Shear pin?

[BMW]

A buddy of mine gave me an old Woods Cadet 60 rotary mower. I tightened up the spindel to take up the slop in the bearings and it works fine now. What should I use for a shear pin? It just has a 1/4" bolt (I didn't check what grade).

[kadonte]

grade 8

[Anonymous Poster]

Most all shear pins are Grade 2

Confirm with a Woods dealer to prevent any damage.

[Boondox]

Wow! Maybe this depends on the manufacturer? All the shear bolts on my King Kutter and Woods implements are grade 5. Had a friend with a Woods snowblower who got tired of replacing the grade 5s and replaced it with an 8. Next hunk of firewood he hit tore his blower all to h*%@.

Best advice I can offer is to check with the manufacturer.

Pete
www.gatewaytovermont.com

[DaveNH]

And a cheap grade two at that!
When one breaks, buy two!




We're all in this together! (3)
Executive Yuppie Tractor Owner

[kadonte]

shear pins rely on "brittle", not bend. Grade 2 will do a good job of elongating pin holes.

[kadonte]

I defer...preferred use is probably a grade 5. I have luck and less problems using the 8's. I would not want to steer someone in a wrong direction based on my usage of a particular grade of bolt.

[hayden]

I just checked the manual/parts list for my woods 4" mower. The manual covers the larger models too.

In BIG BOLD type is says to use only grade 2 bolts for the shear bolts.

My snow blower also calls for grade 2.

I strongly suggest NOT using grade 5 or higher. The softer bolts are used on purpose - so they shear under stress. I blow out one or two every time I use my snow blower because I keep picking up rocks. When I first blew one out, I didn't have a grade 2 replacement so I used a grade 5. Next rock I caught blew out the #50 drive chain. Now I only use grade 2 and I buy them a half dozen at a time.

If you find you are breaking them frequently, as I am, switch to a slip clutch. That's what I plan to do this summer. Changing the shear bolts is getting old - but it still beats replacing the gear box or chain.

Peter

[Keoke]

Peter, the best setup is a combination of shear bolt and clutch pak; with clutch set to slip just before bolt shears. The down side of clutch paks is that they tend to rust up locking up the drive to driven plates together when they sit for a time. The shear bolt would protect unit against this. In use, if you shear the bolt then it is time to unstick the clutch pak. I use two pipe wrenches to break the clutch loose when they lock up.

george

[Jag]

George... WD40