Flail Mower Ford 907 Flail Mower Vibration from Bent Carrier Assembly

[sandman52]

My dad bought a 6 foot Ford 907 flail mower at an auction. When he got it home and hooked it up to a tractor, there was a vibration. After some investigation and removing the rods and cutters, it appears that the carrier assembly (the main shaft) has a slight bend in it. The carrier assembly spins freely by hand, but does always end up with the same side on the bottom. The pulley attached to the shaft has a wobble due to the bend.

The end plates on the carrier assembly appear circular. However, the shaft of the carrier assembly does not go though the exact center of the plates. It appears to between 1/4 and 1/2 inch off center. There are weights to compensate for this imbalance on one side of the shaft. This setup appears factory and I have seen a picture of another Ford 907 with the same setup.

We have a couple of questions:
1) Has anyone had luck having the carrier assembly straightened?
2) If it can't be straightened, does anyone know where to get a replacement? A parts supplier on the internet appeared to have one, but after the order was placed, they said they had none in stock and could not get one. Alternatively, we might explore having one fabricated. The design doesn't seem too complicated.
3) Does anyone have an idea why the end plates of the carrier assembly are off center? If we have the carrier assembly fabricated, I'm not sure if we should have the plates off center or not.

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[RickB]

Scrap it and start over.

 

[leonz]

You can get parts from Flail Master.

But for the money spent for the new flail mower rotor and bearings
you could put a good downpayment on a new Land Pride/Maschio flail mower in Land Pride paint.


You need to have a access to a high speed balancer capable of 2,200-3,000
rpm to balance the rotors properly.


With that much noticeable damage you are looking at close to 2,000.00 dollars for parts and labor providing the
side weldments and cross braces are still solid and square.

they must have walloped an engine block or a concrete fence post with it before stopping/stalling the tractor.

 

[super55]

I have an used alamo mower that I was having real issues with excessive vibration which I was certain was either bearings or a bent shaft. It was so bad that I was certain the thing was going to have to get scrapped. After changing all the seals, inspecting all the bearings, replacing u-joints and just about every other thing I was pretty depressed when it ended up not fixing a thing.

What ended up being my issue was resonance. If I ran it at or above a certain RPM the vibration would just keep getting worse and worse. For my mower the sweet spot ended up being just shy of 1700 RPMs. If I go above 1800 RPMs I will get vibrations as sure as the sun rises.

Might be worth trying to run the mower at a lower RPM. It might save you some money in parts or having to scrap it.

 

[sandman52]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Sounds like fixing the problem could be more than we were hoping to put into the thing.

The mower vibrates at tractor idle speed. We'll have to speed it up a little and see if it comes out of it. If not, we'll have to weigh the options and decide what's next.

I'm not sure what the previous owner hit with it, but I bet it made a heck of a noise.

 

[Ford Rob]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Sounds like fixing the problem could be more than we were hoping to put into the thing.

The mower vibrates at tractor idle speed. We'll have to speed it up a little and see if it comes out of it. If not, we'll have to weigh the options and decide what's next.

I'm not sure what the previous owner hit with it, but I bet it made a heck of a noise.

Did you end up scrapping your mower? I am looking for a drive gearbox for one of these and am having a TERRIBLE time finding anything that will WORK!!
Thanks
Rob

 

[leonz]

Did you end up scrapping your mower? I am looking for a drive gearbox for one of these and am having a TERRIBLE time finding anything that will WORK!!
Thanks
Rob

Contact Wengers of Myerstown, Pa. They may have a 907 in the weeds for parts.

If they do not have one, call the folks at Boston Gear and they can help you I am sure.

 

[Degolyerent]

I have a 907 that I will part out if you can send me a pic of what you need. Mine has a couple of bad bearings and some rust on the outer cover near the roller. It worked fine as far as gear box etc. I can send model # and serial # or whatever it might take to match it up.

John

 

[Ford Rob]

Not sure if my post went or not! It disappeared and I have come to distrust COMPUTERS!! Ha ha...
What price were you thinking on the gearbox for your flail mower, plus the connector to the horizontal drive? Shipping extra, of course.
Thank you,
Rob

 

[Ford Rob]

Most of the gearboxes I have found on this style Ford flail mower are very similar, enough so that I could adapt yours if necessary. I will try to get a pic of it and load it...I am not the most computer literate human on the planet, but I stumble around and usually can get things moving in the right direction!