After buying a new property in Northern Maine we bought a WoodMaxx flail mower mode, FM-78H with hammers. It's job is to mow back the fields which haven't been touched in 4+ years. The field was almost all heavy weeds, grasses and brambles, no wood of any diameter worth mentioning other than along the very edges. We closed only a few weeks ago, and with almost no snow to mention of I figured I could get a head start on spring by mowing now while the ground was frozen and no mud to worry about.
Do to the thickness of the vegetation I started out in low and of course at the 540 PTO speed. Unfortunately, after only a out and hour of mowing the belts smoked and all three broke. I can tell they heated way top as there was a heat mark on the protective casing over the pulley housing right where the idle pulley is. Had I overdone it in the heavy growth? It didn't seem like it, the tractor was never bogging down or anything. I have a Kioti DK5310E HST, by the way.
NAPA was able to get the right size V-Belts overnight and the next day installed the new belts, and tensioned properly. Even with the spring completely disconnected from the idle pulley the belts are VERY difficult to installed due to the tightness, but I eventually got them on. I also raised the roller and skids to mow at the max height. I ran the PTO at 540 for about 10 minutes without mowing to test things out, check for wobble or overheating and all looked good. I checked the tension one more time and headed out into the field. This time the belts broke (didn't seem to overheat as much) after about 2 hours.
I called WoodMaxx and the tech was really helpful. We talked through out all, and didn't come to any firm conclusions, but he agreed to send a new trio of belts, advised me to make certain they were good and tight and also recommended I check the full alignment with a straight edge.
With the new belts scheduled to arrive tomorrow I was up in the barn this evening cleaning all the pulleys of melted rubber and getting ready to reinstall the belts when they arrive. In doing so, I noticed that the arm that holds the idle pulled had a groove worn into it from where the inside edge of the drive pulled at rubbed against it. I had not noticed this the first time I changed the belts. The pulley didn't seem to be harmed at all since the contact was on the inside edge, but this was a clear sign to me that the pulley may not be running where it is supposed to be. I through a level across the face of the two pulleys as the tech had told me to do, and sure enough the drive pulley was way too far in on the machine. There isn't any play in it, so its not like something is loose, and I have no idea of it has always been this way or not, but I'm sure that things won't run correctly with how it is. See photo.
So tomorrow I will be calling WoodMaxx and seeing how they will deal will deal with it. I am thinking I won't be happy with anything less than a new machine and even with that I will be frustrated with the down time, likely not being able to mow before snow, and need to assemble, and setup a whole new machine.
Not sure if I have any direct question here, just seeing if someone can see anything here that I am missing, or has ever had a similar issue. Also making people aware of this issue with WoodMaxx, and hopefully will be able to reply to this thread in the future with a story about a positive resolution. Fingers crossed.
Do to the thickness of the vegetation I started out in low and of course at the 540 PTO speed. Unfortunately, after only a out and hour of mowing the belts smoked and all three broke. I can tell they heated way top as there was a heat mark on the protective casing over the pulley housing right where the idle pulley is. Had I overdone it in the heavy growth? It didn't seem like it, the tractor was never bogging down or anything. I have a Kioti DK5310E HST, by the way.
NAPA was able to get the right size V-Belts overnight and the next day installed the new belts, and tensioned properly. Even with the spring completely disconnected from the idle pulley the belts are VERY difficult to installed due to the tightness, but I eventually got them on. I also raised the roller and skids to mow at the max height. I ran the PTO at 540 for about 10 minutes without mowing to test things out, check for wobble or overheating and all looked good. I checked the tension one more time and headed out into the field. This time the belts broke (didn't seem to overheat as much) after about 2 hours.
I called WoodMaxx and the tech was really helpful. We talked through out all, and didn't come to any firm conclusions, but he agreed to send a new trio of belts, advised me to make certain they were good and tight and also recommended I check the full alignment with a straight edge.
With the new belts scheduled to arrive tomorrow I was up in the barn this evening cleaning all the pulleys of melted rubber and getting ready to reinstall the belts when they arrive. In doing so, I noticed that the arm that holds the idle pulled had a groove worn into it from where the inside edge of the drive pulled at rubbed against it. I had not noticed this the first time I changed the belts. The pulley didn't seem to be harmed at all since the contact was on the inside edge, but this was a clear sign to me that the pulley may not be running where it is supposed to be. I through a level across the face of the two pulleys as the tech had told me to do, and sure enough the drive pulley was way too far in on the machine. There isn't any play in it, so its not like something is loose, and I have no idea of it has always been this way or not, but I'm sure that things won't run correctly with how it is. See photo.
So tomorrow I will be calling WoodMaxx and seeing how they will deal will deal with it. I am thinking I won't be happy with anything less than a new machine and even with that I will be frustrated with the down time, likely not being able to mow before snow, and need to assemble, and setup a whole new machine.
Not sure if I have any direct question here, just seeing if someone can see anything here that I am missing, or has ever had a similar issue. Also making people aware of this issue with WoodMaxx, and hopefully will be able to reply to this thread in the future with a story about a positive resolution. Fingers crossed.
