Flail Mower New Holland 918H question

[John0829]

First of all I like the forum, gained quite a lot of info before deciding to join. Second it y'alls fault that I bought this flail mower after reading every page of the mega thread about them. I finally found and picked up this 1996 model New Holland/Ford 918H from an estate sale, was used to mow a horse pasture, it is in what I consider very good condition for it's age. It is not beat up just the normal paint/rust you would expect on any implement with age that has been used. I have already straightened a few things, greased it and changed oil in the gear box and the drive shaft housing to the belts. It came with a new unused PTO shaft that I finally got trimmed to length. Took it for a short test run in an area I usually bush hog and it looked good. Of course since it is winter there was nothing green to cut just dried grass about 8" deep, no real test, mainly wanted to hear what the gear box and flails sounded like running. It was eerily quiet compared to the hog or finish mower I normally use.

I did take some time to hit the flails with a grinder to take the major dings out and un round the edges just a bit. I will probably replace them after I have had time to use it awhile to decide if I REALLY like a flail mower or not. If not I am sure I can sell it for what I have in it. I still need to play with it to tune it to cut how I want but I think I am going to like this thing!

That's the history now for the question. It is easy to understand how to change it from center mount to side shifted mount, easy to see how to set the cutting height. It will be a bit before I can get a manual for this mower but from what I have read you can change the rotation as well. Right now it rotates opposite the rotation of the tractor tires which according to what little I have found out about it means it is in mulching mode but for the life of me I cannot figure out how to change rotation. I thought at first the drum would have to be flipped but the carrier housing is not designed for that, so the question is does anyone own one of these that knows how to change it should I decide that I want to try it in non mulching rotation.

Thanks for any help you can offer.
John

 

[Fallon]

Pretty much all flails rotate opposite of the tractor tires. They throw material over the top of the rotor after cutting. Some highway right of way mowers rotate the other way to bounce over unmowable trash. Cutting on the upswing gives better cut quality & material processing ability.

My old 917 made a bad racket, but that was probably because the hood was cracked in half in a few places long before I got it. It served me well for a couple years for what i paid for it & the condition it was in after decades of abuse. It wasnt worth welding & patch up any more.

I never sharpened the knives (Ys) & they cut pretty well despite lots of wear & being as dull as you can get the thin blades. More than fine for my pastures, fields, & light brush. Nice lawns might from all the extra effort sharpening the knives.

 

[John0829]

Pretty much all flails rotate opposite of the tractor tires.

Really, I thought from my reading they rotated the same direction as the tires so they would pickup the grass pushed down by the tires. Still I would like to know how to reverse the rotation, mainly just so I would know how.