Ford 918 H Flaier/Mower Problem

[docrocky]

Pretty old piece of equipment obtained at consignment auction years back. Used to mow down garden stubble/corn stalks and then mow down tall grass on flat 4-5 acre spot. Years back Russian Olive scrub started and hard to keep shots down and mower with heavy tines does well.

Since I am an amateur, pto shaft given to me was in horrible shape and wobbled badly to the point cracked the gear box mounting a few times. When universal joints were destroyed I had one fabricated by the shaft pros (Fleet Pride) and it cut vibration down to zero.

Now the current problem is that the sway bars are bending like pretzels. Should the bars attaching to the pin under the axels be snug or can there be a bit of wobble? (I will provide pictures) Where they attach to the 3 point lift arms should they be tight with no wobble also.

Or am I causing the problem by mowing when making a sweeping turn? Ssisnce the grass and groth is so thick I am cutting as high as I can.

What am I doing wrong?

 

[2458n]

My lower lift arms have the check chains like you have. Have three flails and have never ran the flat bars on the outside that you are using. Lower link has balls on both ends so what is behind you will move in a turn. Not sure why you are using the flat pieces. If you think the pto shaft is going to come apart-it is to short. Mow with the back roller on the ground and attack high and heavy with a slower ground speed. By looking at your pictures - Your drive shaft is crooked. Your mower is designed to be off set. Gear box and tractor PTO should be in line. Change The mounts on the mower after you line the tractor up with the gear box, you have it mounted wrong. It looks as if the top link brackets both front and rear bars have been changed.

 

[TSO]

I have a 918h also. Mine is mounted closer to "centered" behind my machine, though there are additional mounting holes to offset if desired. My PTO and gearbox are not directly in line with the PTO output shaft on my tractor, and i never get any wobble, unless i raise the 3pt all the way up AND pull in my top link all the way (i have a hydraulic top link). So... I don't think that having the gearbox offset is your problem.

I also don't have or use those flat bars... But my tractor has positional stabilizer bars instead of chains, so i can dial my in.

If you're getting wobble while the unit is at ground level, it will likely be either: A) the mowers PTO shaft is bent. B) the tractors PTO output shaft is bent. C) the gearboxes PTO input shaft is bent. D) the gearbox bearings are bad.

 

[docrocky]

In response to the flat steel stabilizer bars which seem to bend easily, would the tubular steel adjustable work better or resist bending(like the top link adjustable, although I bent the heck of the threaded end on one). Second question is it better to use sway bars than not and let the chains control the side to side motion of the 3 point lift arms? Third question: is anyone aware of a users manual that goes into details of how to properly use the attachment other than just the initial set up?

Thank you both for your insights. Recently read the forum on mower decks versus the flayers and was astonished at the safety and hazards brought up especially with the bush hog type. Any out standing dangers with the flayers that should be brought up???

 

[leonz]

Hello Docrocky,

I want to welcome you as the newest resident member of the Flail Mower Nations from The Great Lakes States of Ohio and Michigan.

American made flail mowers are very safe mowers to own and operate as all the clippings/brush stay under the flail mower shroud until they exit over the rear roller. The European Made flail mowers are even safer to use and operate as they have front mounted piano hinge plates that prevent material from being ejected forward as the mower is rolling on the sod.

Your flail mower needs work and perhaps its time to think about sending it to the happy hunting ground as it needs a lot of things.

The original three point hitch was apparently damaged, discarded and replaced by the one on the flail mower now and they did not pay attention to mounting it correctly after the first three point hitch was damaged and discarded.

A flail mower does not need stay bars to work properly, an old corn planter or in row cultivator does.

 

[2458n]

If you have a welder use what they have provided. There may be nothing wrong with the mower except the way they cobbed up your three pt. hitch . I have a couple of building lots in town with trees and bunches of leaves. The city will pick up at curb. With a 5 ft. model of what you have I can mow and mulch the oak leaves in one pass. This is in town so the flail saves the day. Leonz said what I was trying to say in the middle of the night. It was thrown together to sell at auction. With the current three point set up you will not get it to work the way it should. Good project material.

 

[Fallon]

If you have a welder use what they have provided. There may be nothing wrong with the mower except the way they cobbed up your three pt. hitch . I have a couple of building lots in town with trees and bunches of leaves. The city will pick up at curb. With a 5 ft. model of what you have I can mow and mulch the oak leaves in one pass. This is in town so the flail saves the day. Leonz said what I was trying to say in the middle of the night. It was thrown together to sell at auction. With the current three point set up you will not get it to work the way it should. Good project material.

I'll 2nd or 3rd that. Definately looks like they patched something together for the auction.

Those sway bars are a joke. They have no strength in compression. If you swapped them out for chains with a turnbuckle to tighten them, they would work a lot better pulling against each other in tension through the implement. Actually, if you just put turnbuckles on that bar & tightened them it would put it in tension & actually keep things reasonably tight. I tend to keep my sway links a bit tighter so things aren't flopping around in back. You can run things relatively fine without any sway links at all, pulling intrinsically will try & center anything on a 3pt. I don't like things flopping around to much though.

