni, raise the hitch and I'm DONE except for slipping the PTO shaft onto the tractor's PTO.
One caution - whichever quick hitch you're using, carefully measure how much space there is between the forward edge of the upper hook and whatever method the hook is mounted to the hitch frame with. The HF quick hitch uses two bolts and multiple drilled holes to mount the upper hook, and these only give you about 5/8" - so your hitch pin holes need to be within 5/8" from the front edge of the hole to the front edge of the bar stock or it won't clear.
It's also a REALLY good idea to buy some Cat 1 to Cat 2 sleeves if you're using most quick hitches, otherwise there's too much slop in the hookup - especially for a driven implement like a tiller or mower. I'm putting these on each implement rather than switching them from implement to implement.
Any questions, fire away - not sure when I'll find time for pix, but if I get the same response as before it won't matter :=) Steve
