Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

Today I went back to the dealer and put a deposit on a Kubota B2650, then came home and ordered a 5 Caroni from Agri Supply. Tractor is supposed to arrive on Tuesday, and the Caroni is scheduled to ship the same day, so I should see it either Wednesday or Thursday. The Caroni could have come earlier, but I need the tractor to move it down the driveway. (WoodMaxx is quoting mid-Sept for delivery of their 5')

So I need both gear oil and grease gun + grease before I can use the Caroni. Anyone have suggestions on brands? Some grease guns have a rigid tube, others a flexible one. I assume flexible is preferred. Is it better to get synthetic grease?

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Hello Jerik,

Welcome to the forum, If you can find an Alemite grease gun they are of a very high quality manufacture.

Greases and oils must meet the American Petroleum Institute specifications to be sold so you have no worries there.

The red high temperature grease is a very good grease to use so you will not go wrong there.

I you can find the Kendall squirt bottles of 90 weight gear oil it will be fine to use that in your gear box.

Did you order the dipstick extension kit for the flail mower gearbox?

Having a grease gun with the flexible hose and the loc-in-lube will help you as the spiders/crosses/universal joints you will be much better off with the grease hose as you need to the flexibility to reach them if the PTO shaft is left connected all the time.

Just remember that you do not have to grease the universal joints at every use, the flail mower rotor bearings should greased every 6-8 hours depending on how heavy the brush is and the grease rear roller at every mowing and be sure to check the mounting bolts for the rear roller mounting side plates at every use. if they are lose please use some blue loctite to hold the bolts in place. When using the blue loctite you can pour a line of loctite on the length of the bolt to secure it. Just be sure not to over tighten the bolts.

If you are clearing tall brush you need to check the interior of the flail mower(under the flail mower shroud) to be sure that there is nothing wrapped around the flail mower rotor bearing hubs as any brush will hold the heat in and heat up the grease and ruin the flail mower rotor bearings.

Do not hesitate to ask questions as we can and will help you.

 

[Jerik]

Thanks for your info. Dipstick extension kit? I don't recall hearing about it, so no. I don't see anything like that on the Agri Supply website. What does it do and where do I find it?

I also just ordered the Lincoln 1134 grease gun recommended by ronjhall and the LockNLube recommended by ericm and others, and a tube of Lucas Oil 10301 Heavy Duty Grease. Is that grease OK? And it sounds like I should pick up some loctite too.

 

[Fallon]

Thanks for your info. Dipstick extension kit? I don't recall hearing about it, so no. I don't see anything like that on the Agri Supply website. What does it do and where do I find it?

I also just ordered the Lincoln 1134 grease gun recommended by ronjhall and the LockNLube recommended by ericm and others, and a tube of Lucas Oil 10301 Heavy Duty Grease. Is that grease OK? And it sounds like I should pick up some loctite too.

Frequent greasing with the "wrong" grease is orders of magnitude better than infrequent greasing with the right grease. Dont over grease so you blow out the seals (a couple pumps is generally all you need, or refer to the owners manual).

Some grease types aren't compatible, but if you pick one & stick with it, that a moot problem.

 

[lagreex1]

First I have a question for those of you with side shift flails. Do you put any grease on the shift rails? I feel like I should be putting some type of lubricant on them, but there was nothing in the (terrible) caroni instructions.

Second I just completed my first full mow of the year with my TM1900. I don't know the acreage but it ended up being right at five hours on the tractor. Based on it I have a couple thoughts for people looking at a similar setup.
-The side shift is NICE, but because of Caroni's design you can't fully lift the mower with the PTO connected. If you lift too much the side shift rails will snap the PTO. This isn't a problem unless you constantly need to raise the mower a lot. I can raise the flail high enough for road transportation, so it's fine for me. I do need to unhook the PTO to load the tractor onto my trailer.
-I was worried that my Kubota L3901 wasn't powerful/big enough for the TM1900. It has more than enough power for my knee-high grass (not once did I bog down the tractor, and I was going as fast as I wanted to). If I was plowing through really tall weeds I'm sure I'd need to slow down. The flail is a lot of weight on the back, but not too much. I did need to put my wheels out as far as they'd go to keep things from feeling 'tippy,' and as soon as my buddy has some spare time I'm getting the rear tires filled.

 

[Fallon]

I just ran into issues with my Peruzzo not wanting to side shift. Some lube got it sliding properly.

I tend to use a dry lube for this type of stuff. Either a teflon spray or motorcycle chain wax. Oil or grease will be covered in dust & grit in seconds. I have to scrape piles of dust & grass off those rails every day just due to how things settle ontop of the mower. So far the chain wax doesnt make things stick.

Peruzzo appears to use stainless or chromed rod for the side shift rails. Hydraulic cylinder shaft that they weld on the bottom it looks like.

 

[lagreex1]

perfect! thanks fallon!

 

[ronjhall]

First I have a question for those of you with side shift flails. Do you put any grease on the shift rails? I feel like I should be putting some type of lubricant on them, but there was nothing in the (terrible) caroni instructions.

The bushing on my Woodmaxx are nylon. If Caroni's are similar I would say no lube. Keep shafts clean if that is possible.

 

[lagreex1]

The bushing on my Woodmaxx are nylon. If Caroni's are similar I would say no lube. Keep shafts clean if that is possible.

The bushings on my Caroni appear to be nylon.

Thanks!

 

[LMychajluk]

If the shafts getting dirty is a concern, why don't they cover them with something like a shock boot to keep any crud off of them?

 

[Fallon]

If the shafts getting dirty is a concern, why don't they cover them with something like a shock boot to keep any crud off of them?

At least on my Peruzzo, the bushings only cover 3/4 of the guide rod, so sealing anything up all the way isnt really possible. It would make cleaning things way harder. Given how grass & dirt gets packed everywhere already I know it would end up packed inside any boots unless you could seal both ends & the bottom well.