Flail Mower Changing belts on a Ferri VIP 88 flail mower

ace10 · Oct 15, 2018

I'm trying to replace the drive belts on my Ferri VIP 88 flail mower.

The OE belts got smoked after ten years of good service, so I purchased replacements from the distributor. Crazy spendy for what they are, but I couldn't source the size 16.3mm X 1307mm from anywhere else.

It had been a while since I removed the guards so I was surprised to see that there wasn't an idler pulley to ease the installation.

Just two large fixed pulleys.

So I've been staring at the situation for a while and can't see how, by using the adjustments on the master pulley and the drive housing to reduce the distance between the pulleys to make this job do-able.

All the bolts on the adjustments are metric and my combo wrenches only go to 19mm. I need 22mm and 24mm.

If I had the tools, I would be elbows deep into this, but I don't want to go out and buy them and find out I'm heading down a dead end.

And because of the price tag on the belts, I don't want to do anything stupid.

Am I missing something?

First pic is the left (drive) side of the flail. The master pulley has limited adjustment to the rear (right) but there is several inches of travel forward (left).
When I look at it, the distance between the pulleys increases if the master is moved forward.

Second pic shows the back side of the master pulley.

Third pic shows the adjustment available on the drive. Again it's forward only.

I have sockets of sufficient size, but they won't reach some of the bolts and won't help on the pulley adjustment.

Thoughts? Hints? Tips? Suggestions?

jthibodeau89 · Oct 15, 2018

From what i see it should be straight forward. Loosen gearbox bolts and remove master pulley pinch bolt(s) at end of shaft tube. Loosen or remove nut on end of adjuster bolt. Slide gearbox assembly rearward to install belts. Use adjuster nut to apply tension. Key point will be correct tension. Ensure drive shaft and pulley is square to rotor shaft and pulley. Secure gearbox and shaft end bolts to secure gearbox assembly won mower. I would recommend anti-sieze on all bolts.

leonz · Oct 16, 2018

Before you do anything make sure the three V belts you have have the same lot number otherwise your V belts will not last.

leonz · Oct 16, 2018

Before you do anything make sure the three V belts you have have the same lot number otherwise your V belts will not last.

The New Ferri 88's are adjusted the same way by moving the gearbox and the cross shaft tube.

ace10 · Oct 16, 2018

Thanks for replies.

I went out to Sears and bought a couple of large metric wrenches. Wow, just wow, is the quality total crap now.

Regarding the belts... there were only a few in inventory. I took what I could get, as I've already lost more than a week on this problem.

As suggested, I will try to slide the driveline components and see what happens. Hoping for the best!

ace10 · Nov 8, 2018

Finally got the flail belts changed out. Took a second trip to Sears to get a couple more even larger metric combo wrenches to disconnect the driveline AND the upper hitch mount.

Mower is running smoothly and feels like its putting more power into the blade drum now.