Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

[Fallon]

I mow up & down hills with serious pucker factor. Cross hill on serious slopes isn't recommended no matter the mower, but I’ve done it. On my former L3200 & old 917 flail a couple of times I was mowing the sides of ditches so steep I lost traction with the high side tire. Put it in 4wd & backed out even slower than I went in.

Never lift your impliment if stability is sketchy it will raise your center of gravity. A flail won't be much better on smooth slopes. A rotary cutter can fold in half under some circumstances if you cross a ditch or something. But those have to be pretty harsh.

 

[leonz]

Hello and good evening Mike,

In any case you want and need a mule with loaded tires when dealing with slopes
as it adds to the machines stability with or without an implement.

You can if you want to do it that way sure, you only have to raise it a few inches but as fallon says its better to leave it on the ground and the rear roller will not mind.

The rule of thumb to follow is; do not back up the slope if you can slide on the sod with a boot and the heel holds moisture especially if you have turf tires. Better to have have loaded R2 tires(Ag lug tires) as you need more traction.

If you travel at 2 miles an hour up hill you are moving at 3 feet per second rounded so you can travel down hill at 2 miles an hour and have a very fine mowing with a brush mowing flail.

Just do not try to mow fast as you need to be sure to wear your seat belt and have the rops up and locked and the brake pedals locked together to avoid slipping across a pedal and locking one wheel.

 

[Hofzer]

Hello all:

I recently purchased a Ford 917 (22-184) and am waiting on side slicers from Flailmaster to replace the worn out duckfoot cutters. It's all greased up and running smooth. It seems I have to have the roller all the way down and my top link extended a bit (belt drive housing is flat to sloping away from the tractor) to keep it from scalping behind my Kioti CK3510SE. I thought it might be a bit much for the machine, but the only time its bogged down is when it found thick plastic mulching my property's pervious owner left for me. It can produce quite the rooster tail in orchard grass with the trash door off!

I have seen it recommended over and over again, usually by leonz, to pick up a kevlar belt. After spending a good deal of time searching by part number (137203) and by specs (57-58" B-size/type, 2-band) I haven't been able to find one that seems right. Messick's offering is priced like Kevlar, but looks to simply be an OEM replacement.

Does anyone have a link or suggestion on a local store that may have a proper kevlar belt. Also, is the original belt actually the BX-type, since it appears to be cogged?

Thanks for the help, I've spent a good deal of time reading over this and 917-specific threads. Cheers!

 

[Xfaxman]

Hello all:
---------------------------------------------
Does anyone have a link or suggestion on a local store that may have a proper kevlar belt. Also, is the original belt actually the BX-type, since it appears to be cogged?

Your location is not filled in, so don't even know what country you are in.

There are a lot of online sellers: https://www.google.com/search?q=kev...t.&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

And eBay: 58" kevlar B belt | eBay

 

[Hofzer]

...

Thanks. It looks like your efforts produced the same results as mine. Lots of singles. I'm trying to find a 2-band belt. It that possible, or do I need to just get a matched pair of singles?

 

[Xfaxman]

Search with the part number found a few sellers: Ford 137203 mower v belt. - Image Search

 

[Skagit]

Thanks. It looks like your efforts produced the same results as mine. Lots of singles. I'm trying to find a 2-band belt. It that possible, or do I need to just get a matched pair of singles?

Just go to any farm equipment dealer and they can get you most any banded belt you want.

 

[electrycmonk]

Hello all:

I recently purchased a Ford 917 (22-184) and am waiting on side slicers from Flailmaster to replace the worn out duckfoot cutters. It's all greased up and running smooth. It seems I have to have the roller all the way down and my top link extended a bit (belt drive housing is flat to sloping away from the tractor) to keep it from scalping behind my Kioti CK3510SE. I thought it might be a bit much for the machine, but the only time its bogged down is when it found thick plastic mulching my property's pervious owner left for me. It can produce quite the rooster tail in orchard grass with the trash door off!

I have seen it recommended over and over again, usually by leonz, to pick up a kevlar belt. After spending a good deal of time searching by part number (137203) and by specs (57-58" B-size/type, 2-band) I haven't been able to find one that seems right. Messick's offering is priced like Kevlar, but looks to simply be an OEM replacement.

Does anyone have a link or suggestion on a local store that may have a proper kevlar belt. Also, is the original belt actually the BX-type, since it appears to be cogged?

Thanks for the help, I've spent a good deal of time reading over this and 917-specific threads. Cheers!

My 917 came with an actually new belt when I got it... I’ll try (during daylight this weekend) to rotate it to see if the writing is still on it for ya. I don’t recall the brand name of it either.... I didn’t write it down in my notes when I got it - bummer for both of us. BTW my posts with photos about this unit ....(scratches head) I want to say are back around the 6200-6600 post count?

 

[Hofzer]

Thanks all. I've had no trouble finding standard replacements, hence the part number in my original post. I've just seen kevlar belts recommended and tought someone might have found one for this mower, since its a common one. I'll just keep a standard replacement handy.

 

[arto98607]

.........................snip........................... It that possible, or do I need to just get a matched pair of singles?

I did not bother with matched pair $ingles, just got two standard belts for my 917L (which I think is clearly a different model than your 917).

Seems to work fine and why not - it's just a mower!