Used Ford 907 Flail Mower questions

[bubbacuse77]

Gentlemen, my buddy has a used 6' 907 flail sitting behind his shed and I was going to see if he wanted to sell it. I hooked it up the other day and greased everything and siliconed the belt, plus looked everything over since it hadn't been run in years. It is starting to rust pretty good but mostly cosmetic. It doesn't have the rear roller and the defector shield is rusting out. Other than that it works ok, but I noticed it vibrates a lot. Being new to flails I had a few questions

1. How much is normal vibration?

2. Can I get a new roller or am I going to have to fab one up.

3. Can I just take the rear deflector off? I noticed others have pictures without them, will it throw stuff way out back without it?

4. Can I cut with a flail backing into brush?

5. How much is a good price


Thanks for the responses in advance.

 

[paulharvey]

917L Ford here, vibration; make sure all the teeth/blades/hammers are freely swinging. If some are stuck up it will throw the whole thing out of balance, giving you bad vibrations.

For light sage brush I pick up, back up on top of it, and drop the flail on top, mine has rear roller, so I can't really back into brush with out lifting up.

 

[RickB]

907 flail mower built between 1962 and 1972 with no roller and vibrating while running?

Scrap is at 9 cents per pound here this week.

 

[bubbacuse77]

907 flail mower built between 1962 and 1972 with no roller and vibrating while running?

Scrap is at 9 cents per pound here this week.

I thought it might be worth a little fix up if I get it for a low enough price? I know "Flail Mower Nation" must have some inputs?

 

[paulharvey]

Blades/teeth are expensive, but if they are ok I would try to fix vibro and run it

 

[RickB]

I thought it might be worth a little fix up if I get it for a low enough price? I know "Flail Mower Nation" must have some inputs?

A flail with a bent or sprung rotor isn't worth more than scrap. If I REALLY had to have that one, I'd pull all the rods, links and flails, then if it still vibrates, I'd run away. I'd consider a roller to be a necessity.

 

[paulharvey]

For price I wouldn't want to pay more than $250, that way if it turns out it goes to scrap yard your not hurt too bad. Just so you know blades alone, if you neex to replace them will probably run around $200+ for a full set.

 

[bubbacuse77]

A flail with a bent or sprung rotor isn't worth more than scrap. If I REALLY had to have that one, I'd pull all the rods, links and flails, then if it still vibrates, I'd run away. I'd consider a roller to be a necessity.

Good call, I'll see if I can work on it before buying it.

 

[bubbacuse77]

I will have to make a roller from some round stock and some generic ag bearings

 

[leonz]

Gentlemen, my buddy has a used 6' 907 flail sitting behind his shed and I was going to see if he wanted to sell it. I hooked it up the other day and greased everything and siliconed the belt, plus looked everything over since it hadn't been run in years. It is starting to rust pretty good but mostly cosmetic. It doesn't have the rear roller and the defector shield is rusting out. Other than that it works ok, but I noticed it vibrates a lot. Being new to flails I had a few questions

1. How much is normal vibration?

2. Can I get a new roller or am I going to have to fab one up.

3. Can I just take the rear deflector off? I noticed others have pictures without them, will it throw stuff way out back without it?

4. Can I cut with a flail backing into brush?

5. How much is a good price


Thanks for the responses in advance.

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Thoughts about your mower purchase;


1. NO vibration period

a.Either you have bad bearings or missing side slicers/side slicer hangers
b. plan on changing the belts as the old ones will have become damaged
from age and ozone exposure.
c. if the rear roller is missing you need to replace it with a new rear roller and new
rear roller bearings. The rear roller aids in adding structural strength to the mower and prevents
scalping.
d. you do not want to run yout flail mower without a rear guard as it defeats the safety
feature of the rear guard unless you need to remove the deflector while mowing heavy
brush loads.
e. yes you can mow with it backwards as it will mow in reverse as long as you are in a
creeper gear traveling in in reverse then in forward gear as well.
1. check the oil level in the gearbox-it has water in it for sure.

f. as far as a selling price goes I would hire a tractor mechanic for an hour to look at it and bribe him/her with lunch or doughnuts to see how much work it needs and then start horse trading.

g. all bearings are metric, all V belts are metric so thats not an issue to worry about as they are available locally.


EDIT:

If the rear roller mounts are gone you will need to purchase a new set of them as well as the rear roller bearings.