Flail Mower Cause of flail mower spring rubbing through eye bolt?

[chrislee]

Hi Everyone,

Long time no chat as we've spent more time this season getting parts in to repair our flail mower than actually using it. We had it up and working for a few days but the following problem developed that I wanted to see what we're doing wrong (yes, we're doing something wrong as I can't imagine this is how the mower is supposed to operate

While mowing last week in 2nd or 1st low on our old Massey Ferguson 135-Diesel, we noticed that the tensioner spring was rubbing against the eye bolt (see attached picture). The bolt had come loose and was tightened. We then went over a field that wasn't as thick in 1st High. About halfway through, the spring end had rubbed all the way through the eye bolt which caused the belt to be thrown off and damaged.

I'm going to order another belt (or two) but wanted to figure out what needs to be done to keep the eyebolt and spring from rubbing so much. Did we have the wrong belt on that was creating two much or not enough tension allowing the spring to cut through the eye bolt?

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

chris

 

[CincyFlyer]

There is obviously some relative motion between the parts; is a pulley bent? I'd be tempted to make an anchor with more meat than what I see in the picture (or at least TIG a little Stellite on the wear area.)

 

[Steave]

I'm not sure but looks like it's just a case of poor metal used in the eye bolt. I'd try and find another eye bolt with a higher grade rating. One of the fasteners stores should have the size you need. Give that a try as that's the cheapest thing to replace first. I'm guessing that spring is for the tensioner on the idler pulley for the drive belt, can't really tell by the pix.

I can't see where anything else would cause this but you never know. Maybe another issue that someone else has encountered. Good luck.

 

[shaeff]

Agreed that it looks like a very poor quality eye bolt. I'm with the others- grab a higher quality piece and the right belt. Check for missing knives, bent pulleys or shafts- anything that can cause excess vibration.

 

[ericm979]

Does the belt and it's pulleys run true? If the idler is moving around, say due to a non concentric pulley, the spring will move too.

if the spring is vibrating just from the mower, you can put a sheath of hose on it. That kind of vibration damper is used on two stroke motorcycle exhaust pipe springs- their pipes vibrate in time with the engine so the springs move too. On some bikes the springs will break if the dampers are missing.