Good Evening. I have an old Mott 72 flail which needed to have the cutter shaft bearings replaced. I ordered a pair of the M-702408 bearing + housing combos from Flailmaster. Housing itself looks the very similar to the old one, with three bolt holes that line up great and grease zerks on the housing face. However, the face that mates with the pulley sits proud compared to the old bearing.
This first picture shows the original bearing & housing:
View attachment 549421
And the new one mounted to the flail on the drive pulley side.
View attachment 549420
And the step of the process where I realized I had a problem. The shaft itself no longer goes all the way through the pulley:
View attachment 549422
I'm sure it's something I've done. Before I took it apart the shaft was pretty much dead flush with the outer edge of the pulley.
The cutter shaft doesn't seem to be shifted left to right. The first set of knives on each side are spaced evenly from the mower sides.
The bearings are supposed to come fully pressed in, but I suppose I don't know if its actually bottomed out against something in the housing.
Really wrenching down the bolt that holds the pulley might gain me smidge, but I don't imagine it'll be enough for the shaft to go fully through the pulley.
Any advice is much appreciated!