Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

jimmysisson · May 24, 2016

Getting back to the optional rear wheels for a moment. My SHD88 has them, and I use them to take some of the weight off the rear roller and bearings. They swivel nicely for turns. However, they don't swivel all the way around, and the tires hit the rear housing at that point. Therefore, you must raise the flail to back up, sometimes a pain. If you don't raise it, the tires dig into the ground, not turning, since they're jammed against the housing. A pic will help here.

Also, the Montage catalog lists the rear trash deflector as 6" wide. That won't even come down to the top level of the rear roller. I can make a deflector, but how wide should it be? I was thinking 12". As it is now, with no deflector, there's cuttings all over the place, and me. Any advice here? Thanks, Jim

IslandTractor · May 24, 2016

Needing to lift the mower to back up would be a major PITA for me. I often back into thick brush with the mower spinning rather than driving through six foot high brush that hides stumps and old car parts Etc. When I back in I can see exactly where the mower is going to cut. Yes, turning around is uncomfortable but I typically back only about eight feet or so before driving forward and maneuvering along the brush line to back into the next chunk so I'm only twisted in my seat for 15 seconds or so at a time.

I still don't get the advantage of guide wheels on a flail. I do however always have my grapple mounted when mowing so the weight of the mower when raised and traveling isn't a problem. I guess a heavy mower on a light tractor (looking at you Mr Kubota) might be an issue for road travel if there is no front ballast.

Ozarks Landowner · May 24, 2016

leonz said:
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I would call the main office of John Deere in Moline, Illinois, they have to have records of this flail shredder type.

Once you have removed the chain flails which were ment for between the row ridge till shredding to remove weeds you will have no issues.

This Flail Crop Shredders rotor is a common JD design.

1. All V Belts made are metric and available
2. All Bearings are metric and available
3. The D rings are common and available
4. The D ring mounting straps are available
5. The side slicer knife on this shredder is a common hardened knife and available
6. Be sure to order the exact duplicate knife
a. measure the total length IN A STRAIGHT LINE
b. measure the width of the knive
c. measure the cutting edge length
d. measure the knife thickness

No worries, Call the Moline office and they should have no trouble getting you a copy of the manual for this shredder.

Your half way there, just be sure to wash it really good with a pressure washer or at a car wash or use a steam jenny, replace the V belts, knife hanger straps, D rings and knives, check the wheel bearings, make sure you have the right length PTO shaft, change the oil and then you can mow.

Getting closer for sure. I talked to Flailmaster this morning and they are sending me some sample set ups. She wanted pictures of the mower as she was sure she would be able to identify but didn't seem to know right off hand. Very helpful lady and nice to talk to friendly company personnel on the phone. That's hard to find anymore.

I did notice a tag on one of the cutter shafts bearing housing buried deep in green paint. I took some paint stripper and found a layer of red paint under the green. The tag is a sealMaster tag. the number on it is s2279m. I've got a call in to SealMaster now to see what they can tell me. I think I need to do a little more research before calling JD again.

leonz · May 24, 2016

Ozarks Landowner said:
Getting closer for sure. I talked to Flailmaster this morning and they are sending me some sample set ups. She wanted pictures of the mower as she was sure she would be able to identify but didn't seem to know right off hand. Very helpful lady and nice to talk to friendly company personnel on the phone. That's hard to find anymore.

I did notice a tag on one of the cutter shafts bearing housing buried deep in green paint. I took some paint stripper and found a layer of red paint under the green. The tag is a sealMaster tag. the number on it is s2279m. I've got a call in to SealMaster now to see what they can tell me. I think I need to do a little more research before calling JD again.

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I bet it was Katrina that you talked to. The red paint is a primer,
The Seal Master bearings were made in Ithaca, New York at one time by
Morse Chain Inc.

