The Craftmans Shop > New from Old
Rebirth of a 6 Foot Flail Mower
awemawson:
So it took all morning and blood (literally - squashed little finger :bugeye: ) sweat, and tears but the Jackshaft is OFF :ddb: :ddb:
Initially I got the Universal Joint yoke that is stuck on the gearbox output shaft glowing dull red then tried tapping, levering, pleading etc to no avail.
Left it to cool while I removed the four sheave pulleys on the left had side - sadly although they are held on by taper lock inserts, in both cases the taper locks were cracked - standard 2" Imperial size, only £18 each to add to the butchers bill :(
When the yoke had cooled again I liberally sprayed it with PlusGas and set up a wedge arrangement using the tapered end of a large cold chisel to bear against a loose bolt head that I inserted in the hole in the end of the splined shaft the other side being a heavy flat bar bearing againt the opposite yoke cheeks. Much hammering, readjustment and a few oaths later I had JUST perceivable movement. At that point I knew I had it, and persistance adding more packing and repeating the process eventually got it to slide off. It was at this point the jackshaft fell off and squashed my litle finger :bugeye:
Anyway - good progress, just got to get the bearings off the end of the main flail shaft, and pull the gear box off to measure it's bearings.
AdeV:
I love watching your re-build threads Andrew. Regrettably, I rarely have anything useful to add (I don't this time either) save to say - thoroughly enjoying this one, even though I will likely never use a flail mower in my life, and have only the vaguest idea how it works... (I get the roller bit).
No pics of the finger then?
awemawson:
Ade - you're a Ghoul !
Well a bit of a delayed start today as I had to visit the dentist to have a tooth pulled out :bugeye: When I got back I set too removing those flail shaft bearings. Both sides needed the inner races grooving with an angle grinder and cracking - but off they came :thumbup:
This has allowed me to remove the (blooming heavy!) flail shaft itself - so as far as dismantling is concerned, apart from the 90 degree gear box we're nearly there.
New bits that I've ordered have started arriving - the main flail and roller bearings, which I'm relieved to say ARE the right ones, and a few of the bigger bolts.
I've now to decide about grit blasting and painting - needs to be outside and the weather has changed for the worse. I may have to rig a tarpaulin tent if it doesn't improve.
wgw:
Many years ago I used to design stuff like that. Any bit of string or a tough grass stalk would tear any bearing seal in a flash. On the posh stuff designed complicated labyrinth seals for wheels and flail shafts but never lasted long. We found it was cost effective to just use MS shafts and iron wheels, and change when needed.
awemawson:
So before going in for breakfast after mucking out the pigs I got the Forklift back in and turned the flail back into the 'operating position' so I could more easily get at the 90 degree gearbox to remove it.
Gearbox came off without any dramas, however getting the flail into this attitude had revealed another issue that I need to address - someone in the past has caught it on a fence post or wall corner and twisted the 60 mm o/d tubing that forms the hoop of the three point mounting, and have done a grotty weld on said tube :bang: I'll have to cut this out and re-do it. The twist in the hoop doesn't look too bad in the photograph but it's a few degrees.
Anyway after breakfast I dismantled the gear box so that I can identify and order the required bearings and oil seals. The tube issue I'll sit on for a bit and see if any good solutions crop up.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version