Remove bush hog blades with cordless 3/4 impact wrench?

[Rod in Forfar]

My first try involved crawling under the bush hog with a pipe wrench and a 4' pipe. Not a happy experience.

A few years later I learned to remove the bush hog from the tractor and suspend it by logging chain from a front-end loader. Lower it to the ground enough to prevent undue movement. Block rotation with a convenient stick from a nearby woodpile. Then have at it with the heavy ratchet with a 4' pipe attached. It works quite well. Just don't touch the nut for a while after removal as it will be quite warm. While you're in there, tighten the nuts fastening the gearbox to the frame. They come loose over time.

 

[LD1]

Agree, if you have torches, straighten them.

I know the safety police will probably frown on this, but I have done it many times.

Have taken straight blades and bent a high lift wing into them.

Also blades that were twisted. the flat where the bolt hole is and the flat where the edge are should be parallel going the short direction.

The last old hog I bought had the cutting edge twisted upward. Meaning the blades were acting sorta like a propeller pushing the grass DOWN. It was about 8 degrees on both blades according to my tilt box (digital angle meter). So I heated them and gave them a 2 degree pitch downward, to aid in suction

 

[man00]

I think the Makita will make short order of it...hang on

 

[Kc8ehd]

I use a 50/50 mixture of acetone and ATF , apply to threads, let set at least 30 minutes ,reapply , break them loose with breaker bar and a 5 foot cheater pipe than use your impact wench to complete removal ...

 

[mjonesnh]

UPDATE:
Brought the bush hog to the house yesterday to change the blades out. soaked the bolt threads in a 50/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid overnight. Turned the Makita 3/4 drive cordless impact wrench loose on the blade bolts and off they come. Never even whimpered. The impact has 3 torque levels and I set it to the strongest setting but believe the lowest setting would have done the job.Getting the bolts out of the stump jumper was not as easy but a lot of encouragement from a 3 lb hand sledge and a piece of 1 1/2" 01 steel hardened to RC62 convinced them it was the right thing to do This makita impact XWT07 is just plain awesome. 18 volts with 1250 ft. llbs.breakaway torque and 780 ft. lbs. tighten. A few people told me I was crazy to think a cordless impact could remove bush hog blades torqued to 600 ft lbs. Well it can, in my case easily. To be fair the atf/acetone mix may have been help also as this is the best penetrating oil I have ever used.

 

[DieselBound]

I'm facing having to remove the blades on a Landpride RCR1860 that I just picked up. Been applying PB Blaster for several days: I can see it immediately seep down through the threads. I don't have a socket to fit (and couldn't find one locally) so I ordered one off of Amazon. Not sure my air impact gun will have enough oomph so I'm going to shell out $150 for Harbor Freight's "Earthquake" air impact- it's supposed to do 1,000 ft-lbs.

My 1/2" Dewalt 20v isn't an impact, but I know that it'll twist your wrists off!

All this makes me appreciate the way Woods attaches their blades: 3/4" bolt; very quick to replace blades, so they say. Just going to run out and spend $3k for that convenience!

 

[ishiboo]

Going to pull the blades off my RCR2572 in a week or two, hoping my trusty 2763 will dominate. It's never let me down before!

 

[RPW]

-Dieselbound- FYI; I got the HF 3/8 earthquake impact and I am pretty impressed with it.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

I'm facing having to remove the blades on a Landpride RCR1860 that I just picked up. Been applying PB Blaster for several days: I can see it immediately seep down through the threads. I don't have a socket to fit (and couldn't find one locally) so I ordered one off of Amazon. Not sure my air impact gun will have enough oomph so I'm going to shell out $150 for Harbor Freight's "Earthquake" air impact- it's supposed to do 1,000 ft-lbs.

All this makes me appreciate the way Woods attaches their blades: 3/4" bolt; very quick to replace blades, so they say. Just going to run out and spend $3k for that convenience!

I didn't "run out" to buy my Woods rotary cutter "for that convenience", I just made a better decision when I was going to buy a new rotary cutter in the first place.

I have two Woods cutters right now, and blade changes have been fast and easy on both of mine.

SR

 

[DieselBound]

I didn't "run out" to buy my Woods rotary cutter "for that convenience", I just made a better decision when I was going to buy a new rotary cutter in the first place.

I have two Woods cutters right now, and blade changes have been fast and easy on both of mine.

SR

I was joking. Nonetheless, Woods isn't at the top of the heap for nothing! I'd really love to have one:BB720xx.

I've had my Rankin for 6 years and have yet to change the blades: I have a spare set. I haven't been easy on that thing. And here I find myself with its replacement needing new blades. Just kind of ironic...