Rear Finish Mower My Woods RM48 blades fall off.

[onowino]

I'm a satisfied owner of a Kubota B6100D tractor. That isn't my problem. I just baough a second hand Woods RM48 finish mower and a new set of blades which are meant to turn counter-clockwise, the way my PTO turns them. Now, my problem, as it says in the title, my blades keep falling off my mower.

I know the cause of my problem but not the cure. My blades turn counter-clockwise and the blade bolts have a right hand thread. So, as you can probably already picture, as the spindles turn, they are actually unscrewing from the blade bolts.

I know I'm not the first to have this problem and I'm wondering if anyone here might know the (or at least a) cure. Thanks in advance.

Fred

 

[leonz]

I'm a satisfied owner of a Kubota B6100D tractor. That isn't my problem. I just baough a second hand Woods RM48 finish mower and a new set of blades which are meant to turn counter-clockwise, the way my PTO turns them. Now, my problem, as it says in the title, my blades keep falling off my mower.

I know the cause of my problem but not the cure. My blades turn counter-clockwise and the blade bolts have a right hand thread. So, as you can probably already picture, as the spindles turn, they are actually unscrewing from the blade bolts.

I know I'm not the first to have this problem and I'm wondering if anyone here might know the (or at least a) cure. Thanks in advance.

Fred

Use Blue Loctite on the bolts and you will not have any problems.



______________________________________________________________
Once you go flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:

 

[onowino]

Thanks leonz.
I should have mentioned that I already tried blue loctite and the blades fell off.
Is red loctite supposed to be better?
Fred

 

[EagleTDL]

I know the cause of my problem but not the cure. My blades turn counter-clockwise and the blade bolts have a right hand thread. So, as you can probably already picture, as the spindles turn, they are actually unscrewing from the blade bolts.

Fred

How 'bout drilling a hole in the blade bolts and using a castle nut and cotter key to secure them?? Will make taking the blades off for sharpening a little bit more of a PITA but they won't spin off...

 

[leonz]

Thanks leonz.
I should have mentioned that I already tried blue loctite and the blades fell off.
Is red loctite supposed to be better?
Fred

Hello Fred,



The red loctite is better as it does not
allow anything to loosen up.

In your case as it will require an 1/2" impact
wrench to get them off the next time or
simply standing the mower on its end
to sharpen the blades.

I would strongly suggest you use a bottoming
tap to clean the female threads and using
rubbing alcohol in aspray bottle before using
the bottoming tap.

If you have washers what condition are the
outer blade washers in? are they the star tension
type of washer?



_________________________________________________________________
Once you go flail you never go back:thumbsup::licking::drool:

 

[leonz]

How 'bout drilling a hole in the blade bolts and using a castle nut and cotter key to secure them?? Will make taking the blades off for sharpening a little bit more of a PITA but they won't spin off...

His mower blade arbors are female thread.

He would have to insert studs to do this and
the studs would not be strong enough or thick
enough to support the blades alone.

 

[EagleTDL]

His mower blade arbors are female thread.

He would have to insert studs to do this and
the studs would not be strong enough or thick
enough to support the blades alone.

Duh! Engage brain before mouth, huh?? Thanks!

 

[onowino]

His mower blade arbors are female thread.

He would have to insert studs to do this and
the studs would not be strong enough or thick
enough to support the blades alone.

Actually leonz, on a Woods RM48 there are no blade arbors. The spindle shaft is drilled and tapped to accept the 5/8 inch bolt which first passes through the blade. The spindle shaft turns counter-clockwise (from above) and with the blade creating a resistance to everything turning freely, my 5/8 inch right hand thread bolt unscrews from the spindle.

The whole mower was made for a counter-clockwise PTO. In fact when I bought it, the blades had been put on upside down so the cutting edge would lead while turning in a CCW direction. I don't know how they managed to keep the bolts tight, but I had a heck of a job getting them loose to put on the proper, new blades.

I don't have the previous owners phone number, and he lives 3 hours away, but I may have to make the trip to ask him how he made the blades stay on.

Thanks to both you and EagleTDL, I appreciate the help.
Fred

 

[leonz]

Woods has most of their manuals
on the WWW from what I remember
so that may be worth looking up if you
do not have a manual.

 

[RickB]

I've seen a lot of different mowers in my time, and I've never seen a blade bolt that would loosen against the direction of blade travel. Blades either turn clockwise as seen from above with RH thread bolts, or CCW with LH thread hardware. I'll bet somebody put the wrong spindle shafts in your mower at some point, or a similar custom cob-job. Woods in particular was never shy about using LH thread hardware on reverse rotation mowers.