Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[leonz]

Interesting on the chain mounts. They sure look like they were forged on the knives and the piece that connects to the drum. I can't tell where the links were welded. I am a boilermaker by trade and see welds all the time.

Would the chain set up not work as well or is there another issue? The man I bought it from said it cuts very well as is even with the wore out knives.

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I am unsure if this flail shredder was ment for potato, cotton or sugar beet topping BUT the knives on the chain links is a bad idea simply because of the potential for a broken side slicer impaling someone or something. If John Deere did this its the first time I have ever seen it in 40 plus years. But it would explain the wider front apron due to the clockwise rotation of the flail mower rotor.

Any Flail Shredder sold today and made here or in Europe has the pair of side slicers mounted to a knife mounting station or the "Flail mower rotor" has a set of wide scoop knives that are either mounted in a spiral or simple overlap pattern over the "Flail Mower Rotors Diameter"to cover the entire width of cut under the shroud.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

"Cuts very well as is" is subjective and depends on the persons point of view.

You may be able to replace those chain link sets with two longer knives like this:

View attachment 469224

Different attachment to the drum. The ole boy I bought it from there is no telling what his idea of very well is lol.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

The chain set up should work about the same as knives mounted on a clevis. Same principle and useful for rough cutting in brush or with unseen obstacles. Worn blades can work fine for rough cutting. I would worry more about imbalance issues when you start to change blades as some blades are worn and new blades will be different weight.

I am going to replace all Knives for sure.

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

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I am unsure if this flail shredder was ment for potato, cotton or sugar beet topping BUT the knives on the chain links is a bad idea simply because of the potential for a broken side slicer impaling someone or something. If John Deere did this its the first time I have ever seen it in 40 plus years. But it would explain the wider front apron due to the clockwise rotation of the flail mower rotor.

Any Flail Shredder sold today and made here or in Europe has the pair of side slicers mounted to a knife mounting station or the "Flail mower rotor" has a set of wide scoop knives that are either mounted in a spiral or simple overlap pattern over the "Flail Mower Rotors Diameter"to cover the entire width of cut under the shroud.

The man I got it from said it was a cotton stalk cutter but I didn't know if he really knew. Maybe he did. I know we don't have any cotton any where near here.

It's interesting that out of the 32 stations half of them have the correct link and hanger set up with the other half being the chain. Not a single chain set up is broke but most of the hangers have broken on that half.

I'm not doubting you one bit on the chain set up being homemade but I have tried welding chain and it is pretty tough to do and make it look original. Whoever done it done a pretty good job.
At one time there was shields on the front of the unit and I will probably install something there for sure.

 

[leonz]

Now that I know you have a standard John Deere Flail Mower Rotor for that flail crop shredder life just got easier for you.

The JD folks apparently made this specifically for shredding/topping multiple crop types like peanuts, potato's and cotton for flat land farming and the chain mounted knives for between the rows on Sugar beets and potato's and other crops grown in the Ridge Tillage-Raised Bed Farming Method having one machine for both types of farming on irrigated as dry land ridge tillage.

You wont need the chain mounted knives for simple mowing.


The knife hangers are simple affair with bolt through connections(use fine thread Allen Head Bolts with two allen washers and Nylock nuts- these are the simplest way to prevent adding to the swear jar as you can use a long handle Allen Wrench to hold the Allen Head Bolt while using a ratchet to loosen the Nylock nuts(just be sure to clean the inside of the Allen head bolt with an o ring pick to get the dirt and dust out to let you push the wrench all the way in the head of the allen bolt to hold it in place.


I would purchase new hangers and knives or at least 2 pair to compare part numbers with flail master, clean cutter and hard hitter for a per piece price basis as you will have a low part number count in total to replace them all.

 

[Zerker]

Proud new owner of a Ford 22-124 Flail Mower, which is believe is the 907 series. Once i hooked it up to the tractor I had to test it out and ran a quick strip down the field. It mowed perfectly. Unfortunately my phone was dead so I was not able to take any pictures, but I will have some to post tomorrow! Gonna need a new belt for it real quick, but other then that it seems like its ready to roll after some regular maintenance.

 

[KenB2920]

So here is a hypothetical for the smart guys that know gearsulleys : math etc

If it were possible to put a smaller pulley (if you could find one to fit etc) , then do the math at what that revolution would be to make it 540 when lowering your RPMs on the machine, would that be possible ? Of course fitting shorter belt too

 

[Ozarks Landowner]

Now that I know you have a standard John Deere Flail Mower Rotor for that flail crop shredder life just got easier for you.

The JD folks apparently made this specifically for shredding/topping multiple crop types like peanuts, potato's and cotton for flat land farming and the chain mounted knives for between the rows on Sugar beets and potato's and other crops grown in the Ridge Tillage-Raised Bed Farming Method having one machine for both types of farming on irrigated as dry land ridge tillage.

You wont need the chain mounted knives for simple mowing.


The knife hangers are simple affair with bolt through connections(use fine thread Allen Head Bolts with two allen washers and Nylock nuts- these are the simplest way to prevent adding to the swear jar as you can use a long handle Allen Wrench to hold the Allen Head Bolt while using a ratchet to loosen the Nylock nuts(just be sure to clean the inside of the Allen head bolt with an o ring pick to get the dirt and dust out to let you push the wrench all the way in the head of the allen bolt to hold it in place.


I would purchase new hangers and knives or at least 2 pair to compare part numbers with flail master, clean cutter and hard hitter for a per piece price basis as you will have a low part number count in total to replace them all.

So the chain mounts were manufactured at one time? Going back to what I see when looking under the machine I'm thinking chain is the way to go as far as reliability. I imagine whoever broke nearly every hanger on it was probably doing things they shouldn't have but at the same time the chains held up to that abuse. I intend to not hit anything with it when I get it going but my property is loaded with rocks, stumps, limbs and even some old junk iron that I find every now and then so I can not guarantee I wont.

It's not really a money thing even though John Deere is ridiculous on their parts. I'm just looking at what is the best. In my line of work we lift sometimes up to 1 million pounds very high in the air over very critical equipment. We know that when looking over loads that any bolting is very suspect. We don't worry much about welds other than testing for cracks before lifting. Without a doubt bolts are always the weakest link. Even dropping down to lower weights and using hand rigging such as a 10 ton chainfall it is not the chain we worry about when the chainfall is getting maxed out.

When you say that using any welded part on the Knife hangers is not advised what is that reasoning? Please don't think I'm trying to argue with you on this as that is not the case at all I'm just trying to understand it all and get my mower going. I can't wait to see just what it can do.

 

[IslandTractor]

The weakest "link", by far, on the Caroni flail is the clevis. The bolts never seem to fail but the clevises break so regularly after knives hit solid objects that I suspect they are designed to do so.

 

[leonz]

Proud new owner of a Ford 22-124 Flail Mower, which is believe is the 907 series. Once i hooked it up to the tractor I had to test it out and ran a quick strip down the field. It mowed perfectly. Unfortunately my phone was dead so I was not able to take any pictures, but I will have some to post tomorrow! Gonna need a new belt for it real quick, but other then that it seems like its ready to roll after some regular maintenance.

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Hello Zerker,

I want to welcome you as the newest member of the Flail Mower Nation.