Author Topic: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail (Read 69333 times)

awemawson · « **Reply #75 on:** July 29, 2014, 01:03:53 PM »

I dismounted the roller 'up in the air' - the controls are removed at the moment so I couldn't manipulate the head

So easy up a ladder with seized bolts ! Anyway off it came crashing down. The roller is basically a tube,with bearings at each end with an axle through it, pinned at one end to the mounting flange, and screwed into the other mounting flange. In the drawing below 'P' are the bearings, 'Q' is the flange with a thread for the axle, and 'U' are spring washers - I assume belleville type.

Needless to say 'Q' wasn't for unscrewing. I had to heat it to red heat and thump it very heavily with a small sledge hammer to un-thread it. More bruises in the iron work to smooth away later

All now far too hot to carry on dismantling, so I've packed up for the evening.

vtsteam · « **Reply #76 on:** July 29, 2014, 09:07:51 PM »

Wow, there sure is a lot to do on this one! You're steadily chipping away at the problems.

Looking forward to seeing it trim!

awemawson · « **Reply #77 on:** July 30, 2014, 03:52:39 AM »

Steve, as you well know, farm machinery left outside in all weathers and unused deteriorates rapidly

I wasn't looking forward to driving the axle out of the roller through it's bearings as everything was rather rusty. I left the end where I unscrewed the bracket soaking in a bucket of diesel overnight to try and penetrate, and certainly that bearing came out nicely.

Firstly I screwed the bracket back on, and with a bit of wood packing in between, gave it a few thumps with a 14 lb sledge hammer. To my relief it started moving and that end's bearing fell out! This left enough room at the other end to thump the remaining bracket with the sledge hammer and slowly pull the 25 mm shaft through it's other bearing. I am amazed that the roll pin that retains this bracket to the shaft didn't shear - it got a lot of nasty thumps from the sledge - enough to bend it (you can just see this in the picture with the bucket of diesel. I need to detach that bracket to straighten it and also to aid re-assembly so the bearing doesn't have to slide the full shaft length.

So at last I have a bearing in my hand and can measure it. (25 mm bore, 52 mm o/d, and 15 mm thick)

I put the end that still has the bearing in the bucket to soak - the outer of this bearing must be very tight as all that hammering would have been trying to push it out. May end up having to cut it out.

I've just checked the main flail head bearings - can't detect any play so hopefully they'll be ok with just a normal lubrication - silly thing is there is no provision for greasing the roller's bearings, and I can't see any way to incorporate it.

So now to order the bearings, then I'll start putting the controls back together

awemawson · « **Reply #78 on:** July 30, 2014, 07:30:14 AM »

OK bearings on order and should be here in a couple of days. I started re-fitting the controls - it works out that they would be too low by a couple of inches to comfortably pass through the lower section of the rear window, even when the cranked bar is at it's extreme adjustment, What to do, well I could extend the cranked bar - not easy - it's actually 1 1/4" diam not 1" as I said earlier. Or I could make a 'fish plate' to extend the thing that clamps the cranked bar. Or I could weld some tabs onto 'the thing that holds the cranked bar'. It's this later option that I chose.

It's 10 mm thick and I had no 10 mm bar stock of suitable width, but I did have some 75 mm angle that is 10 mm left over from making the spars. I bit was sliced up with the angle grinder and slotted on the Bridgeport.

awemawson · « **Reply #79 on:** July 30, 2014, 07:32:52 AM »

So to glue it together

A bit of weld preparation to get decent penetration, then went at it with the oil filled arc welder, as I haven't fixed the gas valve on my big mig yet

awemawson · « **Reply #80 on:** July 30, 2014, 07:35:39 AM »

Now the obligatory trip through the blasting cabinet and a coat of nice 'Ford Blue' using the magic 'one coat rust preventing' stuff. Came out quite nicely. I'll have to leave it all over night before re-starting re-assembly of the controls.

So after lunch I had better try and get that other bearing out of the roller tube

awemawson · « **Reply #81 on:** July 30, 2014, 10:20:18 AM »

So after much violence, and the application of lots of heat the remaining bearing eventually came out. It's in a deep recess which made it rather inaccessible. I ended up physically breaking out the cage, balls, and inner race, then raising the outer to cherry red and cutting it with a cold chisel. The housing has a couple of burrs but I don't think that they'll be an issue.

awemawson · « **Reply #82 on:** July 30, 2014, 10:27:25 AM »

So now to sort out the end brackets. The one that is pinned to the axle shaft had been significantly bent getting the axle out. I knocked out the roll pin, and with the shaft in the vice heated the bracket to a dull red, at which point it would come off the shaft.

Then I flipped it onto fire bricks on the (thick) welding bench, continued to heat the bent bit to cherry red, shuffled it onto the bench and beat it flat with the very sledge that had bent it in the first place

When things had cooled down a bit, I erased the evidence of hammering with a sanding disk, cleaned them up with a rotary wire brush, and gave them a coat of zinc rich quick drying primer, followed by a coat of satin black aerosol, also quick drying.

