Flail Mower Let's talk flail mowers

coastalguy · Jun 7, 2008

500th post?

Nuru · Jun 8, 2008

Gents; Mowing with a flail on slopes, any suggestions? When i get my tractor back (very busy shop!), I want to avoid any issues just incase it was not just a weak valve that let go and the slope mowing with the flail (even though I really doubt it), contributed to the failure?

Mike5252 · Jun 8, 2008

Yekrut,

The TL has a fixed offset of what appears to be about 9". I have about a 54" width and the mower extends from the right hand side of the tractor about 1 foot.

IslandTractor · Jun 8, 2008

Nuru said:
Gents; Mowing with a flail on slopes, any suggestions? When i get my tractor back (very busy shop!), I want to avoid any issues just incase it was not just a weak valve that let go and the slope mowing with the flail (even though I really doubt it), contributed to the failure?

flails are used routinely by highway crews and they are often on big slopes so I would not worry.

IslandTractor · Jun 8, 2008

heads up. I posted about a week ago that I'd ordered 3/8 BSPP fittings for the Caroni dipstick fitting extender. I got a set but they are 2/100ths too big. Back to the drawing board.

I'll ask one of the moderators to let me add an edit to my earlier post so no one orders those fittings.

Reg · Jun 8, 2008

Something Iron Horse said about deliberately running universals out of line to avoid some sort of "in the middle" wear pattern - not verbatim, but close enough.
Maybe 100 posts or so back ?
I know it didn't make a whole lot of sense (to ME) at the time, but with a couple of dozen tabs usually open I don't always take up each point as it comes up.
Sometimes when I'm driving these things come back to me and I wish I could just log in and reply.

and so it was today.
OK, so maybe universals wear a bit more evenly if there is a slight bend in them, but I don't think I've ever seen one that was running dead straight in the vertical dimension, so why the need to off-set them in the horizontal dimension ?

Somewhere else there was mention of the speed fluctuation through a UJ, but that might have been a different thread. Anyway, sure the SHAFT goes through that, but doesn't the UJ at the other end cancel that out and the shaft as a WHOLE act like a CV joint ? (I said "act like").

Rzeppa joints aren't just a couple of UJs back to back, those are balls in spherical races (sorta).

Just thunkin' behind the wheel today.

Builder · Jun 8, 2008

Pretty impressive FX21

Eagleview · Jun 8, 2008

Reg.// This is a link to Dana Spicers facts on drive line angles , how a UJ speeds up and slows back down twice per revolution , etc . It is very good reading . Re. my statement on shaft angles to promote longevity in UJ'S . You are correct in saying the up and down angle does the same thing but many flails i have seen and owned have the gearbox high enough to make the shaft run straight so i offset the mower a little to counter this . I have replaced many Universal Joints in customers cars and trucks because the shafts were running to straight . As you can imagine , the rollers in such a shafts UJ are sitting static and the 2 or 3 rollers that are constantly taking all the thrust will burry themselves into the cups on the thrust side . A set of rollers that are twisting and rotating are spreading the load and wear amongst all of the rollers as well as the grease and increase the life span accordingly . It is espesially important in vehicles to shim the differential saddles when a vehicle height modification has been done to bring back the driveline angle to around 3 degrees .universal joints, dana spicer, drive shafts, Propeller Shafts, GWB - Machine Service, Inc

SPYDERLK · Jun 8, 2008

Iron Horse said:
Reg.// This is a link to Dana Spicers facts on drive line angles , how a UJ speeds up and slows back down twice per revolution , etc . It is very good reading . Re. my statement on shaft angles to promote longevity in UJ'S . You are correct in saying the up and down angle does the same thing but many flails i have seen and owned have the gearbox high enough to make the shaft run straight so i offset the mower a little to counter this . I have replaced many Universal Joints in customers cars and trucks because the shafts were running to straight . [[[As you can imagine , the rollers in such a shafts UJ are sitting static and the 2 or 3 rollers that are constantly taking all the thrust will burry themselves into the cups on the thrust side.]]]

Couldnt find the link. Sounds good tho. [In your experience, is it the cups or the cross that detent more?] I would think it would be the cross due the the higher contact aspect between it and the rollers. The cup curvature would cause more load bearing area/ lower pressure in the contact region.
larry