Brushhog Repair

[Fly Fisher]

             I'm looking for some mechanical wisdom of which I have very little. For the past 3 days and 3 bruised knuckles I've been trying to break loose the blade castle nut from my brushhog so I can repair the oil seal. Do I need to take it into a shop to have this removed with an impact wrench? I've bent one breaker bar already. Are the castle nuts on a brushhog left hand threaded? I've been trying to avoid the shops at $60-80/hr.

[pineywoods]

Most likely left handed threads, both mine are..

[Buck]

Heat it and let it cool completely. You are changing the seal anyway. check the thread direction then impact. Dont try it until after cool down or you will pull the threads.

[logwalker]

That nut should come off the same direction as the blade cuts. Can you see the end of the shaft and see the threads? I had to remove mine with a impact wrench.

Joe

[Fly Fisher]

       
                  Thanks for the info. I'll try heat and pry one more time and then it is off to the shop as my impact wrench is too small. I can't find any sockets 11/8ths for my 1/2" impact wrench. I asked several tool dealers and they said I'd have to move up to a 3/4" impact wrench or even a 1" and my compressor will not handle those. Thought this would be an easy job?

[isawlogs]

 You dont really need to have an impact socket to use with your impact wrench , not if you will only be taking that one nut off ... I use my regular sockets with the impact often , I sure aint going to go out and buy all impact sockets for the amount they get used. Use the socket that you have been using on your breaker bar . Heat it(the nut ), then let it cool , if you have some penetrating oil, now would be a good time to put some on. Take the impact to it .

[Magicman]

Rotate the shaft hitting each flat of the nut with a heavy hammer.  Just keep going around a couple of times.  Works every time.

Sometimes you may not have a torch, but you always have a hammer.

[Banjo picker]

I think I would cut it off with a torch and replace the bolt and nut if it caused that much trouble....The bolts need replacing ever once in a while anyway...Last mowing season about 3 days before we finished the county the right wing on my 15ft hog broke a bolt..we found the bolt ,,,but the blade may still be in orbit for all I know...looked like metal fatigue.  I know here on my place I use the bolts untill I am forced to change one but the state of Miss...makes us change bolts every time we change a blade ...That way if some one gets hurt it can't be blamed on a wore out bolt on a hog...Tim

[Magicman]

Tim, I don't know what size Bushhog the OP is working with.  He is needing to replace the oil seal, so it must be a single bladed unit.  His nut may be on the spindle itself.  At least that is what I figured, but I have been known to mis-figure before.

[Banjo picker]

I think you are right MM...he is needing to take off the nut that I am thinking is on the stump jumper...if it has one.....There is a lot of different units out there..most built diff. form each other....I just thought of what happened on my JD..and took off...   Tim

[shinnlinger]

They were singing the praises of one of our sponsors, Rust Reaper, in a thread a while back, and this might be a good test for it, but I have had good luck heating as already suggested and then taking an old candle or canning wax and sticking it on the hot nut.  The wax wicks in the threads like solder on a pipe joint and usually eases removal when cooled.  If that fails it is hot wrench time and that nut is on the floor in 2 pieces....

Knowing which way to turn the nut though would be helpful.... .

[Buck]

yep,  if it wont give it up look at it under blue light.

[Faron]

I had to remove one the other day. Dad shredded the gears in a gearbox.    The nut was pitted and corroded to the point a socket wouldn't hold.  Since it had to be replaced anyway, I cut it off with a chisel.  Believe it or not, a new nut cost $25.   Generous souls that they are, Bush Hog included one with their $600 gearbox.  For some reason, we are getting a lot of experience repairing the mower this year.  I think this is the fourth time we have had a gearbox off this summer. 

[Magicman]

If when that lower seal leaks, bad things happen.  I squirted a tube of grease in each of my gearboxes and the leak stopped.  I check the level in each at the beginning of the day.

[DanG]

What about other brands of mowers?  Does anybody else have a favorite?  I'm kinda stuck on the Woods brand myself, because I've had such good luck with the 2 that I've owned.  Bushhog has always been a good brand too, but I think the Woods is built a little tougher.  I'm also impressed with Rhino, but just from appearances, since I've never owned one of them.

[Magicman]

I agree with you DanG.  I've owned a Woods, and now have a Bushhog.  If I was in the market for another cutter, I certainly would look at Woods.

[paul case]

my total all time fav is bush hog. my dad has one of their 160 models and has used it exclusively to mow his 300 acres of pasture every year  and more some years  since 1979. i had one too but mine had seen a lot more hard use than his and was rusted out  and i traded it off this spring. i now have a model 307, 315, 2615L . my 15 yo son and i mow about 500 to 700 acres of pasture every year.

If when that lower seal leaks, bad things happen.  I squirted a tube of grease in each of my gearboxes and the leak stopped.  I check the level in each at the beginning of the day.

my dad has a 6' brush hog that is a family hand me down he only uses in the woods and to mow small lots. the lower seal has been leaking for longer than i have been alive. he tells me that the stump jumper is seized on the shaft. we have been pumping a tube of grease into the gear box on it every time we use it for about 30 years. it still works fine and the gears dont make any excessive noise or anything. works fine but is a expensive fix in the long run. the seal would probably only cost as much as 4 tubes of grease.   pc

[Magicman]

Paul, after I added a tube of grease into the gear box on my model 3008., the seals now will hold the 90Wgear lube.

[fishpharmer]

I like Bushhog brand.  There is an outfit based in Arkansas called Bush Whacker that builds real heavy duty machines.  I wasn't familiar with them until working with the state.  Many highway departments in the use their 15 ft batwing mower.  I think they are everybit as tough as a Bushhog but costs less. 

I have had good success with Rhino and Woods mowers too.

[pineywoods]

There's one out there called a Brown tree cutter. Super heavy duty. Will take down and shatter 6 inch dia. trees. You  need a big tractor