You will not know more until the bearing fails and you look for the metric numbers
on the inner race and outer cup of the bearing.

leonz · May 24, 2016

jimmysisson said:
Getting back to the optional rear wheels for a moment. My SHD88 has them, and I use them to take some of the weight off the rear roller and bearings. They swivel nicely for turns. However, they don't swivel all the way around, and the tires hit the rear housing at that point. Therefore, you must raise the flail to back up, sometimes a pain. If you don't raise it, the tires dig into the ground, not turning, since they're jammed against the housing. A pic will help here. View attachment 469745

Also, the Montage catalog lists the rear trash deflector as 6" wide. That won't even come down to the top level of the rear roller. I can make a deflector, but how wide should it be? I was thinking 12". As it is now, with no deflector, there's cuttings all over the place, and me. Any advice here? Thanks, Jim View attachment 469746

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Hello Jimmy,

About the wheels, you can have a new pair of longer weldments made to allow you to back up but its better if you just clamp down on the steering brake if your comfortable doing that while moving if your mule has two brakes for the rear wheels.

Those wheels are high floatation tires if I remember correctly too so they have a larger diameter and width and that is why they get stuck while backing.

The 6" deflector for the mower is what you want. The clippings are carried over the flail mower rotor and bounce against the deflector rubber and then drop down and fall away under the edge of the deflector and the tiny clippings/dry grass are not carried back under the the flail mower and blasted up front all over you and the mule.

A wider deflector rubber will only hold the clippings and create a dust storm of grass clippings and fines as the knives will continue to pull the clippings forward until you lift the flail mower.

cerestes · May 24, 2016

I was able to grind enough of the beat up retaining clips to get wrenches on the bolts/nuts and remove the rest of the knife stations.

Any suggestions around using a really thick gear oil to avoid the leaking seal? I've also seen a few posts where folk stuffed the gear box full of grease. Anyone had success with that?

cerestes said:
At the end of last year I picked up a 6' flail mower.
View attachment 469478 View attachment 469479 View attachment 469481

Ran it for a pasture clear or two, but the tractor needed the pto shaft replaced so it didn't see much use. Finally got the tractor repaired, and now I want to get the flail in good working order.

While I had the tractor apart, I figured I would replace the oil in the flail's gear box. The oil that came out was >REALLY< thick. Like ten minutes to slowly drain thick. I replaced it with 80-90 gear oil and went in for the night.
Came out to the garage in the morning to a puddle of oil on the floor. Looks to be leaking out from around the input shaft in the tractor side of the gear box. Oddly, it doesn't seem to have leaked at all in the 8 months sitting in the barn.
Long term, I imagine seals need replacing. Short term, would there be issues reverting to how I got it? Fill it with a much thicker oil?

Next, it needed a bunch of missing or broken knives replaced, and those that were still there were pretty beat up. Decided to replace all of them, but the order hasn't arrive yet. I pulled the old off last night.
A section of 4-5 knife stations must have hit something really bad. Maybe 3 stations bent, one missing entirely. For the three beat up stations, I haven't been able to remove the bolts. The retaining clips that hold the d-rings in are so bent that I can't get a wrench seated on either the bolt or the nut. Any suggestions there?
View attachment 469480

Fallon · May 24, 2016

Lots of people put corn header grease (barely pourable grease) or the like in old rotary cutters. Not worth it to replace the seals & the grease seems to work fine while not leaking.

I'm sure it doesn't lube quite as well, but a minor increase in wear on an old gearbox won't significantly change its lifespan. It's just a couple of basic gears in there, not a jet engine.

Xfaxman · May 24, 2016

Don't use regular grease, use the pourable grease, like Fallon said.

Here is one of the threads on it: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/271324-grease-rotary-cutter-gear-box.html

cerestes · May 25, 2016

Xfaxman said:
Don't use regular grease, use the pourable grease, like Fallon said.
Here is one of the threads on it: http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/271324-grease-rotary-cutter-gear-box.html

Thanks. I'll look around and see if I can find some corn header grease.

The tension pulley deflects the belt path way more than feels 'right. I suspect the belt it may be oversized. If that's the case, I would like to buy a new belt.
Based on the photos, anyone able to positively identify the mower? I haven't found any markings, but think it may be an older 6' Mott/Alamo.

jimmysisson · May 25, 2016

Leon, just to be sure, you know I was asking about the rear trash deflector, even though my pic was of the front. I made that one too, not sure how wide it should be. It's around 6" too. Thanks.
Jim