Rotary Cutter Adding slip clutch to KK rotary cutter

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I started to hook up my rotary cutter for the first time tonight and ran into a couple problems. First, there was a compression clip on the input shaft to the gearbox for no apparent reason other than to make it impossible to put on either the PTO shaft or the slip clutch.

After I got that off and out of the way (I really don't need that for anything, do I?), I ran into another problem. The famous King Kutter paint was on that shaft thicker and better than on any other part of the mower. Of course, it was so thick I had to get it off before I could actually make anything fit. It's a shame no one's come up with a way to cover things like that with something like newspaper and tape before you paint it. I'm thinking the grease zerts are going to be the same. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Anyhow, I finally got that cleaned off so things would actually fit.

My next encounter was with the slip clutch and the safety shield. Simply put, I couldn't attach the slip clutch to the PTO shaft without cutting away the plastic safety guard. Is that normal? One concern I have aside from the obvious is that if the slip clutch doesn't work out for me, I'll have chopped up my PTO safety guard for no reason. Any thoughts on this? The slip clutch is an after market from TSC but looks identical to those TSC includes with their tillers.

Before I did any cutting I wanted to get some help from the TBN brain trust here on what to do. It's not like I was going to mow tonight anyhow, though we did make it 24 hours with zero precipitation for the first time (literally) in over a month. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif I think it'll need a bit of drying time before I can get out there, so let me know what you think. Thanks! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[DK35vince]

Gary,
I installed the same slip clutch on my 6' King Kutter.
Yes I did cut away some of the safety sheid. I also needed to shorten my PTO shaft .
The snap ring was to keep the PTO shaft from sliding off the gearbox shaft and flopping around if you break a shear pin.I did reinstall the snapring on mine.
I also loosened the clutch and slipped it to make sure it was not stuck, then reset the clutch.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> The snap ring was to keep the PTO shaft from sliding off the gearbox shaft and flopping around if you break a shear pin. I did reinstall the snapring on mine. </font>

Thanks for your reply. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif I actually did consider that possibility but disregarded it for a couple reasons. It didn't seem like something I could easily accomplish with my big hands and I could find absolutely no mention of it anywhere in the instructions. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Wouldn't you think that little tidbit might be something that could be included in the assembly instructions KK provides? /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif I knew about their reputation for paint. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif I guess I assumed I could believe their assembly instructions at least. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

 

[stnickstoys]

Hi Gary,
Good idea getting a slip clutch. I was mowing a neighbors pasture that had thistles and ragweed that is taller than my tractor so it was hard to see what could be lying on the ground. I found several fence post stubs, balls of old wire, rocks and the usual but the one I didn't count on was a pickup tire hiding under the long grass. Stopped my brush hog dead, didn't shear the pin and the PTO in my F24 Yannie is now powerless. I must have sheared off something in the rear end or broke a drive gear. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif Slip clutch looks pretty cheap now, good call. Guess I will buy one too when I get my Yannie healed.
Nick

 

[n6ckv]

I has a similar problem with my Kubota. There is an overrun clutch on the PTO drive inside the tractor. I hit something with the tiller that caused the over run clutch to jam it's return spring. The tractor had to be half split to replace the spring.

carl

 

[mgrick]

That sucks!I can't believe you guys managed to break your tractors using grade 2 shear bolts.When I got my Woods BB60 brush hog I was breaking shear bolts like tooth picks and I wasn't even hitting anything that bad.

Rick

 

[normde2001]

Gary, after you get the slip clutch and driveshaft hooked up at the mower end, raise the mower to its highest point, (shortest driveshaft length), put the tractor end of the driveshaft alongside the pto shaft and mark how much you need to cut off both ends to hook up freely, plus 1" clearance, on the drive shaft and the shield. If the whole thing fails, I guess that, and Kwik Hitches, is why they sell those driveshaft extensions.

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Norm,

You just reminded me of something of which I very much needed to be aware and that is the different PTO shaft length requirements between using a quick attach like I-Match or Speeco and not using one of those systems.

If I'm going to use a quick attach system then that would probably compensate for the slip clutch in terms of the additional length needed with it approximately equalling the additional overall length added by the slip clutch and thus eliminate the need for cutting the PTO.

If I want to use the cutter without a quick attach but still leave that option open then I'd better not use the slip clutch now if doing so would require cutting my PTO shaft because that might make it too short to use with the quick attach. /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif