Mowing 60" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

MossRoad · Sep 12, 2004

60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

So I finally decided to change the blades on the 60 inch finish mower today. I have had the original blades on it for 3 summers now and never sharpened them. I was noticing that the cut ends of the grass were looking ripped instead of cut, and I am getting a lot of windrowing, so it was time.

I didn't want to get uner the deck, so my intention was to pick up the front of the deck and lean the whole thing against the quick attach, which I positioned about 18 inches off the ground. So I grabbed the front of the deck and lifted the whole thing up to vertical against the QA. I really don't know why I had such a lack of common sense, but as soon as it got one hair past vertical the bottom rolled towards my feet on the rear wheels. Lack of sense #2... I was wearing leather sandals instead of my work boots. I was working in my little dirt floor garage, but the mower was on a sidewalk just outside the door. It rolled forward, jumped off the sidewalk and dropped an inch onto my right big toe where the toe connects to my foot. And there it stopped. I couldn't move and boy did it hurt. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Fortunately for me, there is about a half inch gap between the steel and the ground because of the wheels. I bent down and lifted the mower off of my foot. I didn't want to look at it, but since it was now numb, I figured, what the heck. I took off the sandal and my toe was still there. No blood or scrapes. Just numb. Then throbbing. My wife came to the back door and asked if I was OK. I said, "Nope. I might have broken my toe." I asked her if she heard me yelling or something or heard the crash of the mower deck and she said the reason she came out was because "It was too quiet out here! " /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

So, after a good soak in ice water, I got out the impact wrench, used a scrap piece of 2X10 to block the right blade and then removed the left, center and right blades, swapped the 2X to the other side and put on the new left, center and right blades. Total time was about 5 minutes, not counting the delay caused by my stupidity. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Then I took it out and mowed the lawn. The cut looked great and I had little to no windrowing.

Tonight, all is well. Toe isn't broken, just black and blue. I'm a doofus and am lucky to have not lost it. My back hurts worse than my toe from lifting the deck off of my foot. I had to hold it back while I lifted because it would have rolled further as I lifted it and I wasn't about to drop it on my toes again.

Morals of the story...

1. Sharpen your blades if you are getting windrowing. It really helps to minimize it.

2. Use of an impact wrench really makes short work of it.

3. Things on wheels roll easily on hard, flat surfaces like sidewalks.

4. Wear proper safety clothing whenever you work on machinery, even if it is going to be a quick job.

5. Don't be a doofus.

6. Report all doofus actions to fellow TBNers to help them avoid injury.

jol1269 · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

well mr. glad no broke toes and your not the first nor the last to find out about wheeled items not doing exactley what we think they should . i rolled and electric manlift over my big toe last year and know exactley how bad that hurts all i did was split out the end of the toe and lost the nail , but make no mistake about it will make your eyes water lol

Egon · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

The joys of wearing a pair of clumbsy steel toed boots on a hot day!!!

Glad it wasn't more serious, but heck, I just KNOW something like that will only happen to someone else. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Egon

Bob999 · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

Glad you were not more seriously hurt!

You said: So, after a good soak in ice water, I got out the impact wrench, used a scrap piece of 2X10 to block the right blade and then removed the left, center and right blades, swapped the 2X to the other side and put on the new left, center and right blades. 

I have never found that I needed blocking when using an impact wrench--I just put the wrench on the nut, one hand on the blade to steady it and catch it when it is free, and pull the trigger.

Bird · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

( I have never found that I needed blocking when using an impact wrench )

Me, neither.

ronjhall · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

 I have never found that I needed blocking when using an impact wrench )
Me, neither.

Bird
Hmm. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
Smashed Toe. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Hurt Back. /forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
Never can be too safe after the first mistake. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif
Hope MossRoad gets better soon. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

MuncyBob · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

Sounds like something I would do!! Glad no major injuries...maybe some hurt pride? Were the blades beyond the point of sharpening? Did you get the blades locally?? I seem to recall in an earlier post that these blades are "generic"?? I don't have as many hours on my blades but upon inspection I saw some minor damage due to hitting a few tree roots, etc. so I decided to sharpen them...made a difference in the cut! Since I didn't use a balancer I was hoping there would not be any noticable vibration...and lucky for me I don't detect any. I'm hoping to get at least 2 seasons out of the original blades.

eambrose · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

Moss - glad you are OK - Reminds me of when i dropped a welder on my toe while wearing soft shoes ine time.

I change the blades rather frequntly on the 60 inch deck - If you pin the point that pivots when you roll the plate - (so it can't pivot) - You can lift the deck to full height and roll it out so the blades will be facing directly
towards you when you are standing in front of the machine

This makes for very easy access and no need to crawl under the deck - On my unit the holes where already there (I think) - if not simple roll the arm all the way forward - drill two holes that will go through the mount and pivot arm (on the deck) - insert a pin on each side with retainer clip - now the when you use the roll function - the pivot point is locked - so it won't pivot

Now lift deck to full height and roll arm back - the blades will now face out

When you are finished - bring the deck down on the ground nice and flat on all four wheels - release pressure on pins by adjusting the roll - and remove pins - save for next time - with the pins out - when you roll the arm - the mount just pivots again (which is how is needs to work to mow properly) - It also makes it much easier to grease the spindles this way

Hope this helps - ED

stray · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

Thanks Moss for sharing this with us. We have all done things like this and by sharing them it helps one think about safety and can and does prevent accidents. The information about the winding rowing was useful to me as well as mine is doing this. Generally I go over it with a yard sweeper so that helps but I was still wondering about the wind rows. Thanks again.

shoppintractors · Sep 12, 2004

Re: 60\" Finish Mower, New Blades and Smashed Toe

Talking about impact wrenches and blocking reminds me of these guys.

http://www.dentry.net/uploads/pitstop_1.mpg

Note: The full video is :37 seconds. For some unknown reason, at times, it only loads :23 seconds. I have to reload it a couple times to get the full :37 seconds. The punch line happens after the :23 seconds.

Don