Resurrecting an old Ford 917 flail

[jimmysisson]

I have an Alamo shd88 so your wheels may be different. Mine was an old municipal mower I think and had the trailing wheels. I thought they would spare the roller a bit, and they do. However, even though they swivel, it's not more than about 120 degrees then they hit the shroud.

So, you can't back up with the mower down or the tires push sideways and peel dirt. I often need to back just a little to mow out a corner or get a bit closer to a post or obstacle. I usually remember to lift the 3pt. but I don't think the wheels are worth using in field conditions.

Sounds like you have the right plan to bring your 917 back to good shape.
Jim

 

[Fallon]

Whelp, she's alive.



May get around to completing the welds on the patches, but probably not. Need to weld up the crack in the hood that follows the rib on the left side opposite the patch (welded up at least once before). Probably paint it at some point as well. Amusingly I can only TIG, which is a clean process & not conducive to dirty farm repair type welding like this, although TIG is nicer for doing thinner sheet metal. Need to get a MIG or wire feed system for future projects I think. At any rate welds are ok looking but not that great, should be good enough for my $100 mower.

I expect this winter I'll order the remaining 10 knives & mounting hardware along with a bearing set for it. Not going to bother with the trailing wheels, I see no benefit to them & some drawbacks. Being able to float my hydraulic toplink makes adjusting the height on the go so trivial. Just float the toplink & raise/lower the 3pt & it goes from scalping to topping out at 6-7" perfectly.

It works a lot nicer now that I'm not getting a grass shower from the holes I cut in it. It leaves a nice smooth carpet of clippings with no clumping. Not as chopped up & mulched as I'd like, but I'm sure I'm expecting to much when mowing 3-4' grass. I bet it's a lot nicer when I keep up with the mowing properly. This year I'm only trying to hit the weeds & let the grass go to seed. I do end up with uncut stripes from the tires (see photo between loader arms I mowed earlier in the week), but there again, I'm sure its because I'm not keeping up on mowing and going after waist high stuff.



My former packed sand arena, now weedy trailer storage looks great after mowing. Weeds weren't as high as the grass & I can drop the mower low on the fly. Leaves a stellar smooth cut there, so much better than with the rotary cutter. I do have to slow down compared to my rotary cutter speeds a bit, but I'm mowing much thicker grass this year due to all the rain than I was with the rotary last year. Not to mention the extra 2 feet of coverage & the extra mulching action. I'm not bogging the tractor down much, which is somewhat surprising. I was thinking the mower would end up maxing out my 25 PTO HP & really limiting my travel speeds compared to my 5' rotary cutter, but it doesn't seem to.



All said & done I'm into it under $500 & 15-20 hours of work I think. Another $150 & easy weekend to finish up the bearings & stuff. I'm very happy with it.

Off to mow the weeds & the wife's garden. :thumbsup:

 

[leonz]

I love it when a plan comes to together.

I bet you love your rear camera, I certainly love mine even though its on the truck.

Where is your fender radio????

 

[Fallon]

I love it when a plan comes to together.

I bet you love your rear camera, I certainly love mine even though its on the truck.

Where is your fender radio????

Actually it's a bucket cam. The monitor has 3 inputs so a rear view is likely at some point. The bucket cam mounting needs work still as it hits my pallet forks & is just a stick essentially (still in the proof of concept stage). You can probably see the stick in the center of the loader arms behind where the bucket would go.

No radio, although I do have a set of hearing protection that has a radio in them. They don't work with my hat though & I usually run with some behind the neck hearing protection.

 

[Fallon]

I have found a significant flaw with the flail compared to my rotary cutter.

The 1' tall opening & offset means that in 3' tall grass my 1' tall well head is not friendly. $190 to fix the busted cap & wiring. Broke one D ring & bent several knives, so nobody really won that fight. Rotor is a bit scratched up & may be vibrating a hair more than before (after replacing the messed up or missing knives & hangers).

The rotary cutter would have caught on the well casing before the cutters got to it, or my tires would have hit it. Still like the flail though.

Scalped the wife's garden, dam the instant adjust ability is nice. More dirt & manure going on as it's in a low spot, then tilling, so want things as low & mulched as possible.