Flail Mower JD 25a flail mower, auction find.

[Nightrain1]

It is missing the belt, maybe a half dozen scoop blades, and the tractor end of the pto shaft. I thought I would rob parts off a previous craigslist find-ford 917a that had a large oak tree fall on and bent the drum, but after doing some comparisons, nothing much will interchange. Napa has my belt, and now I am looking for the knives/rings etc as there is nothing there but a bolt hole. I haven't checked yet, but hoping I can remove the complete pto shaft off the 917a to the jd25a. If not, I guess I need to find another oe pto shaft also.(pricey) Any suggestions or thoughts? The wife says I should quit bringing home junk, but for $150, I couldn't resist. One way or another, the road ditch and the pond edges are gonna get tamed-lol.

 

[Nightrain1]

Added a couple attachments. Don't know why they covered the green paint since it is usually such a premium to have green paint. It also appears the mower was made in Mexico. Any ideas how old it really is? Looks like several knives are bent and you can see the pto shaft. The ford 917a has a solid square bar stock.

 

[Sackett2]

Good find! Gonna set you back to replace the knives and PTO shaft but you will still be way ahead...

 

[leonz]

Added a couple attachments. Don't know why they covered the green paint since it is usually such a premium to have green paint. It also appears the mower was made in Mexico. Any ideas how old it really is? Looks like several knives are bent and you can see the pto shaft. The ford 917a has a solid square bar stock.

I want to welcome you to the Flail Mower Nation as our newest member.
You should be able to install the less expensive side slicers on your flailmower
if you want to use different grass slicers. My dads John Deere 25A used the side
slicers with great sucess.

you can find spares at www.cleancutter.com as well as www.flailmaster.com and www.johnDeere.com

The John Deere Identification tag most likey indicates the date of manufacture as June of 1973,
and I believe they were painted yellow to differentiate the mexican manufacture/grey market product.

Your going to have to change all the scoop knives and hangers by the looks of things which will not set
you back that much.

Be sure to purchase the green Kevlar belts to replace the belts on the mower.

You can find power take off shafts almost everywhere these days-it a matter of
purchasing the right length shaft assembly to prevent damaging the mower or tractor.

Be sure to remove the belt guard and dig away at all the rubber dust and grease to expose
the all grease fittings on that side and be sure to check for grease fittings under the tensioner
if it is a spring type belt tensioner.

Be sure to drain the old oil and replace it with new oil too.

Happy Mowing.



Only 17,887 mowers to go
_______________________________________________________________________
Once you you flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:
Pronovost or not at all!!!:thumbsup::licking::drool:

 

[Nightrain1]

Got the belt and a new pto shaft on the mower, greased it up and gave a trial run, before buying some knives and hangers. A couple questions. The pto shaft has about 5 inches of shaft inside the other shaft. Is this enough to keep things happy? Now onto the knives, I would like to replace them all, but I am a little rough on stuff in the ditches, hitting small rocks occasionally. I would like to replace the knives that are missing or bent only. I am not sure exactly what knives and hangers I do have. I didn't realize there were several possibilities with not only knives, but rings and the other holder. Any thoughts or suggestions again. I think I will have a pretty good mower once I get everything done. Was impressed with how well it mowed, considering the missing and bent knives currently on there. Thanks again!

 

[leonz]

Hello Nighttrain1,

The amount of male P.T.O., shaft inside the female portion
is plenty and will be fine as long as you do not have a sudden
occurance that flail mower could drop and as result bind the
P.T.O. shaft from too steep an angle due to the mower being lower
than the tractor.


You have the scoop knives and standard hangers apparently.
Every scoop knive that is bent or broken will not aid you in
mowing and has been weakened by impact damage.

All you need to do is decide from whom it is you wish to purchase
the spares and repair parts from.

When you call about obtaining parts or visit the John Dealer in
the area be sure that you have the following-

1. mower serial number-Meaning everything on the identification tag
2. knive type needed (Scoop)
a. scoop knive count total

3. several pictures of the complete view of the flailmower rotor to how the JD dealer it condition and
to assure you that you will have the parts needed. About this- you appear to have a missing D ring
hanger and that will need to be replaced with new D ring, nut and bolt and scoop knive for this station.


Going directly to the John Deere dealer will get you the spare parts being
the D rings, bolts, nuts, scoop knives that same day in most cases and you
will be mowing the same day or the following day. You will end up breaking a lot of the old
bolts for the hangers so be sure to by a bag of bolts and washers from Fastenal if you have a
dealer nearby for extra parts as they will not go to waste on you.

Be sure to purchase some Fluid Film from the John Deere dealer if they have it as it
is great lubricant and rust preventer. The gallons are more economical than the spray cans
but the spray cans of fluid film are great until you run out of it and you have a )(*&^%$%^&*()(*&^ moment.

Happy Mowing


____________________________________________________________________________________
Once you go flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:
Pronovost or not at all!!!:thumbsup::licking::drool:

 

[Nightrain1]

Thank you Leonz, you are very helpful!

 

[leonz]

Be sure that you can lower the flail mowers rear roller to raise the cutting height of the mower
as this will reduce the damage on your scoop knives.

 

[weezil]

Hi All, new to tractors and Flail mowers. I think I have the same mower (in green). It came with the early 60's model Ford 2000 I bought and I'm hoping to get some advice. What is the best position/angle for the mower? I have tried adjusting my top link a few different ways and don't think I have found the right position yet. The mower is bogging down in tall (2ft) fescue and I'm even getting some vibration and clanking noises at higher revs. Should the roller touch the ground in that tall stuff or should I raise it up at first and make multiple passes? Any maintenance suggestions? Are the blades in the picture suitable for mowing tall grass and clearing overgrown fields and/or cutting small sapplings? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[greg_g]

Weezil - The dirt on the side skids plus the angle of the three point A-frame suggest the roller is set too low. Can't tell from the photos, but there should be some mechanism or hole selection to drop the roller - which in turn raises the the whole mower proportionately. The knives are both capable and appropriate, but appear quite dull. I strongly suggest you put new edges on them. Raising the roller off the ground is somewhat effective, in that it doesn't smash down the stalks - allowing a better cut on a second pass. But it also reduces the cutting effectiveness of the first pass, as the stalks will bend more as they're slashed.

//greg//