A few posts above this one shows the damage I did last night to the rod that supports the front guards. I found the original front guard support rod and then soon remembered why I asked Courtney at GWTC to send me a new one. It was badly damaged in shipping and it was near impossible to get the rod true enough for the guards to slide on. Luckily I have a bunch of 5/8" rod that I bought a couple of years ago on Craigslist for pennies and was able to make a new rod out of that.
I repurposed the plug that I cut out of one of the pallet forks a few weeks ago. I rarely throw steel away, even small pieces, and this reminded me why. It makes a nice end stop for the rod. I drilled out the other end for a retaining pin. The belt guard was damaged during shipping too but I didn't fix it until this evening so it only took a little over two years to get around to it.
The seam around the top wasn't welded but was nicely done with a minimal gap. Since I had the welder fired up and was fixing the rod, I decided to fully weld the seam and get the guard back on the flail. I ordered color matched paint when I first received the flail since I needed to do some touch up. I'm not a painter but got one coat on the belt guard repair this evening. I'll put another coat on either tonight or tomorrow before heading out to cut a field for someone.
I'm pleased with the guard rod replacement and the work on the belt guard. The top rod is the original one that was damaged in shipping that I tried to straighten. The rod I damaged yesterday is shown in two pieces since I had to cut it to get the guards off. The rod I made is below that, and the stock I made it from is at the bottom.
I really like this flail, and the more I work on it the more I like it. It's easy to work on, repairs seem to be easy thus far, and it does a great job of cutting everything from grass to thick weeds and brush.
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