Flail Mower Ford 917 Flail Mower
- Thread starter gamehuntrr
- Start date
trl
New member
Well, yes, I misdescribed the location. The grease nipple is on the joint connection from the pto shaft to the mower driveshaft. To get to it you must remove the cover that is secured by a bolt. To get to the nipple, the driveshaft can be rotated with the transmission belt until it sits up at the proper angle. I am thinking it may be the same size and shape as the nipple on the connection to the pto spline.
paulharvey
Veteran Member
Is there any reason the gear box can't be filled with grease like is often done with a bushhog? Mine leaks 90w or AW68 from around the pto "spud". How difficult/expensive to pull pto stub and reseal? I gave $150 for a ?48" (53" wide) Ford-917 with the duck foot hammer-knives.
Also is there a video or some sort of guide on how to sharpen the hamer-knives (angle and how sharp are the really suppost to be). I use mine to mow lawn, which is mostly coastal/pensacola bahia, and it leaves a lot if the seed stalks just beat up, till first rain when they stand back up.
leonz
Super Member
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Greetings paulharvey,
No grease in the gearboxes, as the grease will heat up
and not lubricate properly and the gears will not be happy.
I have a Wen wet well knive grinder for the side slicers of my
mathews lawn genie.
A wet well knive grinder is best for flail mower side slicer knives/scoop knives
(providing they are not damaged)as the grinding is done with a wet grinding wheel drum.
I do not know what the degree of bevel is on your scoop knives but someone from
either Clean Cutter or Flail Master can tell you.
About your mowers knives; they are what is referred to as a scoop knive,
think of the knive like a coal shovels scoop.
The majority of scoop knives are hardened and require special care as a
hot grind will ruin the temper on the knives.
It may just be time to simply purchase new ones as hardened knives will
last a long time under normal mowing conditions AKA NO ROCKS.
If your flailmower is an 22W0004 model flailmower you can download the
manual/look up parts from the Messick's | Dealer for New Holland, Case IH, Kubota, Cub Cadet and More | Online Parts, Sales & Service. web page
mbro223
New member
Not to change the subject but I'm new to the message board and thought this would be the best thread to post my question. I just purchased a usedd 917H. I think its about 25 years old or so but still has some shine on the paint! It spent the last 20 years just sitting in a barn so its in very good shape. However, being in Michigan, the blades are pretty rusted and need attention. I mowed 4 acres with it yesterday just cuz I was too excited to try it out rather than wait for new blades! Anyhow, I can't believe I didn't buy one of these years ago? I absolutely love it dull blades and all. The problem is, I could write a book about all the stuff I don't know about these things. On the ID plate it says, as I recall 2274 something? I think its a 74 inch cut as the dimensions of the unit is 79 inches wide N/I the belt housing. My blades are shaped like the delta-wings on a B58 Hustler. I don't know what these are called or what they are designed for. They hang from what looks like a D-ring. Can I replace just the blades or do I need to do the rings and keepers at the same time? Can I shapen them? Are they a knife-edge or do I just square the leading-edge off? It has 3 rows of 11 blades. Thanks for any input I can get on this! Mark
leonz
Super Member
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Hello Mark, Welcome to the forum.
Glad to see that you know the B-58 Hustler,
I am a fan/novice/ of the Lockeed SR-71 in
its various configurations.
I want also to welcome you as the newest
North American member of the Flail Mower Nation
as we are maintaining a world wide membership.
1. No worries, you have come to the right place to ask questions about
your integrally mounted Ford 917H Flail Mower.
a. NOW as far as your new implement is concerned;
when you have the time please check to see if it has
a trash door that can be removed to allow you to mow
tall heavy brush-if it does you have a big bonus in this implement.
2. Many of the forum members have the 917H as mowers
3. A visit to the car wash or washing it with a steam jenny or a hot high pressure washer
with it after mowing season will provide you with many years of use.
4. The blades are rusty, but it does not mean they are damaged or dull.
5. many of use have give up or sold our rotary cutter or finish mowers and
use only the flail mower.
6. Please visit the 100 plus pages on the forum here on flail mowers by
typing flail mower in the search box to learn more about flailmowers.
7. Model 22 74-inch cut
8. You have what is referred to as a scoop knive.
9. you only replace the D rings/bolts/nuts etc. when they are broken or damaged
from impacting an object.
10. They can be sharpened but as they are hardened the cutting edge will last a very
long time.
