Tractors, Mowers, Chippers, Trailers, Chainsaws, Generators, Boat Engines, Flood Control, & Census.

I've been where you are and had the wants for a flail pretty bad. That one is neat BTW--love the compact size. I know they can mow taller grass to look better in one pass than a rotary but are not as good at cutting saplings. Correct me if I'm wrong. What is the draw for you?

 

That is cool. I didn’t know they made one like that, seen them for Farmall Cubs.

 

Question for you electrical savvy guys:

I have a small bench grinder that would not start (just chugged along slowly) and had no start capacitor in it. For awhile I could help it and it would but it got to where it just chugged. Cleaned/blew it out looking for dry bearings or something and nothing was apparently wrong that I could see. It did the same thing after assembly. I turned it on and spun the shit out of it with my air blower and it started up and has worked fine ever since. I mean--perfectly, no chug, nothing. Starts up and runs better than ever.

Just did it again to a fan with one of 2 motors nearly frozen. I couldn't even turn the blade with compressed air. Turned the fan on and ZINGED the hell out of it with the air blower (probably 20,000 rpms lol) and it is now free, starts and works fine. The 2 motors nearly stop coasting at the same time when turned off now--maybe 1-2 seconds quicker stop on the one I zinged. Any ideas here? Worked like a freaking charm on both of these destined for the trash items.

 

Dirty brushes maybe? That’s cool they are going good though.

 

I guess it could have knocked something off them with the speed. The fan acted like a bearing freezing up, blade was stiff to manually turn over. The grinder would easily spin but not start. I know that this will be my go to from now on before taking anything apart.

 

They can cut saplings ok, depends on the hammers used. This one should have the lighter weight Y shaped flails which are better on grass and such though.

I like the compact size and the ability to cut anything I would encounter with impunity lol. Also, I think they are cool lol.

 

I'm gonna guess the bearings were gunked up. I like the Montgomery Ward grinder though. I have a pump 22 that my grandpa gave me that is a Montgomery Ward. It is so old it doesn't have a serial number.

I like old stuff, if you couldn't tell.

 

Cool, you just gotta get your tool blown before use.

Sounds about right.

 

The bushings are oil impregnated and if they sit too long, it dries out to a stiff grease. The motor just can't get it moving. Once the grease thins out due to enough movement, it'll work fine most of the time. VERY common with trailer/modular home inducer motors at the beginning of the season. Once you get them moving, they are perfectly fine, they just don't have enough starting amps to overcome the bushing sticking. Probably do 20-25 every fall, I might replace one out of all those and that's because the customer left it on for hours and hours and the board wasn't smart enough to shut off power after start up failure.

[and yes, I do HVAC as part of my job]

 

Makes sense. I’ve had to spin the ejector fan on our package unit at the first start of the winter a couple times. Finally had to replace it last year.

 

Good enough reason to me.

The grinder spun freely, the fan was sticky.

I had started the fan many times over the past year to get it going but that one motor always took a boost to get going. I didn't let it cool after super speeding it so the easy start may have been due to liquified grease. I may let it cool off and see if it reverts to slow start. This happened to my new Trane condenser fan but it continued to do it and at one point it had sat all night trying to start after I had gone to bed. It could be started easily but was unreliable. Thank God the tech replaced it under warranty or it would have continued.

The grinder was easily spun over and would free spin but the motor never had the power to start it. I'm thinking something about knocking scale off the brushes or polishing the rotor or something. I did blow the ever loving heck out of it before I reassembled it so I'm ruling out any debris just sitting in there causing problems.

 

Thanks for the input gents. I agree on the 3" channel tongue, 7-way plug, and 2" lumber. Other things I like are the wrapped tongue, flush-mount lights, and that they can come with brakes and they'll up the gvwr to 3500 with them added.

Planning on a general hauler, but also hoping for the ability to move the subcompact around occasionally. Probably eventually figure out a platform on top of the rails for transporting a rigged raft.

 

Looks like a pretty well thought out trailer.
Bulldog coupler
Jack far enough back to lower your tailgate
Big side gusset in front of the fenders
EZ grease hubs
Gate looks rugged
All lights flush mounted

A well built trailer is worth it to me, I just want to use the thing not jack with it.
Both my trailers are Belmont brand, built here in Pa., I paid more for them than some competitors -- and I have never found myself wishing I bought a cheaper trailer.

 

I don't believe they are brush type motors.
Many of the older style motors have a centrifugal start switch like this:



You can usually hear them click on acceleration and again when coasting down. The contacts can get dirty so the start winding isn't in circuit when you turn it on. Spinning them up gets them up in the zone of the run winding.

The "permanently lubed" bearings can get gummy too, 20 grade non - detergent oil can usually get them smoothed out.

 

Good point about the jack position. I welded on a new one on mine because of this. Mine was in the usual spot, so dumb. I'd completely forgotten about it.

 

Our heat pump condenser fan was doing the same thing. It would wirrrrrrrr and slowly spin while trying to start. I assumed capacitor. They said the capacitor was metering within specs, so they replaced the motor under warranty. I could push the fan with a stick and it would go fine for that cycle and then wouldn't start again on the next cycle. It wasn't sitting or anything, my wife is home with the kids 24/7 so it runs all the time.

 

I'm an hvac contractor and I see this all the time at the start of cooling season. Its rare on a heat pump though.

I replace tons of the dumb things.

 

2 years ago July 4th we were going on vacation, our outdoor cooling fan quit. I rushed to get one, guy said "you sure it isn't your capacitor?" I said I don't know, I'm a machinist. I installed the new fan motor, wouldn't run. We went on vacation. Got back, I called a buddy who works on A/C. He was out of town but said his van was unlocked to go by and get a capacitor. I did, that fixed it

I ordered a capacitor online and replaced it in his van.

 

Damn, must live in a good 'hood for that!


I'd be good if it wasn't for the run down meth selling trailer across the street. Pretty sure that's who was snooping around my place that one night. Also pretty sure my big DeWalt hammer drill got swiped...

 

We got some low lifes around but they mainly into swiping the big stuff