Finishing Mowers and Protection

   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #1  

Carlmiddleton

New member
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
7
Location
Prospect, TN
Tractor
B2710 w/ loader, LandPride 2572, Bush Hog SQ600
I have a B2710 with a 72" LandPride Mower. I have made gravel out of some large rocks that were covered up by some small brush. Has anyone else done this? It made 2 out of 3 mower blades unusable but it didn't bend them which was a surprise.

What is the likelyhood of doing permanent damage to the mower and/or tractor? The mower doesn't have a slip clutch or shear bolt protection like my rotary cutter does. Accidents do happen with finishing mowers and I would think they would be protected.

The impact transfered from the blades, mower gearbox and through the PTO nearly shutting the tractor off. This certainly can't be good for the mower and/or tractor. Everything still seems to function normally except the blades now need to be replaced.

Any comments would be welcomed on the worst objects hit with a rotary and/or finishing mower and how the equipment faired after the "impact".
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #2  
Carl, I find it hard to believe that Landpride didn't put a clutch or a shear pin on your unit. Look it over real good and if you can't find one e-mail Landpride to check with them. I sure wouldn't want to hit anything that solid without protection. Most of the time the manufacture will size the PTO shaft catigory to the horsepower rating. It they did it right AND the unit wasn't rated more than your tractor then the pto might give before damage to the tractor.
JerryG
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #3  
Carl, I didn't know until recently that anyone sold mowers without either a shear bolt or a slip clutch. I think if I were you, I'd have to talk to the dealer about getting a shear bolt on it; gearboxes are expensive. I'm not sure what other damage you might do to the driveline or tractor, but it sure can't be good for it.

Bird
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #4  
The problem is that finish mowers are not designed to mow fields. They are intended to mow lawns and golf courses that don't have rocks, stumps, and other bad things in them. Rotary cutters are designed to mow fields and are equipped with chain guards and slip clutches (or shear pins), but you can tear the gearbox out of a rotary cutter pretty easily by running over an old tire. Seems to have just enough give to keep the shear pin from shearing but not enough to keep the gears from tearing up.

I doubt that I will ever own a finish mower other than my little self propelled 22 inch and small riding lawnmower and they are neither suitable to use on rough terrain or rocky areas. My son has broken his small finish mower twice now, so they are not very rugged. The only ones I ever saw that were pretty rugged were made by Toro and had very small blade on the end of a round disc on the crankshaft. When you hit a rock, the blades would turn and stop the damage immediately.

With my rotary cutter, I don't worry much about hitting rocks and pieces of wood. I try not to hit pieces of metal, but the blade goes through about 1/4 inch steel when it hits a piece of pipe. The rotary cutter is much more rugged than the finish mower and still gives a pretty good finish cut to acreage. It has a 110 HP gearbox, chain guards, 1/2 x 4 inch blades, and 1/4 inch thick sidewalls.
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #5  
Finish mowers don't generally have slip clutches or shear pins because they are belt driven, and the belts will slip before catastrophic damage is done.
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #6  
Yep, Dave, I was asleep at the switch last week when I posted that message./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif Brush hogs (rotary cutters) and tillers need the shear pin or slip clutch, but not the finish mower.

Bird
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #7  
I received some damage to my Rhino FM60 rear mount finish mower when my nephew "backed into a stump". I wasn't with him at the time, but the damage was a bent blade and the deck was bent enough to cause the blade to dig into the ground. I thought it was very serious, but my dealer straightened out the deck, replaced the blade, and sharpened the other blades for $114. A good deal I thought. I have recently found that I also have bent stabilizer, as its difficult to pull the inside piece out without the help of the weight of an implement to move it.
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #8  
Alan, I bent one of my stabilizers, too. I won't go into detail, but I'm sure you know it was my own stupidity./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif It was the inside piece that was bent and was quite simple and quick to fix by removing it, putting it on the piece of railroad track I use for an anvil, and tapping it with a 4lb. hammer./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Bird
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection
  • Thread Starter
#9  
I replaced all 3 blades and mowed for about 15 minutes before I discovered instead of taking a 72 inch byte out of the grass I was only taking about 48 inches. I raised the mower up to find out that one of the blades was not turning. I attempted to tighten it back up but the threads inside the spindle were stripped out. What I have discovered is if you hit something with an unprotected finish mower and the drive belt is "tight", it will drive the blade attachment bolt tighter into the spindle. When I took the bolt out of the spindle, the threads of the spindle were wrapped around the bolt. It was a pain to rebuild the spindle so I got another hub assembly for $160. I will be more careful next time.

I have also noticed that after an extended period of running the mower, pressure will build up in the gear box. I checked the fluid right after I mowed one evening and it almost sprayed fluid all over me. Even though I keep the gear fluid at the recommended level, I have blown out the lower gear seal on the gear box. I think the build up in pressure did this. It is important NOT to overfill the gear box even though mine was not overfilled when the seal blew.

Finish Mowers are for flat, manicured surfaces. Do not even attempt to run over questionable terrain. You will just be asking for it. This was a good and expensive lesson learned.
 
   / Finishing Mowers and Protection #10  
I was in the tractor dealership a few weeks back and a fellow was there buying spindles, bolts and blades for his Landpride finish mower. We got to talking while they were gathering up his parts. His bolts were striped out of his spindles. He said he cuts about four acres of bahaya grass, and unless he uses "sand blades" they will not last for two cuttings. Evidently his land is quite sandy. Is this bolt stripping common on all finish mowers, or peculiar to Landpride?

If this is common for Landpride I am not sure I can afford to have the "best".
 
 
 
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