In the mean time I cleaned up the ends of the shaft, and re-tapped the male (shaft) and female (bracket) threads with a die and tap to hopefully avoid problems on re-assembly.

awemawson · « **Reply #83 on:** July 30, 2014, 10:31:49 AM »

So hopefully tomorrow I will be back on track re-fitting the control standard in it's new elevated position along with all the spool valve remote levers. I also have the heavy duty top link to fit - it looks very beefy

awemawson · « **Reply #84 on:** July 31, 2014, 05:11:39 AM »

Another fine day so I re-assembled the hydraulic control fixings. First I put back the extended standard holder and standard to check we now have the right height

awemawson · « **Reply #85 on:** July 31, 2014, 05:14:29 AM »

Then I put the actual control linkages and spool block back

awemawson · « **Reply #86 on:** July 31, 2014, 05:20:57 AM »

So now at last we have controls INSIDE the cab - such a novelty

There was a tool box mounted on that horizontal shelf behind the controls that I had to move to make way for the levers, but it can mount 'forward' or 'back' on the shelf - I think the back position will be ok, but it's so full of grease and broken useless pins and bolts I'll spruce it up a bit before re-fitting.

Just need those bearings for the roller and I'm pretty well there.

awemawson · « **Reply #87 on:** July 31, 2014, 05:26:08 AM »

I attempted to fit the heavy duty top link - it's a beefy beast and the outer diameter of the eye is too large to go in the available space

It's 'CAT2' like the other one so the hole is about 1".

I did briefly consider machining the outer diameter down but need to gain about 10 mm for clearance, and I think that is too much to take off and would negate it being 'heavy duty' any more.

Anyone want to buy a heavy duty toplink

awemawson · « **Reply #88 on:** July 31, 2014, 05:36:58 AM »

The chain restraining the pto pump is back on the top link, but the 'locking tab' is preventing it sliding onto the thread and doing chaffing damage.

Apart from those bearings in the roller, and giving all the joints a good greasing we are good to go.

I am trying to work out a way of fixing a sheet of (probably 4 mm) poly-carbonate over the windows on the flail side. Initially I had planned to cut pieces to cover each of the 3 panes of glass, and retain them with rare earth magnets, however I'm now thinking of using one full sized piece down the left hand side of the tractor if I can work out a mount.

Originally the piece I extended that holds the cranked standard had another cranked standard holding a small shield - I say small, never seen one and only going by the picture in the parts list. It seems far too small to do anything significant and certainly won't save the glass in the windows from flying debris

awemawson · « **Reply #89 on:** July 31, 2014, 07:15:06 AM »

The post man has just brought the bearings for the roller, so it was quickly re-assembled - oh so easy compared to when I had to dismantle it

And then I put it on.

Quick trip round all the joints and pins with a grease gun and off to the field to try it out. Not happy to use it on the hedges yet until I have a bit more confidence in it, and fit that polycarbonate shield. However the rushes had got a bit long so I attacked them.

Seems to work

Pete W. · « **Reply #90 on:** July 31, 2014, 07:57:36 AM »

Looking good, Andrew,

Did you get any weather a couple of days ago? (You know, hailstones the size of 20p pieces.)

How did your brook respond?

awemawson · « **Reply #91 on:** July 31, 2014, 08:46:56 AM »

Thanks for the kind word Pete.

We got strong winds and a fair amount of rain but nothing like the deluge that they had in Brighton which is surprising as it's only 37 miles away.

... but then perhaps it was a visitation, they do say "Sodom, Gomorrah, and now Brighton" . . . . .

chipenter · « **Reply #92 on:** July 31, 2014, 09:05:30 AM »

I am only another 25 miles east and didn't get a drop ,

vtsteam · « **Reply #93 on:** July 31, 2014, 10:37:53 PM »

Ahhh madmodder mayhem amongst the rushes!

awemawson · « **Reply #94 on:** August 01, 2014, 08:49:09 AM »

I cut 1/2 mile of Leylandii hedge this morning, and a similar length of stream and ditch edge at 45 degrees

The damn Leylandii stuff grows like a weed, and the fellow who contracted to cut it previously retired a couple of years ago so there was really too much growth, and my flail only just has the reach. I think I'm probably going to get a contractor to take a couple of foot off the top to bring it down to a manageable height.

Not a lot of rust left on the flail head

drmico60 · « **Reply #95 on:** August 01, 2014, 08:55:37 AM »

Hi Pekka,
Steel slides well on cast iron. Just think of all the steel shafts that run in cast iron bearings. My steel tee slot cross-slide runs on the cast iron saddle of my lathe very smoothly.
Mike

mattinker · « **Reply #96 on:** August 01, 2014, 09:02:17 AM »

Great to hear that you found a good way to remove the rust from the flail head!! Wot no pics? 37 miles from Brighton in East Sussex, my son Lives in Ucfield, you can't be far from him!

Keep up the good work. Regards, Matthew

awemawson · « **Reply #97 on:** August 01, 2014, 10:52:02 AM »

Uckfield is 22 miles from us Matthew - drop by any time you are there visiting

vtsteam · « **Reply #98 on:** August 01, 2014, 11:38:01 AM »

me want to see hedge destruction in progress!

mattinker · « **Reply #99 on:** August 01, 2014, 12:10:56 PM »

Quote from: awemawson on August 01, 2014, 10:52:02 AM

Uckfield is 22 miles from us Matthew - drop by any time you are there visiting

Thanks, I will although I can't see it happening in the too near future! It would be nice to have a face and a place to relate to.

Regards, Matthew

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Author Topic: Mounting a Tractor Hedge Flail (Read 69333 times)