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

[paul case]

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

i would say you are quite lucky . i would still keep that oil checked though. i check mine everytime i am going to mow as well.

i would bet the only thing left of the seal on dads little 6'er is the metal outside ring..  pc

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

i have heard of them but the only ones i have ever seen are real old.  they made the sides of the mower fold up so you can get a tree to the cutter. pretty neat and heavy built too. are they still in business?   pc

[DanG]

The Brown Tree-cutter is one heck of a cutter, but it ain't exactly a mower.  It's blades are mounted to a big heavy disc, and they are massive, but it turns too slowly to get a good cut in grass.

One of the things I like about Woods is that they are geared a little higher than the cheaper brands.  The tip speed of the blades is what controls the quality of the cut.  Unless I disremember incorrectly, the tip speed at 540 rpm PTO on the 6' cutter I used to have was like 10,400fps.  That was significantly higher than anything else on the market at the time.  I got a lot of jobs because that thing cut so cleanly.

[Magicman]

And then if the blades aren't sharp, you are just chewing along instead of cutting.  That eats up the tractor's HP also.  I have a set of 4 being hammered for my 3008 now.

[DanG]

I thoroughly understand the premise of hammering rather than grinding, and I agree with it in principle.  But I wonder(that means I don't know but would like to) if it is more economically feasible if you have to pay somebody to do it.  How much do you pay for each sharpening?  I haven't had to buy a set of blades for a long time, but they didn't seem all that expensive back in the mid-eighties.  I can turn my cutter on end with the loader and sharpen up in about five minutes and don't seem to lose all that much steel.  I've also noticed, after thousands of hours, that the back side of the blade wears down more than the front, and they will eventually get thin enough that they won't take a hit anymore.

[Magicman]

DanG, you really don't save a lot.  It cost me $40 to have the 4 blades hammered.

I'm sure that they are more now, (I haven't checked) but I think that the last set of new blades cost me about $70.  I have two sets, and just rotate them each year.

[DanG]

I've thought about just hammering my own, but probably never will.  I do have a forge, a big honkin' anvil, and a bunch of hammers, but grinding on the mower is just so easy that I do it a lot more often.  One thing is for certain though, sharp blades make a huge difference!

[paul case]

I can turn my cutter on end with the loader and sharpen up in about five minutes and don't seem to lose all that much steel. 

DanG,
i think that sounds lke a lot of work to sharpen blades. on my 2615L and 315 the way to do it is lift the wings and sharpen the side blades and the end of the middle ones actually stick out the side enough to sharpen them from the side while sitting on a bucket. the 160 model mower could be sharpened by lifting the mower all the way up and sitting on the ground in front of it . angle grinder in hand .cost less than $4 in grinder discs to sharpen them up.
mm,
i see your point on hammering those blades but when sharpening usually you usually take off the same amount from each blade. the balance shouldnt be affected that much.when my dad had to do some repair on the stump jumpers on his mower he sometimes set the dish on a tire bubble balancer for tires. worked real fine to balance it .
a neighbor of mine had his blades hammered. they said he was too cheap to waste any metal. pc

[DanG]

Well you can be sure I'd do it that way if my cutter had wings, but it is a single.

[Magicman]

My hammering guy has a forge and trip-hammer.  I would hate to even think about hand hammering a blade out for ten bucks.  One of the pluses for hammering is that no metal is taken off.

[Banjo picker]

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.

I had a Woods dixie cutter M5 for years it is a fine machine...I just sold it last week ...with a little work it would still be better that the one I now have...

As James said the state of Ms... at least up here uses the Bush Whacker mowers....and it is unreal the abuse they get...and for the most part just keep on running...We hit rip rap, parappet walls on box culverts, ole tires and wheels...anything that can hide in tall grass...They would be worth a look....Tim