King Kutter disc is a piece of garbage

[Chain Bender]

King Kutter disc is a "MISFIT" edited

Spent a little over 20K last week on a new Kubota L3200, King Kutter bush hog and a King Kutter adjustable disc. Today I hooked up the disc. I removed the bolts from the adjustment slide and thought I was going to adjust the disc for full bite. WRONG! Could not even budge either the front or back. Studied it for a while and found that the bolts that attach the flanges across the top and the bottom of the slide rail to each gang were so tight that the flanges were actually bent around the center rail of the disc. Also, on each flange there were pieces of flat stock about 1/2" wide welded on the flanges right up next to where they make contact with the center rail. They were welded so tight against the center rail there was no wiggle room so the discs could be adjusted. So I took the flanges off and ground about an 1/8th of an inch off all eight of these pieces of flat stock and remounted the flanges. If I tightened the nuts on the bolts tight enough I thought that they wouldn't come off I still couldn't slide either of the discs forwards or backwards. Again I loosened the flange bolts and tried to adjust the discs. Finally after all that I was able to get the discs to move one hole and then the leading corner of the "L" flanges would hit on the main frame, preventing the discs from being adjusted more than one hole.

Unbelieveable poor design and or craftsmanship for an $1100 disc.

Wonder now what problems I'm facing with the bush hog.

Chain Bender

 

[kf4uda]

Ouch, I believe that I would contact King Kutter and give them a little feedback about the problems. Never know they might help you out in some way.

 

[kebo]

For that much money, you could have bought a Frontier disc harrow like mine and avoided all that trouble!! They have a very simple, but effective, design to adjust the gangs and then lock them in place. No hassles!

 

[FredH]

Are You Talking this type KK disk ?

King Kutter Incorporated


Although I could adjust mine , the problem I noticed was that regardless of angle set , Front axle would always throw more out than back axle would pull back in , leaving hills or if next to a fence , it would just keep piling up against fence .

I ended up doing some mods to mine , cupping both front and back disk's inwards and welding the front hangers onto additional 1/2" stock that was welded onto the main frame . Although it left a gap in the center that does not get turned , I usually only move over 1/2 the disk width for next pass .

One of these days I will find my camera cord so I can post pictures again , have a bunch on the camera but cord is ?????????????????

Fred H.

 

[bullbreaker]

Wonder now what problems I'm facing with the bush hog.
Chain Bender

Don't know but make dang sure your gear box oil has correct level of fluid in it(80/90).

Here's my A@B eagleline(Tenn.) DH(6'1/2).Rear disc wheels same as front(Canadien made) knotched.
Boone

 

[Soundguy]

if it was new I'd have taken it back vs any doctoring on it.. etc.

soundguy

 

[TractorTidy]

Unfortuantly, that's what can happen w/ lesser quality brands. The price may be good, quality many times is not. I cringe when I see people buy things at places like TSC, Lowes, Rural King, etc.. It's cheap, low end stuff w/ no dealer support.

Spend a little more and buy a better a quality piece like Woods, Land Pride, Rhino, etc.. You spent good money on the tractor, why skmip on the implements. They take the beating.

Hope your cutter is better but don't be surprised if it isn't.
King Kutter is low quality.

 

[Soundguy]

Unfortuantly, that's what can happen w/ lesser quality brands. The price may be good, quality many times is not. I cringe when I see people buy things at places like TSC, Lowes, Rural King, etc.. It's cheap, low end stuff w/ no dealer support.

.

that's not always true.

i have a 5' LL tsc mower that needed the retaining clip that holds the pto yoke to the mower drive shaft in case the shear pin broke. I broke it putting the drive shaft on. I called KK and was ordering one and the operator simply said she was mailing me the part free and to have a nice day..

had a similar low dollar need for a 10' howse ( hd model mind you ).. again.. howse sent a 25$ part to me free.

not all economy things are bad...

soundguy

 

[Chain Bender]

Are You Talking this type KK disk ?

King Kutter Incorporated


XXXXXXXXXXXX

No Sir. I'm talking about a heavy duty 5.5' disc. 3x3x1/4 box tubing for the main frame and the gang arms.

The problem with the disc is in the bolts that hold the two opposing gangs together where they slide back and forth over the adjustment/center rail of the frame. They appear to be 5/8" bolts through the plates and then through the gang frame and then through another plate. When you adjust the cutting angle of the gangs the 5/8" bolts have to serve as pivot points. As the cross plate slides forward or backward over the adjustment holes, the gang frames must pivot at the bolts. The bolts only have a lock washer and a nut on them. So if you tighten the nut tight enough that it won't back off under use, then the plates are so tight the gang frames can't pivot or slide freely over the center rail/adjustment beam. Never mind the four 1/2" wide pieces of flat bar welded to the cross plates against the center/adjustment rail. Think I'm going to grind the weld off those tomorrow and pop them off.

STILL though, I have to put a spacer between the cross plate and the gang beam/frame between each plate (upper and lower) to create a gap between the plate and the center rail so you can push/pull the gangs into the set you want. BUT, I don't think I can use a lock washer and a regular nut. I think I'm going to have to locate some nylon insert nuts so they won't back off and drop into the dirt. I spent $20 at Lowe's an hour ago buying 4 6" grade 5 bolts and washers and 16 5/8" flat washers.

Maybe after I get all this done I'll be able to adjust the set without a compressor, an impact wrench and a 16# hammer. OH yeah, and I had to make my own 5/8" drop in pins since the disc came with grade 5 bolts just barely long enough for a lock washer and a nut to fit on.

Done whinning now. Just aggrevated with what could/should have been a better built implement for that much money.

Cheers,
Chain Bender

 

[k0ua]

My KK rotary cutter was/is ok. No problems, and have had it many years.

James K0UA