My old beat to **** Ford 917 flail has the gear box mounted in the center, along with every other old Ford I can recall seeing. So it being mounted off to the side is very strange. Not the end of the world as the 3pt lifts/lowers changing the angle of the PTO shaft all the time. But the more angle you run on a PTO shaft, the shorter the lifespan (it's also exponentially shorter, not a linear falloff).

I paid $100 a few years ago for my old beat to **** 7' 971. I've got around $600 into it total now & it's getting close to being retired. Good mower, just really old & beatup. When I got it it had a bent hood (torched out parts that were getting hit by knives & patched those), missing PTO shaft. Put a new PTO, belts & set of knives on it. Gearbox seals started leaking pretty good so I put grease in it instead of $80 of new seals. $80ish for new rotor bearings that blew last summer. It's still running good, but the ancient crack through half the hood is noisy & annoying, rotor has more dings in it than you can flail a pile of rocks at. It doesn't vibrate bad though. I'd think about refurbing it again, but at some point you are just putting good money after bad. At this point I'm likely to just run it until it dies if I don't replace it first, at which point i'll keep it as a spare.

If you have the PTO issues sorted out & it isn't vibrating to bad, I'd probably run it until it died. But I wouldn't put much money into it. Just make sure that there is plenty of float for the toplink when mowing (you could even just disconnect the toplink when mowing to let it float properly).

 

[DoubleDeere]

Not familiar with that flail mower and this is just a thought. It almost looks like the a-frame that is just next to the gear box should be mounted to the frame bracket farther left (viewing from behind). That looks like it would center the gear box as Fallon pointed out.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I never even noticed the offset. I can't believe it runs vibration free.

I ran my 917 behind a 42 PTO hp tractor for years with no problem. Put in on our 70 HP JD and the S shaped bars that go up to the top link failed at the bends. No cause that I could determine. Replaced them and sold that mower. Still have a 917 fine cut that I don't use.

Great old mowers. Probably better then anything you generally buy today.

Make sure to keep oil in the gearbox.

 

[ericm979]

Shouldn't the check chains from the center of the tractor to the lower links be snug? The steel straps that are bending look like a kludge.

 

[Industrial Toys]

Sleepless nights may be good for something.

I think I know what's going on.

Normally, there are floating links on the mower. As someone mentioned, this is a kludge. So, since the top link is firmly attached, if a bump or contour pushes up on the rear trailing roller, the two arms will be forced down!

Back in the 80s, I had my first 917 and could not figure out why it scalped the top of a burm going up and down! Intuitively, it would seem that when the tractor front wheels go down, the mower would go up. I built a small model with all the correct pivot points and wheels. I was surprised to find, that on account of the extra pivot point of the 917 attachment arms, the opposite was in fact true. As I came over the burm and the tractor wheels when down onto even ground, the mower would go down and scalp. Same thing descending the grade.

Either re-establish those floating arms, or make some sort of folding 3rd link that the mower can't push against.

 

[ovrszd]

Flatbar stabilizers were used on Ford tractors for years. It is impossible to bend them if properly attached. To compress one side the other side must stretch. If, when they are attached to an implement, both are tight, no compression is allowed.

I don't think you can get that scenario on an implement with flexible attaching points such as this Flail. So you will rely on the chains to control sway. I run my 917 rigid behind the tractor with no side to side movement.

As to the offset. Is it possible the 3pt tower is bolted to the mower in the wrong place for your application? Are there a set of tabs not being used that would move the gearbox to a more centered location of your tractor?

My 917 mows offset to the tractor, protruding out to the right side. But the gearbox is centered in regards to the tractor.

 

[ovrszd]

After looking at the pics again I would also add, the stabilizer should ALWAYS be pinned next to the 3pt arm. By having them pinned on outside the flail tabs you create a lot of distance between the 3pt links and the stabilizer. This is how you are getting the "slop" to allow compression.

 

[Fallon]

Is your flail centered behind your tractor? It looks like it, but it shouldn't be. Just look at mine behind my old L3200 (complete with bits torched out while patching. Not anywhere near centered. Most flails stick out a lot more on the right side so you can get close to obstacles on that side.

You can also barely see the lift links on the 3pt mount on the mower. The lift arms can move up & down 6" or more to let the mower follow the ground as you go.

 

[ovrszd]

That's why I mentioned the tower. I think it's been moved to center the mower behind the tractor

 

[DoubleDeere]

Here is a link to Messicks for parts and diagrams if it helps you any. Wonder if the width of your flail mower a-frame is even standard cat.1. Might be to narrow. New Holland (7155921) - FORD 918H FLAIL MOWER 71" HEAVY DUTY (6/9-12/14) Parts Diagrams

 

[Fallon]

Here is a link to Messicks for parts and diagrams if it helps you any. Wonder if the width of your flail mower a-frame is even standard cat.1. Might be to narrow. New Holland (7155921) - FORD 918H FLAIL MOWER 71" HEAVY DUTY (6/9-12/14) Parts Diagrams

My 917 fits on my Quick Hitch just fine. That diagram for the 917h looks like the same setup as mine, so it's likely standard Cat 1 & QH compatible to. At least in the OEM setup, which is apparently long gone.