Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

The new rotor bearings I got for my old Ford 917 flail are non-greasable as well. Greasable bearings would have been a LOT more expensive & I don't remember if Messics even had any in stock.

Sealed bearings are getting a lot more common & in a lot of applications do better than greased ones... I hear. Over greasing blows out seals, leading to premature failure the story goes.

 

[shaeff]

The new rotor bearings I got for my old Ford 917 flail are non-greasable as well. Greasable bearings would have been a LOT more expensive & I don't remember if Messics even had any in stock. Sealed bearings are getting a lot more common & in a lot of applications do better than greased ones... I hear. Over greasing blows out seals, leading to premature failure the story goes.

Good to know! Thanks for the input, and that actually makes some sense to me. The bearings I got were not JD, but a cross referenced number to a New Holland if I remember correctly. Either way, the new ones will be much better than the old, which did not spin at all!

I got to thinking, I wonder if I can braze my cracked pillow block? It's not under THAT much load, really, and it's bolted fast with three decent carriage bolts to prevent movement. If I can't find a suitable replacement, I suppose I'll look into that.

 

[Steave]

I prefer the sealed bearings if I have a choice. I installed sealed bearings on my Mott 72 when I reworked the roller. The rotor shaft has greasable bearings and the fact sheet sent with the bearing said max 2 shots of grease every 40 hours. For me that's about once a year. That's pretty low maintenance compared to some of my stuff. My landpride finish mower has 9 grease zerks that needs lots of grease.

 

[shaeff]

I prefer the sealed bearings if I have a choice. I installed sealed bearings on my Mott 72 when I reworked the roller. The rotor shaft has greasable bearings and the fact sheet sent with the bearing said max 2 shots of grease every 40 hours. For me that's about once a year. That's pretty low maintenance compared to some of my stuff. My landpride finish mower has 9 grease zerks that needs lots of grease.

I suppose I don't have to make sure the grease zerks work, then, eh?

I'm hoping it stays dry here this week, it's been warm the past few days and fairly windy. If this weather keeps up I'll be able to fire up the flail early next week and maintain the field I rough cut last fall. I want to give that new vegetation a chance to grab hold!

 

[John Fitzgerald]

There is an old Ford flail mower on our local CL. It's a model 22-124, six foot, serial 2778.. I wonder if it would be too heavy for my LS XJ2025H tractor? They are asking $695. It's a little rusty but spins well and has all its duckfoot knives. It's one of those that has a single rod that goes through and holds all the flails at each position in a single row.

 

[Catoosa]

There is an old Ford flail mower on our local CL. It's a model 22-124, six foot, serial 2778.. I wonder if it would be too heavy for my LS XJ2025H tractor? They are asking $695. It's a little rusty but spins well and has all its duckfoot knives. It's one of those that has a single rod that goes through and holds all the flails at each position in a single row.

I ran a 6 foot Ford behind my Ford 3000 40hp for several years, worked well but eventually the body started cracking because of the rust from years of neglect. It was fine on my 3000 but if in tall thick grass and weeds I could sure tell it was working. From what I can find your tractor is around 24hp, might be about 10hp short for a 6 footer but it's going to depend allot on what and how often you mow.

Oh Just this morning saw a 6 foot Ford listed in the local (Tulsa) CL for $400.00

 

[John Fitzgerald]

I ran a 6 foot Ford behind my Ford 3000 40hp for several years, worked well but eventually the body started cracking because of the rust from years of neglect. It was fine on my 3000 but if in tall thick grass and weeds I could sure tell it was working. From what I can find your tractor is around 24hp, might be about 10hp short for a 6 footer but it's going to depend allot on what and how often you mow.

Oh Just this morning saw a 6 foot Ford listed in the local (Tulsa) CL for $400.00

It would probably be better if I found something in the 4 to 5 foot cut range. That 6 ft Ford flail looks like maybe 800 pounds?

 

[Fallon]

There is an old Ford flail mower on our local CL. It's a model 22-124, six foot, serial 2778.. I wonder if it would be too heavy for my LS XJ2025H tractor? They are asking $695. It's a little rusty but spins well and has all its duckfoot knives. It's one of those that has a single rod that goes through and holds all the flails at each position in a single row.

My 7' Ford 917 22-184 ran pretty well behind my L3200 hst (32hp, 25pto, 3,500lbs with loader & loaded tires, 60" track). I had to go slow, but it was a smother ride & I covered the same or more groud than mowing with my properly sized new LandPride 60" rotary cutter.

I paid $100 for the flail & bought the rotary with the tractor new. Rotary went with the L3200 because I wanted more for my ancient beatup flail than the nearly new rotary. I have around $600 into the flail now with new knives, belts, PTO shaft & recently new bearings. Looking to replace it in a few years as it's so old & beat, but its still a good work horse.

 

[Fallon]

There is an old Ford flail mower on our local CL. It's a model 22-124, six foot, serial 2778.. I wonder if it would be too heavy for my LS XJ2025H tractor? They are asking $695. It's a little rusty but spins well and has all its duckfoot knives. It's one of those that has a single rod that goes through and holds all the flails at each position in a single row.

My 7' Ford 917 22-184 ran pretty well behind my L3200 hst (32hp, 25pto, 3,500lbs with loader & loaded tires, 60" track). I had to go slow, but it was a smother ride & I covered the same or more groud than mowing with my properly sized new LandPride 60" rotary cutter.

I paid $100 for the flail & bought the rotary with the tractor new. Rotary went with the L3200 because I wanted more for my ancient beatup flail than the nearly new rotary. I have around $600 into the flail now with new knives, belts, PTO shaft & recently new bearings. Looking to replace it in a few years as it's so old & beat, but its still a good work horse.

 

[Catoosa]

It's one of those that has a single rod that goes through and holds all the flails at each position in a single row.

That is the one bad thing about Ford flail mowers. If you loose an end cutter you have to pull the rod all the way out to fix it. Of course this means every cutter/hanger on that rod falls off and you have to play the wiggle game to get them all back on the rod.

When I work on one of my flail mowers I use the bucket and chains to flip it upside down. Easy access to bearings and cutters.