Reclaiming Long Abandoned Rotary Cutters.

[Diggin It]

Neighbor has had three rotary cutters stashed behind his barn for years, don't really know how long. He's said I can have them, no cost. One is a finish mower, they other two are rotary cutters. Sizes and make/model are unknown right now since they're covered with vines. It'll take some effort to get them out and I'll wait until the snakes, ticks, chiggers, yellow jackets, wasps and whatever else have gone away for the season.

Obviously gear boxes, spindle bearings and whatever else is supposed to move will need to be checked. Also link and bolt points, any possible rusted through areas.

I think I'll be able to use the finish mower, but the rotary cutters may be six footers which will be too big for my tractor.

What else will I need to inspect/check and possibly repair?

If I can get them running, what would be a reasonable selling price? I realize make/model/condition will be a big factor. I only know that the finish mower is slate blue, one cutter is red and the other yellow.

No pictures yet as they're almost hard to see in the brush.

 

[Gary Fowler]

Finish mower might have belts to replace, all the ones I have seen do. The rotary mower (bushhog type) likely need nothing if they were running ok when parked. They might have been parked due to seal leakage. Only way to know is to fill up the gear box and run it. The universal joints are likely frozen up and will require some grease and working to free up, maybe even need replaced. Not much else to check on them. Most rotary cutters never wear out the blade bolts unless used commercially.
I would just grease all of them, check gearbox oil and run the heck out of them to see what happens.

 

[rangerfredbob]

dang near everything I have or have helped my brother get has been from an auction, most of which has been sitting like you are talking about, and what Gary said above is all that it has taken...

 

[Diggin It]

OK, they're all finish mowers. The grey is the only one where the gearbox rotates. The yellow and red do not. Blade spin doles don't rotate on any of them, but none of that is surprising considering where they've been for so long. Sheet metal is all intact and not too heavily rusted. Couple of gauge wheels missing, but I think they have those inside their shed, so I'll have to ask. One is all torn up, but I think the $5 HF pneumatic cart wheels will work.

Red says Cyclone C50 RD7. I'm guessing that means 7 foot, which is too big for mine.

Yellow says Walton, but I haven't found any other ID yet. Measures 6 foot wide and appears to be side discharge.

Grey says Modern Manufacturing and a serial number but I haven't found a part or model yet. Also measures 6 foot wide, but is a rear discharge.

Replacing spindle bearings is one thing, but I don't pan on replacing gearboxes unless these things are somehow odd or unique and hold some value which I don't expect they do.










....

 

[Diggin It]

The Cyclone C50 RD7 shows as a Befco in web searches with a 'new' pricetag of a little under $4,000.00

I see used 5 and 6 footers for sale, but no 7s so far.

 

[Diggin It]

I think this is the same as the grey one and it's listed used for $850.00

https://www.tractorhouse.com/listin...-sale/147177859/2009-modern-manufacturing-fm6

 

[Diggin It]

Freed up most everything on the grey one. All three spindles now rotate. One belt is OK while the other is worn, but intact. Got them back on the pulleys and I can rotate the deck by hand turning the PTO shaft. I can tell the gearbox is all but dry, so I'll need to fill that. Will probably use motor oil for a small bit of testing before changing to gear oil, once I find out what type it needs.

One blade is broken off completely. I'll probably get a new set of three and use the two old ones for spares.

-----------------

Yellow one will take more work.

Haven't even looked at the red one yet.

 

[mrmikey]

I think you scored, they look to be in good shape.................Mike

 

[cglaser104]

I agree. Good cleaning up could reveal some absolute steals

 

[Gary Fowler]

Did you find all the gauge wheels that are missing in the photos? Even without them, free is always a bargain.

 

[Diggin It]

I'll know about the wheels later today.

If I can get the 7 footer running, they may keep it and use it on their larger Ford tractor instead of their small riding mower. That'll still get me the two 6 footers to either use, sell or maybe trade for a 4 or 5 foot rotary cutter.

 

[Diggin It]

No progress on the wheels. People have been busy with other things.

Yellow deck is freed up. Had to work each pulley and spindle manually with blaster and grease, but they all rotate now. Will probably have to replace the idlers and maybe the spindle bearings. Won't know that until after I can apply power. Rerouted the belt and got it tensioned without the need for the trailer ball in the earlier pictures. I can now run the belt by hand which turns all three blades and the gearbox which DID have oil that looks decent. Not dry like I first though.

PTO shaft that was connected to this deck is also freed up now. It was all rust frozen. With the help of lots of blaster, time for it to soak in overnight, a tree, a chain and a gentle tug of the blue beast, the two halves pulled free without much fuss. Yes it was tied to a low point, short and very little pulling forward on level ground.

Appears the 'Walton' and 'Wallace Hardware' are some kind of store brand. Parts and belt routing diagrams for a King Kutter 72 all match.

 

[Diggin It]

Got hooked up to the red deck sufficiently to move it to my yard for inspection. NO WAY I'll try to run this on my machine though.

Took the belt covers off and it looks like I evicted somebody, or a few somebodies. Packed almost solid with nut shells, shredded cloths, leaves and grass. Belts are rusted to the pulleys, but not chewed or otherwise damaged. Everything is frozen solid, nothing rotates at this point. Once I get the belts freed up I can go to work on the pulleys, spindles and gear box to see where I am.

