Spent the day fixing an old brush hog

   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #1  

Flatheadyoungin

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 26, 2008
Messages
1,077
Location
Southern, OH
Tractor
New Holland TC45 Shuttle
One of my buddies, that has a 01 TC35 hydro, had an old brush hog that he basically tore up. I think he bought it new with the tractor. Well, after clearing some rough land he hit something and racked the whole hog and bent the plate that the gear box sets on. In turn this allowed the blade bolts in the stump jumper to rub the bottom and allow the blade to rub a 180 degree ring around the deck............all, probably, from using a grade 5 bolt for a sheer key. But, in his defense, he was replacing that softy bolt a LOT. And, if he hadn't tore it up, I wouldn't have got it cheap.

I've been trying to buy it off of him for a couple of years. We just couldn't get together on the price. So, the other day, he said to make him an offer. I told him that I'd just make him mad. But, he said shoot.......I said $50. He said he was thinking $75. I called him to split the difference at $62.50. Well, he took it:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :D :D hahaha, what a price...

Anyway, I flipped it up like you see in the pics (there's a chain hoist holding it up if you look closely). I took a 3/4 impact and removed the big nut that keeps the stump jumper in place. Well, that turned out to be the easiest thing of the whole day.

I used a pry bar around trying to get the taperd/splined shaft to let go of the stump jumper. No go. I tried lot's of penetrating oil and some heat (and patience). This is what I do on the king pins on old 28-48 Ford axles. No go. Next, I knew I needed to apply some pressure on this shaft when I applied heat and liquid wrench. However, there were no provisions to put a large gear puller on it. I looked and studied until it hit me. I have two old heavy duty Ford hub pullers. So, i took the torch and cut three clean holes in the stump jumper, thus allowing me to use the large puller. I heated, used liquid wrench, and applied a LOT of pressure. Enough to pull the stump jumper out of shape. No go.

So, I came inside to get a bite to eat and do an internet search for this. What do you know, a google search lead me right back here to TBN!:eek: There was a thread about a fella doing EXACTLY what I was doing. What do ya know! But, there was a little tid-bit that I had read about on an old hot rod website called The HAMB. It's where I learned a LOT about building traditionally styled hot rods. I had forgotten to try wax. I had never tried it before but I had heard it works well. Back out I went- after stealing some of my wife's candles........shhhhhh, don't tell......I've been in the dog house all day for other issues, she doesn't need to know I stole her candles.

So, I heated, applied pressure and used wax. No go. The old Ford hub pullers are made to hammer on and I had been hammering on it. Well, after all of that and still no success, I decided that I was REALLY going to hit it. I had come to the conclusion that if I didn't get it apart, I couldn't fix it. And, if I couldn't fix it, it was junk anyway. I took a large 10lbs or so sledge and smacked it HARD about three times. During all of this, I went and got my shooting muffs because my ears were starting to ring. On about the 3rd smack I finally head the pop we all want to hear. She came loose!

I spent the next hour or so using that large sledge to shape the mounting plate back in to what should allow the gear box to sit level. I'm no millwright but the calibrated eyeball says she looks good!

I took the stump jumper off and took the gear box off. I noticed that the holes around the base that supports the gear box actually had cracks in it from the force of the impact. I took my angle grinder and V'd them out real good and then used my stick welder to weld them shut. Then I ground them flush.

I ruined the gasket while taking apart the gear box to inspect the gears. So, I'm kind of at a stopping point until I can make a gasket. And, wouldn't you know it, I can't find my large sheet of gasket material. I'll go get some tomorrow and get her all back together.

So, I'm gonna get some rest and head back out there tomorrow to see if I can finish it up......
 

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   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog
  • Thread Starter
#2  
the rest of the pics
 

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   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #3  
Sounds like a labor of love there. Thanks for posting the progress pictures. Get that beast all back together and paint in a Nice Kubota orange and you could probably sell if for oh........... say $100 :cool: :D
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #4  
It's nice to be able to save them to squeeze a bit more work out of them.

soundguy
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog
  • Thread Starter
#5  
Yeah, not too many people would go through the trouble......

Being that I just spent the mother load on the tractor and that we are getting ready to buy 40 acres, I'm trying to save all I can........which I usually do anyway.

I'm getting a slow start today, I thought the sun would be bright and that usually motivates me!
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #6  
Is that a Model A frame on the blocks. I am sure that it is a 1931 maybe a sedan looks to long to be a coupe
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #7  
Treemonkey1000 said:
Sounds like a labor of love there. Thanks for posting the progress pictures. Get that beast all back together and paint in a Nice Kubota orange and you could probably sell if for oh........... say $100 :cool: :D

Old farm equipment is a lot like an old house. Buy something for $100 and spend $200 to fix it... and it's still worth every bit of $100 if you sell it.

:D

The 5' Howse mower I got with my 404 didn't look a lot better than the one he's working on. But $175 for a new gearbox and now it's perfectly usable. So while I may not be able to get much $$ out of it if I sold it I'll easily get $175 worth of use out of it over time.

And given my (no)luck with finding low prices, if I had to replace it I'd have to spend $500. And that one would probably still need work.

Old stuff is fine if you buy it and fix it for use. But a get a minimum wage 2nd job instead if you think you'll turn a profit fixing it up for resale...
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #8  
I did the same thing your doing, except the center mounting plate was completely destroyed on a six foot bush hog. It was cracked into 4 pieces separating the bolt holes into a maze that wasn't worth putting back together, so I took a piece of 1/2" flat plate, added a couple of legs to that to give the original shape but without the rounded corners. Drilled the bolt holes, torched the center mounting hole. welded it all together, patched a couple of rips and tears and sold it for $400 the next day. About a day and a half in labor, and $100 in expenditures, including the original bush hog.
David from jax
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #9  
Sandman, you must have a different breed of farmer than we have. Around here they don't seem to mind spending big $ on new stuff but anything used is only worth about $10 to them. Unless THEY'RE the ones selling it of course... ;)
 
   / Spent the day fixing an old brush hog #10  
Treemonkey1000 said:
Sounds like a labor of love there. Thanks for posting the progress pictures. Get that beast all back together and paint in a Nice Kubota orange and you could probably sell if for oh........... say $100 :cool: :D
I know what you mean by that exaggeration. I recently fixed a Howse that my bil bought for $50. It was in worse shape - everything bent and body twisted. If I was paid $10/hr wed have at least $500 in it. The frustration of having to spend so much time is offset by the accomplishment tho. It works well, and is stronger than it ever was. Course, the latter aint sayin much.
larry
 
 
 
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