11. you can sharpen them but to maintain the edge and to prevent losing the temper of
the metal you should use a wet well kitchen knive grinder as the water keeps the
grinding wheel and knive edge cool while resurfacing it at the proper angle.
12. see above 11.
When you remive the V belt guard you will see a lotof rubber dust and you needto scrape this away ans wash it with some hot water from ahose if possible to be sure the grease fitting or fittings are exposed on the pulleys and side weldment to enable you to grease them occasionally.
The flail mower rotor bearings should only be greased every six to seven hours of mowing with 5 -7 pumps of grease, no more than that. The rear reoller should be greased with tor three shots of grease at every mowing to keep these bearings well lubricated.
When you remove the V belt cover you will see that the V belt or belts are cracked and the rubber is coming off into your hands as dust. The belt or belts need to be replaced with new ones. The Kevlar V belts will absorb and shed shock loads better than the black rubber belts and are not very expensive. Also please note that if you need two belts that you MUST be sure they come with the same lot number as the threading will be identical and this prevents premature V belt failure.
Be very sure to use Blue Loctite on the nots holding the V belt guard in place or Nylock nuts replacing the original nuts holding the V belt guard in place.
You can purchase replacement parts from clean cutter, flail master or Ford New Holland for your "new to you" flail mower.
Be sure to run the flail mower at the 540 RPM engine speed on the engine tachometer to assure the best mowing and reshredding of the clippings.
The great advantage of a flail mower is the units ability to reshred the clippings but a scoop knive cannot fo this as well as a side slicer knive. The scoop knive is a compromise between the side slicer and the hammer knive used for Heavy brush and land clearing.
Now as far as sharpening I would not worry too much about it
unless you have a lot of rocks that are heaved up by frost.
As you live in Michigan, do you live near Ithaca or Bay City in The Thumb?
Happy Mowing and welcome to the Flail Mower Nation
Only 18, 885+- mowers to go.
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Once you go flail you never go back!!!!
Pronovost or not at all!!!
greg_g
Super Member
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2003
- Messages
- 6,086
- Location
- Western Kentucky
- Tractor
- JD3720 Cab, 300X loader with 4-in-1 bucket
3x11 cutters makes it a 74 incher. I've got one. But your "D-ring" descriptive kinda threw me. Mine has the same 33 twin edged cutting units; the cutter itself, its hanger, and the hanger bracket. Having said that, I guess it's fair to say the hanger resembles the letter "D" that's been rotated 90 degrees. But they're open endd under the bracket
The knive edged on mine were well rounded off, some so that they only retained 1/2 of their original cutting width. Some of the hangers wouldn't move in their bracket, so I rely laced all 33 knives/hangers/brackets. FlailMasters had every thing I needed for that job, plus a new idler rod. Banded twin V-belt was dry rotted, but I had to go to Messicks for one of those. Rubber guard had also rotted off the stone shield, but my mowing is such that I had no real need to replace it
//greg//
The knive edged on mine were well rounded off, some so that they only retained 1/2 of their original cutting width. Some of the hangers wouldn't move in their bracket, so I rely laced all 33 knives/hangers/brackets. FlailMasters had every thing I needed for that job, plus a new idler rod. Banded twin V-belt was dry rotted, but I had to go to Messicks for one of those. Rubber guard had also rotted off the stone shield, but my mowing is such that I had no real need to replace it
//greg//
mbro223
New member
Thanks for the info Leonz! That clears a few things up. If the trash door goes on the back it doesn't have one. It has holes drilled in the rear but no door exists. I've greased all the bearings and changed the gear oil just for grins but it looked new also. I pulled the belt guard off yesterday to see how many zerks there were in there but only found the one I can get at with the guard in place. The belt is kind of a weird :double-belt". Its 2 belts fused together and is in perfect shape. I'm guessing the guy I bought it from PMed it before I got there. As far as blades go, am I stuck with the scoop knives or can I go to a side-cutter? I would like to get more "lift" if that is possible so it cuts cleaner. I will start reading the threads..........Thanks again!
mbro223
New member
Yup! We have the same unit! U have the same double belt I assume? My knives are all "flopping" properly so I'm good there. I'm guessing just putting a good square edge on the blades is all I need do or are they ground at an angle. Maybe I should get some new ones to see how they are supposed to look? It looks like these blades for for around 5 bucks a piece?