Flail Mower Caroni Flail Mower - Hydraulic Shift Kit

[leonz]

Hello Reg,

I am afraid that you will have to do some flail mower surgery to get everything apart
to free it up so it can slide properly left and right.

Is there any build up of chaff/mower dust along the guideway for the cylinder rod?

If you have access to a garden hose, hot water and some Dawn Dish Soap that
should help you a lot with freeing up the side shift system of any fine dust and
or rust that is there.

If it does not move after you clean it is probably rust bound and it will need more work.

 

[Reg]

Hello Reg,

I am afraid that you will have to do some flail mower surgery to get everything apart
to free it up so it can slide properly left and right.

Is there any build up of chaff/mower dust along the guideway for the cylinder rod?

If you have access to a garden hose, hot water and some Dawn Dish Soap that
should help you a lot with freeing up the side shift system of any fine dust and
or rust that is there.

If it does not move after you clean it is probably rust bound and it will need more work.

The shafts APPEAR to be galvanized, so in any case not a very smooth and shiney surface.
No apparent rust.
Agreed, chaff/dust build up in that fairly rough surface could cause binding.

Interesting tip on the dawn dish soap, thanks.

I may try some fairly simple unbolting of each shaft one at a time to see if I can budge and then lube them.
Looks like a through bolt at each end, just taking those out and trying to spin the shaft with a pipe wrench may free things up - though I suspect that they are thin tubes, so crush may be a risk with a pipe wrench.

 

[Eagleview]

Give it a hose down and take it for a lap around the padlock or up and down the gravel driveway on it's rear roller . I am sure that would free it up.

 

[leonz]

Hello Reg,


The best thing to do right now is remove the double acting hydraulic cylinder completely
and then that will allow you to push and pull the mower from side to side.

(My error-the slide cylinder is not a "differential" double acting cylinder).

Would you happen to own a kerosene fired space heater/torpedo heater/salamander heater?

If you have one I think that you will be able to free it up with a half hours run time as long as it is 6 feet away
from the side. I di not remember if the bushings are Teflon or a bronze alloy so you will have to act accordingly
and if they are Teflon and back the heater up 3-5 more feet away from the mower.

You may just get a break if you use the hot water and Dawn Dish Soap and a heavy nylon bristle brush to work
it in around the bushings. I doubt the cylinder is air locked so no worries there.

I have to go to town now.




These images should help you a lot.

 

[Reg]

It is ~15 miles away right now.
Probably can't get HOT water to it in any sort of quantity, e.g. hose hooked to hot faucet.
Might be able to boil a kettle or pan of water though.

I have a garden sprayer that I could take there.
Come to think of it I also have a pump up garden sprayer that I could put Dawn soap in, dump a kettle full of boiling water in, pump and spray.
I'll dig it out for Thursday.

Thanks again.

 

[leonz]

I am glad I could offer some assistance to you Greg.

If the mower does not slide over after you douse it with hot water and dawn I have another idea;

If you unbolt the base of the slide cylinder from the frame you should be able to retract the barrel of the cylinder and then if you have a 4 pound hammer and a long block of hardwood you may be able to get the rod end of the sliding frame to move without having the mower mounted on the mule. Just be sure to block up the mower so it does not tilt forward when or if you detach it from the mule.

I am sorry I am not closer as I always say when one of the Flail Mower Nation Residents is experiencing difficulty.

 

[Reg]

I am glad I could offer some assistance to you Greg.

If the mower does not slide over after you douse it with hot water and dawn I have another idea;

If you unbolt the base of the slide cylinder from the frame you should be able to retract the barrel of the cylinder and then if you have a 4 pound hammer and a long block of hardwood you may be able to get the rod end of the sliding frame to move without having the mower mounted on the mule. Just be sure to block up the mower so it does not tilt forward when or if you detach it from the mule.

I am sorry I am not closer as I always say when one of the Flail Mower Nation Residents is experiencing difficulty.

In thinking about this - I don't need to unbolt the hydraulic cylinder to do this.
All of my hydraulic hose sets (and the valve block) are male/female pairs - something I did to avoid getting directional control flipped, also to allow me to connect them together to stay clean when off the tractor.
When I connect the male & female hoses of any implement's cylinder together I have a free loop, i.e. cylinders can be pushed/pulled easily.
This has lead to some surprising "swings" when attaching/detaching the stump grinder and Harley rake<grin>

Thanks again, I'll probably go out there today and try some of your suggestions.

EDIT:
It turned out that my pump up sprayer is junk.
GOOD NEWS is that a new 1 gallon unit from home depot is under $10, two gallon unit just under $15
:END EDIT

 

[Reg]

10 days later.
I am HAPPY to report that leonz's suggestion WORKED !

Using my NEW pump up garden sprayer I hosed all the bushings with HOT soapy water last week-end, but thiat didn't seem to help.
Yesterday I repeated the hot wash trick and while watching for movement I thought I saw one of the rails move a tiny bit as I worked the hydraulic cylinder.
So, more hosing, a bit of back and forth and the other three let go.
Still not "PERFECT" but things were improving, so more washing and more left/right until eventually I got full travel.

Then a bit of "on the ground" testing and of course without the weight of the mower on the shift rails it moves a lot easier.
So, a couple more washings - because I still had a gallon of hot soapy water in the sprayer - and I called it quits.

POINTS

a) Listen to leonz, he KNOWS this stuff.
b) Oil and grease are NOT appropriate here, they just make GLUE !

Thanks again leonz, if there is a next time I'll take your advice less reluctantly.