DEADLY SLASHER.

[Eagleview]

I bought a new slasher to do large areas quickly as some people do'nt require the better finish that my flail mowers leave . So i shelled out $6000 on a new "Kanga" slasher , being a well known brand in OZ . After an hour i got the spanners out to check all the bolts and noticed oil running out the bottom gearbox seal . The castleated nut had come loose and the cutter bar was about to cut my tractor tyres off . After pulling it apart i was amazed at how badly the cutter bar flange was made . They had cut off a piece of 5"X5/8" flat bar in the guilotine . Which left the ends out of true . They then cut out the center hole with a hand held oxy torch which left it jaggered and not centered , drilled the two 5/8" holes off center and then butt welded this mess onto the splined hub which pulled the plate into an arc with the cooling welds and did not true it back up in a lathe or mill . This then caused the cutter bar to be bent with the bolts untill it seated on the plate putting the bolts under great strain just to do this which left the bar loose (look at the fret marks where the bar has been moving). And then because the 1/4" split pin hole was high in the splined hub , they could not get a 1/4" split pin in the hole so they bent an 1/8" one into a fish hook shape and threaded that in . Needless to say the nut could undo about 5 degrees before the pin could stop it which then made the spline work loose . I phoned "Kanga Slashers" and told them i could not believe that they would build a critical component so badly . I said the plate should have been counter bored and the splined hub should have been turned down and press fitted into it before being welded and then the face of the plate trued up after the welds cooled . He said that's how they do it . Have a look at the mill scale on the "machined" plate and the thickness of the plate at both places were they "did" counter bore it . I am now building my own slasher , at least i know it will be done right . I will also be machining a "well" into the flange that the cutter bar will sit in so that the bolts only hold it up and not take the shear forces that the ones in the photos do (which are metric in a 5/8" hole , loose to start with).

 

[EdC]

If your slasher is anything near as nice as your pickup or other projects it will end up being the goal every manufacturer should shoot for.


edited to add ... But you have to show us the project step by step!

 

[Eagleview]

What a nice thing to say , thank you .

 

[Eagleview]

Well , ive finally made a start on my new slasher . This is the cutter bar drive hub i had an engineer build to my specs . The first part is a flange that goes under the slasher deck , the gearbox passes through the deck and then through a 300X75mm cold rolled channel . The pictured flange then is fitted and bolts passed through all 4 pieces to form a strong laminate . A piece of steel pipe has been welded to the flange to protect the gearbox seal . Then the drive hub with it's internal spline is fitted and held on with the castleated nut and split pin . The walls on the drive hub apply the thrust to the cutter bar and the bolts only hold the bar up and have no thrust applied to them . Unlike a conventional system where the bolts do both tasks . If a bolt breaks on a conventional system the cutter bar will become an eccentric and could cause loss of life . As far as i'm concerned this is the only way a critical component such as the drive hub should be made .

 

[tlbuser]

I am now building my own slasher , at least i know it will be done right .

Did you get Kanga to take theirs back? The new spindle adapter looks good in the pics.

 

[EddieWalker]

What is a slasher?

I'm thinking it's a type of mower, but for the money you're talking, it must be something more then what I'm familiar with. Do you have any pictures of one in use?

It's a pleasure to see your projects and how you build stuff. I like the common sense aproach to it that you have. Nothing extra, just what's needed and you make it as strong as possible.

Eddie

 

[aczlan]

Eddie,
From what I have read recently here, the attachment we call a Bushhog in the US is called a slasher in Australia.

Aaron Z

 

[have_blue]

Eddie,
From what I have read recently here, the attachment we call a Bushhog in the US is called a slasher in Australia.

Aaron Z

And in Texas it's called a "shredder".

 

[rhett]

hi Iron Horse,

you got my interest in finding out what a "Kanga Slasher" is. as "aczlan" and "have_blue" said, 'Slasher' is a term for a Rotary Cutter.

a google search reveals that Kanga uses a "laminated blade bar" and not a round Stump Jumper design. i'm attaching some pix so others can see what you are working with, and possibly existing ideas for you that are used by most Rotary Cutter models in North America.

The research was fun, but for the price you paid they should have provided much better craftsmanship.

Happy Slashing
Rhett

 

[IslandTractor]

What is a slasher?

I'm thinking it's a type of mower, but for the money you're talking, it must be something more then what I'm familiar with.

More like you are not familiar with Aussie prices. Smaller market equals higher prices and on top of that their dollar is worth less than ours so things look very expensive by US$ standards. I don't know exactly what IronHorse's "slasher" compares to but I'd hazard a guess that it is like a medium or heavy duty Bush Hog.