Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

houser52 · Oct 5, 2017

DoubleDeere said:
Looks much better.Should make a big difference.Was the 46" the length that Caroni originally had on it?

Yes, the original belts are 46" OD

Kirch169 · Oct 5, 2017

Hey Leonz Thanks for the info.

My 907 has 33 Stations in three rows (11 each). Not sure if that is enough but it does great behind the little B3030 if I go slow and use common sense.

Right now it has y-blades on it with Shackles. I ordered smooth cut (duckfoot style) blades and should be here Friday. The balance sense pretty good right now. Then I run it over my lawn it has only a small amount of vibration. Out in the field the 3-4 foot grasses make is vibrate more but not awful.

Any tips on getting a better balance on the rotor? the 907 is set up to have the blade hang from a shackle.

The upgrade to a kubota L4701 or MX4800 will help with power and stability.

But I am still amazed at what I can cut down with a 23hp at PTO and this old flail mower (made somewhere in the late 1960s).

leonz · Oct 5, 2017

Kirch169 said:
Hey Leonz, Thanks for the info. My 907 has 33 Stations in three rows (11 each). Not sure if that is enough but it does great behind the little B3030 if I go slow and use common sense. Right now it has y-blades on it with Shackles. I ordered smooth cut (duckfoot style) blades and should be here Friday. The balance sense pretty good right now. Then I run it over my lawn it has only a small amount of vibration. Out in the field the 3-4 foot grasses make is vibrate more but not awful.

Any tips on getting a better balance on the rotor? the 907 is set up to have the blade hang from a shackle.

The upgrade to a kubota L4701 or MX4800 will help with power and stability.

But I am still amazed at what I can cut down with a 23hp at PTO and this old flail mower (made somewhere in the late 1960s).

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Hello Kirch169,

I am so glad to hear that your Ford 907 Flail Mower is working well for you.

Before I forget to ask this again: do your side slicer knives have a slotted mounting hole or a round mounting hole???

As far as power: and just as an example my father used his Ford Jubilee with a 7 foot John Deere 25A Finish Flail Mower with side slicer to knock down 12-15 foot golden rod to reclaim old farm land that was used for pasture for my animals when the rug rats were barely walking-1986+-. SO you can do a lot with your flail mower as long as you know the mules limitations as far as its available PTO power is used properly.

If the side slicers are dull there is more loading on the flail mower rotor and more vibration. If the brush is thick it will vibrate a bit due to the heavy brush being contacted by the side slicers. In this specific case you need to slow down more to let the side slicers cut faster to create smaller clippings.

In heavy brush its always best to slow down and take half cuts unless you can lower your ground speed more

NOW, if all the mounting stations are intact and all the mounting pins, shackles and side slicer knife Pairs are intact and secure
it brings me to the heart of the matter as far as vibration while mowing is concerned.

You may have a missing balancing weight, worn out snubber pulley bearing or a bad Flail Mower Rotor Bearing OR you have debris wrapped around one bearing housing on the inside of the flail mower.

The V belt could also be stretched and needs to be replaced. It is best to run the mower with the guard off for a few minutes to see how much the V belt flexes if any. The V belt should not move much beyond a 1/4 of an inch under the tension created with the V belt snubber pulley.

Please check to see if there are any grease fittings buried under rubber dust and grease under the V belt guard and check to see if the snubber pulley spins well and does not wobble with the V belt off the mower.

If it is running well I would finish the season, drain the gear box and then take the flail mower to a car wash to clean under the shroud and under thew V belt guard to bare metal. If you can find someone with a steam cleaner to use after a beer and or pizza bribe that would an even better method to clean the flail mower completely so you can paint both the under side and the exterior of the flail mower if you have time and a warm place to work.

NO worries, please do not get discouraged, you have a forever mower and I will be here to help either by posting or by a PM to you.

LeonZ

Kirch169 · Oct 5, 2017

Well I put new bearing all the way around the mower. Main Cutter bearings, Roller bearings, Pulley and idler pulley bearings and even gear box bearings. had the whole unit apart. repaired some cracks in the housing with the welder and ever had to fix two of the adjustment holes since they were elongated when someone ran it with loose bolts. I have had it about 6 years and have been taking the y-blades off every year and doing some minor sharpening.

I will check for missing balancing weight when i take the blades off to change them to the smooth cut ones. I want to try it on the lawn before I put it away for the year.

