Flail Mower Thanks Leonz - Flail Mower DANDL

[skipp025]

> Thanks Skipp for the information. My deck has a few cracks that are in need of welding. The gearbox
> is tight, though I did have to scrape the paint off the rear PTO input in order to flip the gearbox. The
> PO had the flail spinning in tire travel direction. Will get more use in the months to come as we are
> retiring to our place in TN in early June. Any advice you can give on this flail is appreciated. Mine is a
> 9 foot with 80 stations and currently running scoop knives. Might switch over to y blades if I don't
> like the way it cuts tall green grass.... LNK

First off, the D rings come in two sizes that I know about... the 7/16" (inch) is one of the two sized
sold at Tractor Supply. I buy the larger/thicker of the two sized, but sometimes it's near impossible to
use the large size without pulling the entire O-ring down, which means pulling the rod(s) out through
the side, and that's certainly no fun. So I buy a mix of both size(s) D-rings and try to use the larger of
the two when i can fit them in/on to the O-ring. Don't let the D-rings wear down or you'll start to
hear the cutters hitting the inside of the mower itself. You'll find the steel of the D-rings is not super
strong or hard and they will wear out fairly fast, you will see a grove where the actual cutter swings.

I buy the D-rings from tractor supply, they run about $1.49 to $1.89 each depending on the size. You
can buy them on line and you can tell them you're a farm/ag and they discount the state tax if your
specific state has a high sales tax rate.

If you have decent scoop or duck foot cutters installed, the thing is a marvel to use and will clear
quite a nice and low path. All flail mowers bog down in high grass, the Dandl handles it better than
most any other. Buy the cutters with the teflon or ceramic cutting tip coating... they will actually
last more than 15 minute when you're chewing a lot of debris in a field.

Other comments, all the bearings are generic, just expensive... the main roller bearing are/were about
near $200 to $300 each last time I had to buy one. Applied Technology in Sacramento is one store
of a very large company (probably one in your part of the country) also I'm sure selling on line. They
can supply all the bearings. So grease well the bearings and u-joint knuckles...

I'm sure the unit will sustain cracks and damage after this many decades of use... just weld them up
properly and get on with things. I have three of the same model Dandl... the are often found second
hand and as in my case, missing the rods, O-rings, D-rings and cutters... But those are parts that are
normally replaced so that's not really rocket science once you get things under control. OK, again I
hope this helps a little.

cheers,

skipp

skipp025 at ya hoo period com

 

[Jwedd]

Thanks Skipp for the information. My deck has a few cracks that are in need of welding. The gearbox is tight, though I did have to scrape the paint off the rear PTO input in order to flip the gearbox. The PO had the flail spinning in tire travel direction. Will get more use in the months to come as we are retiring to our place in TN in early June. Any advice you can give on this flail is appreciated. Mine is a 9 foot with 80 stations and currently running scoop knives. Might switch over to y blades if I don't like the way it cuts tall green grass....

LNK

Just saw a Dandl with the same gear box as yours. While I have an 8ft Vrisimo, the gear box (this would be about a 1975 construction) looks identical, absent the rear take-off. I need to get a new gear box, but Vrisimo says "obsolete" and that I have to get a different gear box that requires a shaft offset and u-joint, and about $2000 in re-fabrication.

Any information on this Dandl gear box would be helpful. The box on the mower I saw says "Dandl" on the casting.

John

 

[skipp025]

Just saw a Dandl with the same gear box as yours. While I have an 8ft Vrisimo, the gear box (this would be about a 1975 construction) looks identical, absent the rear take-off. I need to get a new gear box, but Vrisimo says "obsolete" and that I have to get a different gear box that requires a shaft offset and u-joint, and about $2000 in re-fabrication.

Any information on this Dandl gear box would be helpful. The box on the mower I saw says "Dandl" on the casting.

John

Hi John,

If you have the old gear box, any decent machine shop should be able to repair or even make you a new
one. Might not be cheap... you could try finding a gear box made for some other piece of equipment, it's
not that uncommon of a gear box that you couldn't find similar units made for other brands. We have
two or three really high quality and great service machine and fabrication shops in the Sacramento
CA area where I live. If you're down in Fresno, you probably have similar services available. I serviced my
Dandl today and noticed the only thing I couldn't easily find without a lot of work are the large rubber
shock/vibration units. Even if I couldn't find the originals, I could make something fit and work well.

Hope some of the above helps you...

cheers,

skipp

 

[Jwedd]

Hi John,

If you have the old gear box, any decent machine shop should be able to repair or even make you a new
one. Might not be cheap... you could try finding a gear box made for some other piece of equipment, it's
not that uncommon of a gear box that you couldn't find similar units made for other brands. We have
two or three really high quality and great service machine and fabrication shops in the Sacramento
CA area where I live. If you're down in Fresno, you probably have similar services available. I serviced my
Dandl today and noticed the only thing I couldn't easily find without a lot of work are the large rubber
shock/vibration units. Even if I couldn't find the originals, I could make something fit and work well.

Hope some of the above helps you...

cheers,

skipp

thanks for the reply, and the good wishes. A bolt in would be first choice. Yes, plenty of machine shops but trying to avoid that route. Not so easy moving a 2000lb mower around.

Am somewhat thinking that I should have Vrisimo take it in and remount the side pulleys and belts, along with a new gear box, and turn it into a low-profile for almonds. It's such a beast, 1/2" rolled steel all around. They aren't made like this anymore.

