Hey Gang, being new to the tractor world begs a question from me and the previous post on this area of the forum reminded me of it... My neighbor got rid of his tractor a few years ago and he still had a mower deck and a flail mower (as he described) left sitting in his back field. Both appear relatively contemporary, if I had to guess, probably from the 1980's maybe, and that's totally a guess. He claimed the flail mower was siezed up but I haven't messed with it. They've both been sitting in my yard for a few years now but I'm interested to see if the flail mower will spin. Is there a good way to do that? Am I risking huge damage to my tractor by hooking it up and trying it out? If it doesn't spin will it rip apart my PTO shaft and innerds? Thanks! *uh, implements
I would try to turn things with a big pipe wrench first if you think its seized. If you hook it to your tractor it should just break the shear bolt in the pto shaft- but I've seen the plates welded on pto shafts too. Pull some gearboxes open and see what you have.
Guess I need to type faster Crane Operator beat me to all the same ideas! Seems like if you could support it so moving parts were off the ground you should be able to turn the drive shaft by hand. I've never been around one in person but seems they are very basic machines with a simple right angle drive to power the shaft with the flails on it. I would not feel comfortable hooking it to a tractor PTO and putting it in gear with out knowing it actually turned somewhat free. Guess the first thing would be to check for oil in the right angle drive!
Thanks guys. I've got to unbury it from the yard but I'll check it out and likely return with more questions!
You better quit sleeping in.
What happened?? Enquiring minds would like to know.
Ha! They are still buried in the yard! They are the last couple things my wife has not made me move behind the barn yet as they are off to the side and grass have grown over them well, so they aren't easy to see.