I have a 72" MMM for the B3030 and it works great just sometimes it shoots missiles and I worry about the cars, house and dogs.

I will keep you posted a post some pictures of the property and where I have been mowing!!

I like they was the blades mount on the 907 three long rods as apposed to single station bolts.

leonz · Oct 5, 2017

Kirch169 said:
Well I put new bearing all the way around the mower. Main Cutter bearings, Roller bearings, Pulley and idler pulley bearings and even gear box bearings. had the whole unit apart. repaired some cracks in the housing with the welder and ever had to fix two of the adjustment holes since they were elongated when someone ran it with loose bolts. I have had it about 6 years and have been taking the y-blades off every year and doing some minor sharpening.

I will check for missing balancing weight when i take the blades off to change them to the smooth cut ones. I want to try it on the lawn before I put it away for the year.
I have a 72" MMM for the B3030 and it works great just sometimes it shoots missiles and I worry about the cars, house and dogs.
I will keep you posted a post some pictures of the property and where I have been mowing!!
I like they was the blades mount on the 907 three long rods as apposed to single station bolts.

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Hello Kirch169,

I had forgotten that you mentioned all the bearings were replaced. If you have time can would you mind running the flail mower with the knives and shackles off the rotor before you mount the scoop knives? By doing that we can narrow the vibration issue down even closer.

I had for gotten the Ford 907's had the common mounting rod for the 3 rows of knife mounting stations. The Vrisimo Flail Mowers have been using that method for many years to mount their knife pairs on each mounting station.

LeonZ

DoubleDeere · Oct 5, 2017

houser52 said:
Yes, the original belts are 46" OD

After seeing your mower this morning with the 45" belt decided to do some checking after work tonight. I thought it looked to me like the engineers originally intended to have the 45" or metric equivalent on it and not the 46". Went to Agri-supply website, found PDF of the manual to see if I could find a picture of the belt setup in the manual. I would say the 45" is the winner.

D2Cat · Oct 5, 2017

Have this flail mower with no identification. Does anyone recognize the manufacturer? Or tell me where to scrape to look for a tag.

It just fits in the back of my truck, so it's 8' long. Was a Corp of Engr. piece of equipment at one time.

I changed out the gearbox oil, and greased the fittings I could get to. Was going to take it to the farm and put the trail wheels back on and give it a spin, but the rains came. Tomorrow, maybe.

houser52 · Oct 5, 2017

DoubleDeere said:
After seeing your mower this morning with the 45" belt decided to do some checking after work tonight. I thought it looked to me like the engineers originally intended to have the 45" or metric equivalent on it and not the 46". Went to Agri-supply website, found PDF of the manual to see if I could find a picture of the belt setup in the manual. I would say the 45" is the winner.

View attachment 523753 View attachment 523752 View attachment 523751

Thanks for the info. The 45 belts sure do not have as much back flexing as the 46 belts. Too much flexing around the idler pulley might be what is causing the belts to crack and fail.

Hopefully I can put the 45 belts to the test and see how they will hold up compared to the 46.

leonz · Oct 5, 2017

D2Cat said:
Have this flail mower with no identification. Does anyone recognize the manufacturer? Or tell me where to scrape to look for a tag. View attachment 523776It just fits in the back of my truck, so it's 8' long. Was a Corp of Engr. piece of equipment at one time.

I changed out the gearbox oil, and greased the fittings I could get to. Was going to take it to the farm and put the trail wheels back on and give it a spin, but the rains came. Tomorrow, maybe.View attachment 523777 View attachment 523778 View attachment 523779 View attachment 523780

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OH MY LORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Surround it with farm equipment that cannot be moved without a high horse power mule, chain the dog to it, dig tiger pits and put a spot light on it to keep track of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I want to welcome you as the newest Member of the Flail Mower Nations from Kan.? Mo? please clarify this part.

You have an "original" Mott Interstater finish mower with side slicer knives and gauge wheels to prevent scalping. Put the caster wheels on, grease the stub shafts for caster wheels, Take the V belt cover off and clean off all the grease and rubber dust to expose any buried grease fittings.

If the V belts are the least bit frayed they need to be changed and the Kevlar V belts are the best for shock loading.

Parts are still available and generic as all V belts and bearings are metric and you can purchase them locally if desired or from Flail Master so no worries there, the side slicer knives and knife hangers are common parts and available.