John

 

[Catman8]

Thanks Skipp for the information. My deck has a few cracks that are in need of welding. The gearbox is tight, though I did have to scrape the paint off the rear PTO input in order to flip the gearbox. The PO had the flail spinning in tire travel direction. Will get more use in the months to come as we are retiring to our place in TN in early June. Any advice you can give on this flail is appreciated. Mine is a 9 foot with 80 stations and currently running scoop knives. Might switch over to y blades if I don't like the way it cuts tall green grass....

LNK

Hello, I just went through the exact same situation with my old bush Hog FM188/ ford 917. The rotor was spinning the same direction as the tires and the blades where on backwards and all I did was reverse the blades because you want the rotor spinning the same direction of your tires so the blades create a suction and lift the grass up that you flattened with your tractor tires. Why did you flip your gearbox over instead of flipping the blades?


Blades installed backwards


Blades installed the correct direction.

If I'm wrong about your brand of flail or missing something others please chime in.

 

[Jwedd]

Hello, I just went through the exact same situation with my old bush Hog FM188/ ford 917. The rotor was spinning the same direction as the tires and the blades where on backwards and all I did was reverse the blades because you want the rotor spinning the same direction of your tires so the blades create a suction and lift the grass up that you flattened with your tractor tires. Why did you flip your gearbox over instead of flipping the blades?

View attachment 507679
Blades installed backwards

View attachment 507680
Blades installed the correct direction.

If I'm wrong about your brand of flail or missing something others please chime in.

Generally speaking, for flail mowing in agriculture, the blades should be pointing forward, and the drum spinning forward (opposite of the tire direction). This helps suck debris up and cut things multiple times, as well as smooth out the ground after the pass. When dealing with growing plant material, that's the only way to do it. Shredders go the opposite--but they have heavy teeth or shanks that drag along the ground behind the drum and lift the material up so it gets into the path of the hammer (different cutters as this is typically heavy or woody material). The shanks help lift the woody material up far enough so when it gets hammered, it kicks the material up and around again, and may blast it a second time if it is still big enough. Most units are single purpose. FM's can be wider for the same horsepower. There are limits on blades, spinning mass, construction of the housing, etc. Big Shredders are extra massive as they have to deal with wood up to a couple inches thick. They also have a taller opening up front so the woody material can pass under without dragging.

Yours may be a dual unit for either light-duty shredding or mowing. Does it have the shanks, or a bar to allow shanks to be installed?

Best,

John

 

[Lnk]

Just saw a Dandl with the same gear box as yours. While I have an 8ft Vrisimo, the gear box (this would be about a 1975 construction) looks identical, absent the rear take-off. I need to get a new gear box, but Vrisimo says "obsolete" and that I have to get a different gear box that requires a shaft offset and u-joint, and about $2000 in re-fabrication.

Any information on this Dandl gear box would be helpful. The box on the mower I saw says "Dandl" on the casting.

John

What information are you looking for?

 

[Lnk]

Hello, I just went through the exact same situation with my old bush Hog FM188/ ford 917. The rotor was spinning the same direction as the tires and the blades where on backwards and all I did was reverse the blades because you want the rotor spinning the same direction of your tires so the blades create a suction and lift the grass up that you flattened with your tractor tires. Why did you flip your gearbox over instead of flipping the blades?

My blades were on correctly for the tire rotation direction but wanted to try to see the difference with the opposite rotation. Here is a picture of the blades while in the process of reversing them.


Changing rotor direction on this flail is a 10 minuted job. Remove 4 mounting bolt from under the gearbox mounting plate, slide the gearbox off the drive shaft, flip and reinstall. Just have to swap the gearbox breather with the plug on the bottom.

The mower cuts great but am switching to the Y blades from Flail Master as I would like to cut more than grass. Also reversing direction would not require flipping blades. The mower is 9' and has 60 stations.

 

[Catman8]

My blades were on correctly for the tire rotation direction but wanted to try to see the difference with the opposite rotation. Here is a picture of the blades while in the process of reversing them.

View attachment 507692
Changing rotor direction on this flail is a 10 minuted job. Remove 4 mounting bolt from under the gearbox mounting plate, slide the gearbox off the drive shaft, flip and reinstall. Just have to swap the gearbox breather with the plug on the bottom.

The mower cuts great but am switching to the Y blades from Flail Master as I would like to cut more than grass. Also reversing direction would not require flipping blades. The mower is 9' and has 60 stations.

Jwedd and Ink, thanks for the info, funny thing is that I'm doing just the opposite, switching back to the scoop blades because my field is not that thick, just ordered the standard scoop knives from flail-master should be here next week. The y-knives left a lot of fox tails so I need a closer cut.

 

[Catman8]

Generally speaking, for flail mowing in agriculture, the blades should be pointing forward, and the drum spinning forward (opposite of the tire direction). This helps suck debris up and cut things multiple times, as well as smooth out the ground after the pass. When dealing with growing plant material, that's the only way to do it. Shredders go the opposite--but they have heavy teeth or shanks that drag along the ground behind the drum and lift the material up so it gets into the path of the hammer (different cutters as this is typically heavy or woody material). The shanks help lift the woody material up far enough so when it gets hammered, it kicks the material up and around again, and may blast it a second time if it is still big enough. Most units are single purpose. FM's can be wider for the same horsepower. There are limits on blades, spinning mass, construction of the housing, etc. Big Shredders are extra massive as they have to deal with wood up to a couple inches thick. They also have a taller opening up front so the woody material can pass under without dragging.

Yours may be a dual unit for either light-duty shredding or mowing. Does it have the shanks, or a bar to allow shanks to be installed?

Best,

John

I don't know what shanks are?