Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Hunhunt]

For those who have purchased a Caroni flail mower from Agri Supply were there any problems with getting the mower shipped to you? I am always a little concerned about that since I live in a rural area with limited motor freight delivery. When previously purchasing some woodworking machines, I was told that the items would be motor freighted to my place but they actually just made it to a larger town and I had to drive 100 miles to pick them up. Either way works for me but there are some logistics involved. I'm wondering about this because when I asked the salesman at Agri Supply to price shipping both ways (rural delivery to my place or to the nearest town) it was cheaper to deliver to my door?? Also, does anyone have a specific salesman at Agri Supply that they prefer to deal with or do you just deal with whoever happens to answer your call?

 

[def38]

I recently took delivery of a Titan flail mower (made in China). I have used it for about 8 hours cutting my 5 acres which had been cleared and since overgrown with weeds and brush, some 6 feet tall. My M-F 231 handles the Titan flail well (Unless you count the fence wire I ran over hidden in the weeds). The Titan is tough, well made and about half the price of Italian flails. And Titan ships free and they have good service (My mower was missing some parts and Titan offered to ship me a new one and take the original back all, no charge). I raised the cutting height to the max. Also, I have the hammer flails. Don't consider anything else for rough mowing. However, I did a few passes with it on my Bermuda lawn and the cut quality is the same as my 42 inch riding mower. Great buy. you'll need a cat 1 and about 30 PTO HP.

 

[IslandTractor]

Just regular gear oil...the manual states to change it after 40 hours, so I'd wait until after 40 hours...just my opinion on that.
As far as grease...there are 4 fittings, IIRC. Two for the rotor, two for the roller. Thinking about it, I believe there's one for the upper drive pulley too. As far as type of grease...same stuff you use for your tractor (and loader, if you have one)...standard EP grease.
Island tractor...another Caroni owner, gives his mower a couple shots of grease before each mowing...probably overkill, but I reckon I'll do that same.

Yep. Besides the five zerks you mentioned, there is a "once a year" zerk under the belt cover on the tensioner pivot too. Not a high risk or high speed fitting so not worth taking the cover off except for annual belt check.

I've never bothered changing the gearbox oil. As most Caroni owners notice, the vent cap dribbles out oil during routine cutting so I figure I replace the oil slowly through just keeping the level up. (And if you get sick of the dribbling you can add a metric spacer which CUTs the dribbling down but doesn't stop it. I think I've posted the part number from British Metrics in Maryland in this thread a few times)

 

[Mark P.]

Hunhunt
I live in NC so I am lucky, I can pickup my stuff from agri supply... I always try and talk to one of these 3 guys , they are very knowledgeable and very helpful - Vernon, Gene or Andy..I think I remember one of them telling me they had all been around 25 years there....

Mark

 

[houser52]

Just regular gear oil...the manual states to change it after 40 hours, so I'd wait until after 40 hours...just my opinion on that.
As far as grease...there are 4 fittings, IIRC. Two for the rotor, two for the roller. Thinking about it, I believe there's one for the upper drive pulley too. As far as type of grease...same stuff you use for your tractor (and loader, if you have one)...standard EP grease.
Island tractor...another Caroni owner, gives his mower a couple shots of grease before each mowing...probably overkill, but I reckon I'll do that same.

That's good. I already have both oil and grease.

Was your flail pretty much ready to go other than cutting the PTO shaft and adding gear oil? I can handle any assembly that is required, just trying to get an idea of what to expect when it arrives by getting anything that I don't already have.

I hope to place my order today sometime since the freight quote was only good through today. Im kinda getting excited about a new mower since I haven't bought one in over 30 years. I won't know how to act. I was the same way when I replaced my 20 year old pickup this year. I was like a kid. Lol

 

[RoyJackson]

That's good. I already have both oil and grease.

Was your flail pretty much ready to go other than cutting the PTO shaft and adding gear oil? I can handle any assembly that is required, just trying to get an idea of what to expect when it arrives by getting anything that I don't already have.

The 3PH tower (top link) has to be bolted on to the bracket welded to the mower body. Easier with two people, but I did it myself.
One caution...make sure you use the included lock washers (better yet (IMHO)...use the spring type split lock washers) on ALL bolts, including those used to adjust the height and skid shoes. These mowers do vibrate and the nuts are free-running...easy to vibrate loose.
When adjust the height, you find one bolt (per side) is used by both the roller adjustment and skid shoe bracket. A bit of a pain when holding the roller in place and inserting the bolts.

 

[houser52]

Well, it's a done deal.

I called Agri Supply and placed my order for a TM1900. Ordering was easy and quick since I had already entered my info on their website. The guy I spoke with said it will ship next week.

