Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

Hello Davemhughes,

I just found your post this morning; just to be sure, you do mean the flail mower rotor and not the rear roller????????

The inner races of both bearings have to have a shrink fit meaning they are tight against the shaft stub of the flail mower rotor.
and cannot move.

The roller bearings are heated to allow them to slip over the stub shaft portion of the flail mower rotor when they are installed.

The bearing mounting flange(if used) mounting bolts must tight against the side weldments.

If there is no debris surrounding the bearing housing or flange or if there is no build up of material like baling twine, nylon twine, baling wire or barbed wire the usual suspect and only suspect is a spinning inner bearing race so you should not use it again until the problem is verified.

 

[leonz]

Hello Davemhughes,

I looked at the exploded diagram for the woodmax flailmowers, the only thing I can suggest for now is this:

If there is nothing trapped around the flail mower rotor creating heat the only real option for you to try is to tighten metric head cap screw bolt on the compression flange behind the triple V belt pulley with a 1/4 inch drive socket for the compression flange (Part number 67) by removing the Triple V belt pulley IF AND ONLY IF YOU CANNOT FIT a metric allen wrench behind the triple V belt pulley to tighten it.

This flange apparently has no bolts for the six drilled holes in the flange.

IN my saying that; if everything is tight and there is nothing wrapped around the flail mower rotor I think the bearing will fail shortly.

Why they are using self aligning bearings is beyond me as they not ment for this type of application UNLESS AND ONLY UNLESS the Stub Shaft on the flail mower rotor is tapered thus allowing the compression against the shoulder and increasing the holding power of the inner race of the self aligning bearing on the stub shaft IF IT IS TAPERED.

Apparently they are using component parts common with the other implements they manufacture and assemble for resale.

 

[otus_branch]

I noticed on my Woodmaxx 78 that after running it the main roller flail shaft is pretty hot the touch right near the belt driven bearing area. I greased it up but I plan to watch it as I do not want a bearing failure on a new tool....that would irritate me to no end.

Sorry to hear of these troubles, davemhughes. I hope that leonz' advice is helpful, and that you can identify and remedy the root of the problem. I'm interested to hear how you resolve it all.

-otus

 

[doneill127]

Davemhughes, not sure how old your mower is but woodmaxx is now using NSK self aligning bearings on their mowers. I believe NSK is a quality bearing company and I’m not sure why a self aligning bearing is a bad application. See the attached link http://https://www.bearingtips.com/what-are-self-aligning-ball-bearings/. Too much grease in these could cause some issues as the manual recommends one or two pumps at 250 hrs.

 

[doneill127]

By the way the real reason I like my Woodmaxx is the shipping container makes an awesome work table

 

[ronjhall]

By the way the real reason I like my Woodmaxx is the shipping container makes an awesome work table

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Nice.

 

[otus_branch]

Davemhughes, not sure how old your mower is but woodmaxx is now using NSK self aligning bearings on their mowers. I believe NSK is a quality bearing company and I’m not sure why a self aligning bearing is a bad application. See the attached link http://https://www.bearingtips.com/what-are-self-aligning-ball-bearings/. Too much grease in these could cause some issues as the manual recommends one or two pumps at 250 hrs.

Two pumps every 250 hours is astounding to me. All the equipment with zerks I own so far need 2 or more pumps of grease at 10 hour intervals...

 

[doneill127]

Agree but most of the things on my equipment with zerks aren’t precision ball bearings. They’re slow speed high load bushings. Think about your truck/car. When was the last time you pulled and greased any of the wheel or axle bearings. Granted I do grease the tapered roller bearings on the trailer every year

 

[otus_branch]

Good point, donelli127. I'm just trying to wrap my head around new information...

 

[ronjhall]

I also used the crate that my Woodmaxx Fail Mower came in. Remover all the upper pieces and added 4 casters to bottom to made a storage dolly for it.
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