bush hog threw a blade

[Marks481]

Pilot of a Bell Jet Ranger... tried to take off as the helicopter rolled over and smashed the rotor blades into the asphalt, throwing one chunk of blade through the airport office window...

I work with a helicopter pilot frequently up on Vancouver Island for over-water work, and his Long Ranger is equipped with floats. He was telling me (while we were flying) that if he has to make a water landing with more than 2-3' seas, the procedure (if possible) is to invert to dip the rotor first. Otherwise, the pitching motion of landing in the sea will dip a rotor blade, detaching it, and sending shards through the cockpit.

I prefer to stick with small boats myself. As we like to tell him "there are way more helicopters in the sea than there are boats in the sky".

 

[MossRoad]

It trashed the url of the place I told you to check on the tires, so I sent you a private messsage

The link works, just is named funny.

 

[ernemats]

I have bought tires for my pt 1845 off ebay ,Greater Cleveland Tire with good prices and very fast service. They have different brands and they have sizes for pt 425 and others.

 

[PTWannaHave]

I am thinking I need to put a chain drag on the back of the brush hog. I also managed to hit myself in the face with a chunk of rock today. I am sure it bounced several times first, but it still wan't pleasant.

I also need to stop hitting rocks... but every winter it seems my pasture sprouts a whole new crop of baseball sized rocks.

I threw a blade that took out the front tire on my dually parked across the road.

At least it was the tire, and not you. Or the front "fire" wall with all of the hydraulic hoses on it.

Sorry to hear about it.

All the best,

Peter

No, not the first time, but this time was special.

You know what is worse that the bolt shearing off and throwing a blade?

Throwing a blade right into the side wall of your front tire. I got a hole I can stick my hand through. Don't think that one is repairable.

And these tires aren't cheap. Best price I found was $95 for the Carlisle Multi-trac C/S 23.5x10.5x12 turf tires I have on there.

Well that didn't make my day.

So, I used my brush hog for the 1st time recently; everything worked as expected. (Actually, far more compressed/caked grass into the left wheel rim cavity (around the hyd. motor) than expected.) I searched the forum for any mods anyone had made to brush hog to add safety & convenience to the left-rear discharge; didn't find anything...

I was thinking of adding a soft and flexible band (like a thick rubber) of some sort. That would probably work well for 'soft' material such as grass & brush, but certainly not for rocks and/or blades! The next idea I have is to weld flat bar (relatively wide) at a 45deg angle from the top down, until it reaches the same height from grade as the sides of the deck. (A rubber band could then be optionally added to reach down to say, 3/4in off the ground.)

Any thoughts? (Did I miss the appropriate thread in my search...?) Thank-you in advance,

 

[woodlandfarms]

On the larger brush hogs (my PT) you will find a rubber lip that is probably 6" wide and 1/2? thick that is bolted to the back. Nothing is bolted to the front or sides (there is no exit shoot on the PT hogs). I have also seen chain hung from the back of hogs as well.

In all of this you have to be careful about stuff getting sucked back in. Also, I am not sure about putting anything on the front. My feeling is I want stuff to get out from under the deck and where I live things being throw out front are of little concern.

The only big mod I made to my PT is I took my torch and i cut holes in the top deck to allow me to access the broken bolts from the mower blade. I also now use longer bolts to hold the blade (be careful as you don't get one with too long of a shoulder) and then I made a driver to push the broken bolts out.

Oh, I made my own blades. I run 1/2" thick hardened steel blades. Not sure if there is an advantage or not to be honest. Anyone want to throw in on the physics?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Back in the seventies, our Liliston 10 foot three spindle mower threw a baseball sized rock, a couple hundred feet through a window of the house. It hit the ceiling (the mark is still there) and showered an adjacent teak wall with glass shards! Good thing, the room was unihabited at the time!

My Dad once tried using truck springs as blades with holes burned in with a torch. Pretty crude!

 

[MossRoad]

I'm still thinking about removing the factory blades, shortening the center hub up by 2" and then using standard off-the-shelf brush hog blades with the gull wing design similar to these to help prevent the blades from shearing off the bolts on the adjacent blade.

 

[Fawken]

I've never thrown a blade on mine (knock on wood). It's 40+ years old and heavy as all get out. I've done a lot of welding on the deck and I took the back wheel off 20 years ago. The spline shaft stripped about 25 years ago when I was doing a lot of acreage mowing in Dallas for extra cash. Those people don't call you until the weeds are 3 feet high and they've received their third notice from code enforcement. Banged into a head off of a Chevy short block.

 

[Marks481]

...Actually, far more compressed/caked grass into the left wheel rim cavity (around the hyd. motor) than expected....

The first time I mowed about 3 acres with the brush hog, I was not paying attention to the grass build up around the front tire.

Until the grass ripped out the inner valve core, and then as the tire deflated, the mass of grass broke the bead on the tire and it jumped off the inner side of the rim.

oops.

This is a good solution to the valve core problem (which I did after the second time the above scenario happened):

Amazon.com: Mr. Gasket 5102 Flush Mount Tire Valve: Automotive

WRT the grass buildup, I found a couple quick backward and forward movements tends to help dislodge the grass, and you can reach down and tug it out. This only works if you do it fairly frequently before the grass gets a chance to get packed in there.

I'm still thinking about removing the factory blades, shortening the center hub up by 2" and then using standard off-the-shelf brush hog blades with the gull wing design similar to these to help prevent the blades from shearing off the bolts on the adjacent blade.

Blaze the trail! Once you show how it is done, I will be right there with you. Although, unfortunately, my hub setup looks somewhat different than yours, and it is not clear how to take the thing apart. Still the 4" tall hub should be cut down to about 1.5" or so.

 

[jclaudii]

Mudflaps are cheap and can be fitted easily. Or use expanded metal as a debris shield and wear a helmet, My dad did this. It is a bit better mowing on a full size than an older or compact, I am higher up off the ground so that it is harder for debris to kick up that high. I know on my Massey MF35 when I hit something and the slipper starts slipping, I usually hunker down and clutch it. I don't want to lift the deck and risk it throwing whatever out. I also got into the habbit of mowing high stuff backwards

Perhaps just have a bunch of blade bolts and change them every so many hours regardless? or switch to a different bolt?