Flail Mower Ford 917 Flail Mower

   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #1  

gamehuntrr

New member
Joined
Jun 13, 2012
Messages
7
Location
Tustin
Tractor
New Holland tz22da
I purchased a Ford Flail over the weekend and noticed it was out of balance so I checked on the cutters and noticed some missing. I used what were on the machine to balance out the cutters and it worked great. It is a 72" machine that had 9 cutters per row for a total of 27 cutters. I took off the outside cutters taking it down to a 60" cut. I am using a small tz22 with this and did not have any issues with cutting even going up a large hill 169.jpg
I am wondering if adding the outside cutters back on if it will cause it to bog down a lot more or will the force already created keep it going smooth. I know this is a small tractor for such a beast but it is able to lift it and cut some very thick grass if I slow down enough. 281.jpg
Machine ran very smooth until I through another blade, now trying to find replacements through flailmaster, but they are not answering their phone today.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #2  
I purchased a Ford Flail over the weekend and noticed it was out of balance
so I checked on the cutters and noticed some missing.

I used what were on the machine to balance out the cutters and it worked great.

It is a 72" machine that had 9 cutters per row for a total of 27 cutters.

I took off the outside cutters taking it down to a 60" cut.

I am using a small tz22 with this and did not have any issues with cutting

even going up a large hillView attachment 271821

I am wondering if adding the outside cutters back on if it will cause it
to bog down a lot more or will the force already created keep it going smooth?

I know this is a small tractor for such a beast but it is able to lift it and cut some
very thick grass if I slow down enough. [

ATTACH=CONFIG]271822[/ATTACH]
The machine ran very smooth until I threw another blade,
now trying to find replacements through flailmaster,
but they are not answering their phone today.




Welcome to TBN,

I think the flailmaster folks are on vacation this week.

SO apparently you have a Ford 917 flailmower with
the scoop knives.

Be sure to grease the flailmower rotor bearings every time you
mow or every 6 hours with 6-7 shots of grease AND be doubly
sure to take off the belt guard and dig out the buried grease
fittings there as well as scrape away the grass and rubber dust
sticking to the mowers side.


The V belts used in flail mowers are typically a B size belt and
available locally. Be sure to purchase the Kevlar belts(green thread)
when replacing them as the Kevlar provides better shock
protection for the mower and the V belt(s).

Adding the exterior cutters back will not cause it to bog down,
the travel speed is what regulates the mowers abilty to mow.

What you can do is raise the cutting height of the flail mower
by lowering the mounting postition of the rear roller which is
what regulates the cutting height of your flail mower.

The slower you mow the finer the clippings will be and the less
trouble you will have mowing.

You also have a built in lawn striper at no extra charge as well.

Many of us have taken some of the knives off to reduce the cutting width when dealing with losing a knive when you cannot get a spare quickly when mowing tall grass and brush.

Don't forget you can take a smaller cut of what you want to mow as well.


If you have Ford New Holland dealer nearby they may have your knives in stock also.

I also wish to welcome you as the newest member of the Flail Mower Nation
and all that it offers from the members who have joined The Flail Mower Nation previously, we are happy bunch of flail mower owners and can help you with your mower if you have problems or think you have problems.

I will be off the board for a few minutes looking up the parts numbers for your mower so you have them.

Edit:

The Flailmaster home page is not working and temporarily diconnected from the internet.


It may be more economical for you to purchase the scoop knives from www.Cleancutter.com
if you are on the west side of the Mississippi River to save on shipping costs as there are no cost savings in price per unit until you pass the one hundred or so number of knives for purchasing.

___________________________________________________________

Once you go flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:
Pronovost or not at all!!!:thumbsup::licking::drool:


Only 17, 889 mowers to go.
 
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   / Ford 917 Flail Mower
  • Thread Starter
#3  
I got in touch with Flailmaster today and they are having issues with their phone system also. I was able to order new knives from them and ordered their heavy duty knives, so 2 per shackle and I ordered new shackles nuts and bolts as well, I ordered a few extra to keep n hand. I will be interested as to how it cuts with sharp blades as the ones on it were very well rounded, the back looked the same as the front. They were suppose to ship today so I will have them in a few days. I will post back as to how they do on my tractor.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #4  
I got in touch with Flailmaster today and they are having issues with their phone system also. I was able to order new knives from them and ordered their heavy duty knives, so 2 per shackle and I ordered new shackles nuts and bolts as well, I ordered a few extra to keep n hand. I will be interested as to how it cuts with sharp blades as the ones on it were very well rounded, the back looked the same as the front. They were suppose to ship today so I will have them in a few days. I will post back as to how they do on my tractor.



AH,

You have five foot ford flail mower not the six foot flail mower,
The six foot mower has 33 knive stations where the seven foot
mower has 39 knive stations.

Thier phone system must have been affected with all the bad weather
in the middle portion of the Allegany Mountains as well.


So you do not have the (FM-220398 Flailmaster Part Number) scoop knives,
you have the FM-7(flail Master Part Number) knives


I did not think the 917 was set up to handle the very wide scoop knives like a
sugar beet defoliator with the very wide knives.



Do you know if your mower has the removable trash deflector door?

You will notice a large improvement in the cutting ability with the new side slicer knives
 
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   / Ford 917 Flail Mower
  • Thread Starter
#5  
It was set up with the single-piece blade with a 2.6 cutting width. I went with the heavy duty because the blades are able to be turned around to use both edges before sharpening. I was just looking at the spec sheet and it does not give the cutting width as it does for the Single-piece blade. Does anyone know if they will be the same cutting width? I asked if I could replace them and they assured I could, but now I'm a little worried.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #6  
OK you have the mower with 27 stations for a five foot width of cut.

The mowing width is the same for both knive types-60 inches, no worries


Did you order 54 knives to replace all the knives or the number of knives
that you need to replace the broken side slicers?

The three rows of knive stations overlap each row in order to give you the
five foot width of cut just as the entire compliment of scoop knives would if
you ordered 27 of the sccop knives.

No worries! It will be fine and you will be very happy with the mowing job it does.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #7  
When its time to sharpen your new side slicers do not use a bench grinder,

All you need to do now is purchase a wet well knive and scizzor
grinder to sharpen your side slicers or you will have cutting
edges that will not hold.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #8  
I picked up a used ford flail mower too and was wondering what weight oil for the gear box?
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #9  
I want to welcome you as the newest member of the Flail Mower Nation.

You can use 90 weight gear oil in the gear box.


____________________________________________________________
Once you go flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:
Pronovost or not at all!!!:thumbsup::licking::drool:Onl


Only 17,888 mowers to go.
 
   / Ford 917 Flail Mower #10  
Mine is a 62 inch 917, about 30 years old, bouight new, always satisfied with its performance but always a step ahead of the death throes of unavailable parts. Now I need two simple things: the idler rod pulley mechanism (rod is 13.5 inches, with a bend at the end with drilled hole for cotter pin) and a grease nipple for the gearbox. Any offers?
 
 
 
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