 

[lostcreekranch]

The 3PH tower (top link) has to be bolted on to the bracket welded to the mower body. Easier with two people, but I did it myself.
One caution...make sure you use the included lock washers (better yet (IMHO)...use the spring type split lock washers) on ALL bolts, including those used to adjust the height and skid shoes. These mowers do vibrate and the nuts are free-running...easy to vibrate loose.
When adjust the height, you find one bolt (per side) is used by both the roller adjustment and skid shoe bracket. A bit of a pain when holding the roller in place and inserting the bolts.

Roy, obviously I don't have a flail mower yet but, if you raised mower with 3-point could you support the roller with a hydraulic bottle jack on each end.

 

[RoyJackson]

Roy, obviously I don't have a flail mower yet but, if you raised mower with 3-point could you support the roller with a hydraulic bottle jack on each end.

Yeah...if you want to raise or lower the roller.
I didn't have a bottle jack...used a floor jack to lower the roller just a bit.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Yeah...if you want to raise or lower the roller.
I didn't have a bottle jack...used a floor jack to lower the roller just a bit.

Can you adjust one end of your roller w/o disturbing the other end? For my education only?

 

[leonz]

Can you adjust one end of your roller w/o disturbing the other end? For my education only?

Nope, that is the quickest way to ruin a set of rear roller bearings and break the stub shaft of the rear roller at the same time.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Nope, that is the quickest way to ruin a set of rear roller bearings and break the stub shaft of the rear roller at the same time.

Ok, so both ends at same time?

 

[leonz]

Ok, so both ends at same time?

Yes, it is better to do it that way wherein you are not stressing the inner race of either bearing.
AS Roy mentioned a floor jack works wonders and using a floor jack or bottle jack with a short 2 by 6 under the rear roller to keep the roller even as you raise or lower it as long as the ground is solid under the floor jack or bottle jack.
In saying that a piece of thick plywood or two pieces of plywood or a pair of short planks will work well as a solid floor of sorts for a floor jack as well.
It is easy to do as long as you have the mower stable and supported with jack stands at their lowest point.

Rolling the mower on its back takes more time and work so using the jack stands and a floor jack or bottle jack to lift it will be fine.

What ever you do DO NOT let your self put your legs under the elevated flail mower UNLESS it is fully supported with thick wooden cribbing.

 

[RoyJackson]

What ever you do DO NOT let your self put your legs under the elevated flail mower UNLESS it is fully supported with thick wooden cribbing.

Let's expand that...don't put any extremities under any implement unless it is supported by cribbing, jack stands or similar!

 

[leonz]

Very true Roy, very true.

 

[ShowroomShine]

Picked up the Alamo flail I referenced earlier. Its an SH 74 in great shape. Owner used it on a road crew alongside 11 other Alamo Flails, said it had not run in 3-4 years.

Got it home, changed the gear oil (although what was in it was clear and perfect looking), greased up the joints (although 2 zerks were stuck), and freed up the PTO shaft and collar. Belt actually looks great. Rear roller has a very slight curve in it, it varies maybe 1/4". Coarse Cut knives look rough, some were new, some have been beat up pretty bad. Will have to get some new ones on order. Used the Alamo manual to see what height it was currently set at (4 holes down from the top), I'm a little confused on this one. It references an "A" and "B" mount hole in the chart. I want a 4" cut height.

Hooked it up to my Case IH 385 (39 PTO HP). Ran a few sections of field, seemed to cut pretty well. A little more clanging debris than I expected, but I was running over land that had some limbs and stuff on the ground. Noticed allot more dust flying around vs the finish mower.

Overall I'm pretty happy with the purchase, seems like it will do what I need it to do on my horse property.

 

[troverman]

I recently took delivery of a Titan flail mower (made in China). I have used it for about 8 hours cutting my 5 acres which had been cleared and since overgrown with weeds and brush, some 6 feet tall. My M-F 231 handles the Titan flail well (Unless you count the fence wire I ran over hidden in the weeds). The Titan is tough, well made and about half the price of Italian flails. And Titan ships free and they have good service (My mower was missing some parts and Titan offered to ship me a new one and take the original back all, no charge). I raised the cutting height to the max. Also, I have the hammer flails. Don't consider anything else for rough mowing. However, I did a few passes with it on my Bermuda lawn and the cut quality is the same as my 42 inch riding mower. Great buy. you'll need a cat 1 and about 30 PTO HP.

I also just bought a new "Titan" flail mower...72", made in China. I also have a 1990 Vrismo MightyMax so I can compare quality. I considered an Italian Peruzzo Fox, but this was half the price.

