RCR1860 and a drag harrow

[Atlanta Panther]

So I normally attach a drag harrow to my RCR1860 rotary cutter when cutting the pasture to help break up the horse manure piles. Anyway, yesterday without thinking I backed up over the drag harrow with the cutter turning. Of course, the harrow was broken into about 10 pieces but my bigger concern is the cutter. When I looked at it the two cutting blades were right behind each other. I am not sure but I suspect that the bolts holding the blades were just loosened and if tightened up again they would be fine because it doesn't look like there is any real damage to the cutter or blades. In fact, the harrow getting torn up knocked off some of the built-up grass clippings stuck underneath the cutter housing. I also did turn on the rotary cutter at an idle and it seemed to turn fine.



Is there anything else I should be looking at or should I just tighten up the bolts? Just want to make sure safety precautions are taken before I put this back into full service.



Thanks!

 

[crashz]

You can check the bolts, but it probably did nothing to the cutter at all. Just pulverized the harrow. I would check to see if any stray wire wrapped around the gearbox shaft though. That could damage the seal.

 

[Fallon]

The blades aren't suppose to be solid mounted to the blade carrier. If blades hit something hard they are suppose to fold back. Centrifugal force keeps the blades out straight when spun up. Things get squirly on startup & shutdown as the blades are pivoted in a funky direction.

 

[skipperbrown]

As Fallon says, the blades pivot freely on the hub and fold back when they strike something. As long as they straighten out when you engage the PTO you are good to go. If they don't straighten, you will immediately feel it because the off balance condition will shake everything. You may want to touch up any dings on the cutting edge. Sorry about your harrow. Sounds like something I would do.