I would say you definitely have a warranty issue with
Woodmaxx. I have been considering purchasing one of their flail mowers but, this is concerning. If this was overlooked at the factory and it most likely was, their quality control is in need of an overhaul...this is made in China quality (or lack thereof), not USA.
If they remain silent and you get no reply from them,
Woodmaxx is off my list for additipnal implements. Please keep us posted as to your outcome.
First, condolences on on the Tide's loss last night. It was a fun game to watch though. With hands on the equipment, it is easy to tell that
WoodMaxx is good stuff, regardless of county of origin. Like you, I am curious on their follow through on this though, because customer service does still matter to me.
It looks like the
Woodmaxx warranty for flail mowers covers (defective) parts only for 2 years. Don't know whether or not the OP was hot under the collar with his first emails to the manufacturer, but it could cause them to be cautious with their reply.
Again, I hope the OP gets resolution to his problem. I can understand the excitement with getting a new piece of equipment, and the disappointment when it fails. Tractor/implement owners usually have to do some maintenance and wrenching, This unit obviously failed. If the OP and
Woodmaxx engage in useful conversation, there should be a remedy at the end.
There are plenty of other owners of
Woodmaxx equipment on TBN that seem happy with their purchase and the value. I'm not ready to write them off just yet based on this thread.
The pushback I've gotten from posters in this thread has been a bit eye opening, and I am definitely a bit more conscious of my tone when posting here now. I don't feel as though I've been inflammatory towards
WoodMaxx. Right now, I would not encourage anyone to write off
WoodMaxx based on my experience alone. I intentionally posted in a separate thread praising my
WoodMaxx Snowblower. Still, I have a bad feeling and a bit of anxiety on where this Flail Mower experience is heading.
I'm going to give a timeline here, and summarize my interactions a bit. 1. To show my tone and how I've interacted with
WoodMaxx due to some of the pushback I've gotten here, and 2. To see if the masses here still recommend patience, or if my worry is warranted.
Around 12/20/21 I received my mower, assembled it that day and began using it the next. In about an hour, all 3 belts broke. Like most on here, I'm self sufficient, and sourced new belts and a local NAPA (they had to order) and installed them 2 days later. Probably 12/23. Same day after 3 hours of use, all 3 belts did the same thing.
I called
WoodMaxx and reviewed my experience and possible issues with the technician. It was super cordial it just the two of us trouble shooting. We talked about things like belt tension, scalping with the mower, etc. Without a clear answer we decided that the belts may have been loose from the factory and maybe my reinstall was loose too. He said he'd put new belts in the mail right away, but also recommended I check pulley alignment.
Before I got the new pulleys in the mail, and with the mower still attached to the tractor, I began to clean the pulleys and tensioner to get ready for the new install. I wanted to make sure everything was perfect. Once clean, I put a level across the pulleys and noticed the miss alignment. I also noticed the groove in the tensioner arm from the pulley pulling too far in, and noticed the free movement in the shaft. I immediately called
WoodMaxx to update them, and got a different tech (I think there are two). I filled him; again very cordial. He didn't have much troubleshooting input and basically just said he needed pictures, which I understood. I sent over half a dozen pictures, and a video file showing the movement in the pulley. I did mention in the e-mail that it appears the issue is back in the gear box, and if that's the case I'd expect a return or refund option as needing to disassemble major drive components after 4 hours of use doesn't seem reasonable to me. I didn't heard anything for a few days (yes, it was during a Holiday week), so I sent a short simple note asking for him to confirm receipt. He confirmed the next day and said "Please bare with me." I said no problem and told him that with the large video file I wanted to make sure my e-mail didn't get filtered out. This was still in December. I've heard nothing since. I figured I'd give them time to recover from the Holidays, but sent a follow up, "Hey, just checking and seeing where we are at," late last week, and now still nothing. I haven't even told them about the gear box being loose on the machine yet (discovered when. disconnected the PTO) simply because I don't want to continue to pile on without hearing back from them yet.
I did read somewhere on its site that
WoodMaxx has a discretionary return policy and also a prorated refund clause in its warranty for things the owner can't repair. I want to discuss both of these with them. Maybe they need to take a gear box apart and see, maybe they need to talk to the factory, or an engineer is on vacation. I get it. I just don't like being left hanging. Even around the Holidays,
WoodMaxx was available and responsive, but its feeling like they were willing to be helpful when the hope was that a $50 trio of belts could make the problem go away, but when things got tougher they started ghosting me. I hope I'm wrong.