The welds look good. The mower housing seems to be as thick or just about as thick as the MightyMax...I'll caliper it later. The Titan mower is a near clone of the Value Leader, Betsco, etc. flail. It has the duck-foot style flails...they seem very heavy duty. Complaints? The grease fittings are in horrible locations. The drum bearings are greased from the inside and outside (2 small bearings, perhaps?). Greasing the inside zerks is not going to be that easy. The grease fittings for the roller are pointed downward, and are basically at ground level where they look like they'll easily be damaged. The rear roller is much smaller than the Vrismo roller, in terms on diameter. It does have a scraper bar and interestingly has two angled "chopper" bars inside the housing that would likely assist with the mulching effect. I'm also pleased that it has a little jack foot on the front so the flail can be set down in a position easy to take the tractor hitch arms off.

The top components look to be good quality. Cast iron gear box, 8.8 grade bolts, nice drive shaft, oil-bath belt shaft. The belt cover does not come off without tools like the Vrismo does, but that's OK. I have yet to look inside and see the belt / tensioner arrangement.

The drum itself is small, much smaller than the Vrismo drum. My biggest concern is how well this thing will hold up to hitting rocks, etc. Basically, there are two abutments with a bolt through them welded to the drum...the flail hangs from the bolt. I'm guessing its possible the 'abutments' could break off...can these be replaced and re-welded?

Last observation is the weight. The serial plate is a cheap sticker so I photographed it in case it comes off, but it lists the weight as 640lbs. UPS freight weighed it at 810lbs. Granted, that included a standard wood pallet and the iron-angle 'crate' (4 sides) that it comes with. The pallet probably weighs 40lbs and the 'crate' might weigh another 40...so I'd say the mower is a little heavier than it claims.

I've yet to attach it to the tractor and mow; I'll give a full review at that point.

 

[CincyFlyer]

I also just bought a new "Titan" flail mower...72", made in China... 8.8 grade bolts ...

Note that 8.8 marked metric bolts are a rough equivalent to SAE grade 5.

 

[houser52]

I received my Caroni TM1900 from ArgiSupply last week. Assembly and rear roller adjustments were straight forward. No missing or damaged parts and everything bolted right up. I did have to shorten the PTO shaft a few inches.

Greased everything, wiped off the zerks and checked the oil in the gearbox. It was showing on the bottom of the dipstick so I added only a little. Checked the belt tension and I could see daylight between the coils so I didn't tighten it anymore.

I got to try it out on Saturday on 3 acres of pretty thick grass that I keep mowed with my brush hog. It was mostly fescue at about 12" tall or less. There was no saplings or bushes, just grass. The area is my wife's grandparents, now vacant, home place and I try to keep it looking neat.

I set the mower height to cut one hole lower than the highest setting with the gearbox level or just slightly higher in the front. I ran my L3600 GST at 2300 RPMs and the pto a little less than 540. I tried mowing slow in 4th gear(3mph) then tried mowing in 5th gear(4.3mph) which is my normal brush hog speed. My tractor didn't struggle or slow down when in 4th or 5th gear and the cut was about the same.
The cut was a lot better than my brush hog and not quite as good as my finish mower, which is what I was expecting.

The Caroni had worked so well I decided to mow a small area at my tractor shed. This grass height and thickness was the same as before. As soon as I put the PTO in gear I noticed something didn't sound right. Pulled out to the garage, took off the belt cover and sure enough the belts were toast. Two belts had large chunks missing but the third was fine. Pieces of belt, belt dust and what looked like grease was all inside the cover. The initial inspection of the grease zerks were clean because I had wiped them off.

I then went to NAPA and picked up 3 new B43 belts, removed all the old belts, cleaned all the crud from inside the cover, cleaned all of the pulleys and idler with mineral spirits, put on the new belts and adjusted the tension with more than tension than before. Mowed around the tractor shed and then called it a day.

On Monday I mowed another patch (approx. 1 ac ) of clean thick green orchard grass which was about 14" high. When finished I pulled off the cover to inspect the belts. They looked almost new but there was a little evidence of black belt dust inside the cover but not much. Mowing was done at less than 3mph and a wee bit less than 540 pto rpm.

The original belts lasted less than 4 hours. I'm going to continue to run the flail and see how the new belts hold up.

 

[RoyJackson]

The original belts lasted less than 4 hours. I'm going to continue to run the flail and see how the new belts hold up.

It was either Leonz or Island Tractor who recommended using (IIRC) Gates belts.

I'm going to estimate I have about 20 hours of my Caroni TM1900...no issues with the belts (or anything else, for that matter).