Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[IslandTractor]

Jelf, if you change the blades frequently you'll benefit from having a hydraulic toplink. Allows you to quickly shorten it to give better access to the rotor. My other trick is to back the tractor up the ramp to our barn and park just before the top so I can place my little stool on the top flat area while the tractor is still on the ramp. Gives a few more inches of access. You might not have a convenient ramp but elevating the rear wheels by driving on to a 2x8 or similar would also help.

 

[Steave]

Jelf, if you change the blades frequently you'll benefit from having a hydraulic toplink. Allows you to quickly shorten it to give better access to the rotor. My other trick is to back the tractor up the ramp to our barn and park just before the top so I can place my little stool on the top flat area while the tractor is still on the ramp. Gives a few more inches of access. You might not have a convenient ramp but elevating the rear wheels by driving on to a 2x8 or similar would also help.

Good Idea. :thumbsup:

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Well the balancing trip did not work out. Made the 4 hour round trip for nothing. Turns out my rotor was about 4 inches too long to fit on the machine they have.
Looks like I'm back to static balancing the best I can.

 

[Steave]

Well the balancing trip did not work out. Made the 4 hour round trip for nothing. Turns out my rotor was about 4 inches too long to fit on the machine they have.
Looks like I'm back to static balancing the best I can.

Well I hate that for you. I was concerned that may be a problem because not many electric motors have shafts that long.

Hope you got to look around in the shop and see some ideas that somebody came up with to make life easier. I've seen some nice gadgets and got some good ideas from different shops I've done business with. I done electrical work and we worked at a lot of industrial businesses.

I've always heard if you want to come up with a way to do a project easier just ask the laziest man there.

 

[vlcakc]

Did a bit of maintenance on the 2000 New Holland 918H 6' flail mower today. All the Zerk fittings were not taking grease, so I replaced those. Also opened the back access cover and pulled the belt guard to check the belts and knives. The original belts are still in very good condition after 16 years usage which surprised me a bit. The knives were in decent shape with a few showing nicks on the cutting edge from hitting hard objects. I have only sharpened the knives a couple of times, so they too are holding up pretty well. My question: Are there different style replacement knives available for this mower? I have only found the original style on-line. The originals do a pretty good all around job for both finish and pasture mowing, but if there is something better out there I would consider changing. Thanks, Vic

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Well I hate that for you. I was concerned that may be a problem because not many electric motors have shafts that long.

Hope you got to look around in the shop and see some ideas that somebody came up with to make life easier. I've seen some nice gadgets and got some good ideas from different shops I've done business with. I done electrical work and we worked at a lot of industrial businesses.

I've always heard if you want to come up with a way to do a project easier just ask the laziest man there.

They said they had a machine that would work in Tulsa that they could take it to but couldn't tell an approximate price other than it could possibly take up to 6 hours which I'm not ready to spend that much on it. I imagine I can keep tinkering with it and get it close enough to use.

Didn't really look around much as I was with them trying to figure out a way to make the balancer work.

 

[IslandTractor]

Ozarks, why do you think the rotor is out of balance? Did you run it in the mower naked?

 

[Slagiatt]

Ozarks Landowner may try a drive line shop. most machine shops have balancer also I,ve been useing a computer spend for the last 16 years it will do this job just fine. I would not balance it the second way with the cutters do to sharping them will change the balance weight later on. the rotor should be balance with weld on metal blocks

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Ozarks, why do you think the rotor is out of balance? Did you run it in the mower naked?

Yes I ran it with the rotor bare and it shook like crazy. Upon further inspection one of the bearings was too big and I bet that is where the shake came from. The bearing was oblong where it wobbled on the shaft. It was bad enough that something was wearing a spot on the shaft where the bearing sets against. I would call it the shoulder of the shaft maybe.

The main problem I have now is the weights that were on it I have cut off in preparation for the new balance job I thought I was going to get. I can't imagine that the weight that was on it was original as one area had a hunk that was probably close to five pounds.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Ozarks Landowner may try a drive line shop. most machine shops have balancer also I,ve been useing a computer spend for the last 16 years it will do this job just fine. I would not balance it the second way with the cutters do to sharping them will change the balance weight later on. the rotor should be balance with weld on metal blocks

I've called the driveline shops here and they say they don''t have a balancer big enough.