 

[Diggin It]

Red beast is freed up. Took some ooomph, some disassembly and lots of Blaster, but all three spindles and the gearbox now rotate easily. I can hand pull one of the belts and everything rotates as it should including the PTO input stub. It's still a mess and will need to be washed and degreased. Not sure I'm going to get into stripping and painting though. Might spot wire brush and paint the loose rust areas.

Located four of the five missing gauge wheels, but a few of them need tires. Shafts are bent on several. Need to find a way to straighten.

He thinks that the gear box was changed on the gray one so it should be able to run on my tractor. How can I confirm that? Gearbox part number?

 

[Diggin It]

Making progress. Guide wheel shafts that were so badly bent are now straightened, lubed and reinstalled. New wheels on the gray one using the 8" solid rubber wheels from HF. That one has a broken blade, so I can't test run it under power until I get blades. All pulleys and spindles rotate free and easy. Will probably need both belts though.

Red one, being the higher value one will eventually be fully disassembled, stripped and painted. Looks like I can get new labels from Befco dealers. One of the guide wheel tires was shredded somehow, so it has to be replaced. Found that last one buried under some other junk, so at least I have all the support arms. Tire shop in town says they can do it installed for $15 which sounds decent. It'll need a tube too due to a bad wheel so that will be a bit extra. New wheels would be nice if I can find them, but so far not much luck. I think the belts will be OK on this one. Haven't checked the blades yet.

Yellow one is in much better shape now. Guide wheels all roll and shafts rotate free. Got the belt tension adjuster cleaned up and straightened this morning so it works like it should. I can now pull the belt by hand and all three spindles rotate and the input PTO shaft turns with them. Will probably need a new belt on this one.

Glitch here is on one spindle some knuckled head decided to weld the blade to the spindle instead of fixing it properly. The other two are fine. Need to figure out exactly what brand of deck this is so I can order one. It'll work for now, but I don't want to sell it that way. Need to check further on parts for the King Kutter 72 I mentioned above to see if that's it.

Inner grooves of all pulleys as well as the idlers on all three decks are badly rusted. I'm hoping I can run them under power for a few minutes to see if there are any bearing issues and hopefully run a lot of this rust out of the belt bearing surfaces. I know I'll have to replace belts before I can sell them, but I really don't want to have to replace pulleys and idlers.

 

[4get gto]

Any one of those machines would be $250-500 just the way they sit in my area. You did well. I've seen them so badly rusted you could stick your head in from the top check the blades..��
And thats not to mention the 15#'s of weld they put on various spots.

 

[cglaser104]

Red beast is freed up. Took some ooomph, some disassembly and lots of Blaster, but all three spindles and the gearbox now rotate easily. I can hand pull one of the belts and everything rotates as it should including the PTO input stub. It's still a mess and will need to be washed and degreased. Not sure I'm going to get into stripping and painting though. Might spot wire brush and paint the loose rust areas.

Located four of the five missing gauge wheels, but a few of them need tires. Shafts are bent on several. Need to find a way to straighten.

He thinks that the gear box was changed on the gray one so it should be able to run on my tractor. How can I confirm that? Gearbox part number?

If your using the machine in your profile you should be fine to run anything you wanna try. Gear boxes are about maximum tolerable HP, there isn't really a minimum. I think the smallest gearbox I've ever seen was 30HP so go for it. I would just change gearbox oil beforehand to make sure not to tear up anything with bad oil.

 

[Diggin It]

I've seen them so badly rusted you could stick your head in from the top check the blades.

All three decks and all six belt covers are completely intact. Some surface rust, some bubbled paint, but no through rust anywhere. Lots of rusted bolts and nuts though.

If your using the machine in your profile you should be fine to run anything you wanna try.

I ain't that brave. My luck would be they'd start out OK, then something would bind up suddenly and over-stress my PTO. Neighbor has a couple of old JD workhorses that would power through any glitches, even if it broke the decks. I'll have him come by and do the test runs.

Yeah, I plan on changing the gearbox oil at some point before I try to sell them.

 

[cglaser104]

Lol you'll be fine. There are either sheer pins or slip clutches on the PTO to prevent damage to your machine. You can power them but I'm not sure how much you would wanna try them in the grass.

 

[aczlan]

No progress on the wheels. People have been busy with other things.

Yellow deck is freed up. Had to work each pulley and spindle manually with blaster and grease, but they all rotate now. Will probably have to replace the idlers and maybe the spindle bearings. Won't know that until after I can apply power. Rerouted the belt and got it tensioned without the need for the trailer ball in the earlier pictures. I can now run the belt by hand which turns all three blades and the gearbox which DID have oil that looks decent. Not dry like I first though.

PTO shaft that was connected to this deck is also freed up now. It was all rust frozen. With the help of lots of blaster, time for it to soak in overnight, a tree, a chain and a gentle tug of the blue beast, the two halves pulled free without much fuss. Yes it was tied to a low point, short and very little pulling forward on level ground.

Appears the 'Walton' and 'Wallace Hardware' are some kind of store brand. Parts and belt routing diagrams for a King Kutter 72 all match.

Can you post a picture of the drive pulley on the yellow one? The supports for the wheels and the three-point hitch assembly looks exactly like the one on a Walco-Douglas mower that I used to have.
It was a rear discharge mower with a 7 foot deck, one oddity on that was that the blades had rectangular holes in them for the bolts to attach to.
I was able to run that one behind our B7500 which has 16 PTO horsepower, but it was only good for trimming lawn, not for putting any kind of tall grass.

Aaron Z