T12 brush cutter bolt siezed

[sirmombo]

I have the 60 inch brush cutter which works great with a 1430. I wanted to remove the blades for sharpening and one of the bolts wouldn't loosen. I thought about trying a 3/4 inch impact wrench, but I don't want to break the head off. I don't have a diagram for the mower, but it looks like the blades bolt to a bowl which bolts to a hub connected to the hydraulic motor. What is the best way to heat the threads? Should I try to remove the bowl and heat from the inside?

Thanks for any info,
Bill

 

[ponytug]

Bill,

I use an impact wrench (1/2" drive from HF, about 500ftlb) to get them off. I have never needed PowerBlaster or heat. If you do use heat, I would do it from the bolt side. There are posts on how to remove the housing, but it is not easy in my opinion.

When I put them back on, I use the impact wrench as well, though I now grease the bolt/bushing/blade/washer area with extreme pressure grease. My problem is that the bushings tend to wear unevenly. I think that is because I tend to mow dry grass on dusty soils. With the impact wrench, the bolts don't seem to loosen on me, and with the grease they come out easily, and greasing has reduced the wear on the bushings enormously.

All the best,

Peter

 

[woodlandfarms]

Clearly peter has not lived the **** that is PT Mowers. I break around 6 blades off a year, and have made modifications to my system so that broken bolt removal is easier.

I do on occassion heat, but you have an issue in that the bolt is not broken yet. You reall want to heat the hub, or the hole in the hub... With the blade in the way you are going to heat the bolt and that is a bit opposite of what you want.. Not mission critical, but you won;t get the results as well as if you heat the hub.

If it were me, while I love the impact wrench, I would probably spray the are with some penetrant, and let it sit overnight (I flip my mower over to do this btw) If you have a breaker bar, and a way to keep the hub from spinning (I keep 2 bolts on the hub and run a pipe through the bolts and wedge it agains the mower deck) and then use a breaker bar. If these tools are not avail, then by all means use the impact. IMO a bit higher chance of breaking the bolt but that is probably going to happen anyway.

taking the hubs off is a bit of a pita, not massive but you need a quality pulley puller and I have yet to find a good one and tend to borrow my neighbors.

If you break off, I can give you the tips that work for me and the mods I have made to make the inevitable broken bolt removal easier.

 

[SELKIRK]

Woodlandfarms-If you have the time, would you please post your tips on bolt removal. I have one bolt broken off flush with the hub right now. I have not tried to remove it yet, just running on the spare holes for now.

 

[sirmombo]

Thanks for the replies.

I tried a breaker bar with a 3 foot pipe and wasn't able to budge it. I talked to Terry and he said it's very unusual for the bolts to seize. There are two sets of holes. I haven't tried removing the bolts that aren't holding on blades. It may be possible to grind the head off and use the other set of holes. I started putting anti seize on the bolt that I can remove.

 

[woodlandfarms]

Hit it with a torch first. It's not unusual for them to seize. While not ideal a torch will burn off gunk that is probably jamming u up

 

[ponytug]

Just to be clear, I use the 72" brush cutter. Never broken a blade. Worn a few, but with a welder, I just add metal back in and rebore the hole. I haven't worn the blades much, though I have had to bend a couple back into shape. I have sheared a few bolts, but all but one of mine have been extractable with a drill and bolt extractor. The one, my first, I actually did take the hub off to access it from the back. Total pain in the patootie in my book. I have never done it again.

Unlike Carl, I don't have many hidden hazards in my mowing areas, only a few soft rocks and the odd stump, plus grounding out as the grade changes.

FWIW: The YouTube channel "Welding Tips and Tricks" has a TIG tip for getting truly recalcitrant broken bolts out.

All the best,

Peter

 

[woodlandfarms]

Peter, as always, jealous of that great piece of land you have. Must have been a spectacular spring out there.

 

[ponytug]

Thanks! We feel pretty lucky, too. Yes, this spring was very wet for us. We had 21."+ of rain against the prior four years when we averaged 11"/yr, and 15" for a normal year. We have an explosion of rodents; all kinds, everywhere, the house, the cars, the workshop. Not in the PT yet.

The slope here is 45 degrees down to the road. We raise a heritage breed of low line belted galloway cattle. They are very low maintenance, and very docile and easy to handle.



It's only thirty here, but then drops off to 45+ just a little to the right. No, I don't drive the PT out here.



This pasture is down to mostly 25 degree side slope.

This is the pasture that I have to mow most often to keep the mustard and thistle down. The only woody things I mow these days are poison oak and coyote brush, neither of which is hard on the brush cutter. At this point, I have most of the stones and cement pieces removed from the pasture.

I do use the original PT blades, and toss them on the bench grinder to sharpen them before each use. It makes a big reduction in work load to have sharp blades. I also don't use the the second set of holes, so the blades can swing completely around.

All the best,

Peter

 

[woodlandfarms]

I was wondering how you faired with the rain and the flowers. So Cal was crazy quilt of color. Looks like you lost a few trees though through the drought.

I have been thinking about buying some thin mower blades and cutting them up and drilling them to make using all 4 holes for mower blade poisitons to do fine cut. Never got around to it.