Batwing/BW12, sticky hinges on wings

aczlan · Jul 2, 2019

leonz said:
The operating angle of the propeller shafts is limited to the maximum angle that the spiders/crosses/universal joints can tolerate during operation and I believe it is no more than 10 degrees above horizontal.

The 3 section folding flail crop shredders have the same limitations in movement as a folding rotary crop shredder.

Then there's a question of do you really want to have the side wings up with the PTO on and sling rocks, gravel, debris, etc out the sides of your deck?

leonz said:
The best universal joint manufactured is the Rzeppa Universal Joint Used on many brands of mining machinery which looks nothing at all like the universal joints on power take off shafts we use today. They are expensive to purchase but they capable of more usable angles of power transmission to the end use due to the design.

They have to be greased every time the machine is used and the grease must be purged through the end bells or drain holes to force out the old heat damaged grease.
This brand of universal joint has been manufactured for a very long time being 50 plus years and they are very reliable.

The smallest RZeppa universal joints are used on small all wheel and 4 wheel drive automobiles from what I remember and require a dust and dirt boot that keeps the water, fine dirt and salt out of them.

That's because this fancy-schmancy RZeppa universal joint is better known as a CV joint. That particular one was common on Volkswagen Jettas and bugs back in the 1980s. They used a rubber boot around it so you did not have to grease it every time you took your car out for a spin.

Aaron Z

Overtaxed · Jul 2, 2019

Then there's a question of do you really want to have the side wings up with the PTO on and sling rocks, gravel, debris, etc out the sides of your deck?

I'll admit, it sounds bad. But, honestly, is it any worse than a mulching head, or an open back/tree cutter? It one of those "sounds terrifying" things, but, if the deck is up, what's it "slinging"? There not much dirt at 90 degrees.

I think this is one of those things that seems like "this is one step from certain death" but probably isn't all that much more dangerous than lots of other things that don't "seem" that bad. And there are a lot of applications for running the cutter "up". I have lots of trails that get crap growing into them, running the cutter up would be a great way to get rid of briars and overgrown tree branches. And any zombies I might encounter. But, honestly, the biggest application of it is just picking the cutter up to get around something and dropping it right back down without stopping the PTO. A few times most mowings, I'll get into some kind of bind where I need to pick up a wing to get around something, would save a lot of time if I could just do a lift-drop instead of a throttle down/stop PTO/lift/start PTO/throttle up/drop operation. Also, I'd probably use it more for things like mowing ditches, lift up the deck to "start it" instead of letting it gouge along the skid shoes until the wheels come up to grade.

I've seen some company that has a multi-deck shredder setup with all hydraulic motors. Zombie chopper can be yours for the low, low price of... IDK. I'm sure "not cheap" is the answer though!

jcummins · Jul 2, 2019

I know Highway mower simply pick up the wings to avoid signs Etc and the lower back down and Keep On Truckin so I think use limitedly you're not going to have a problem but if you use it a lot I think you're going to wear them out

Overtaxed · Jul 3, 2019

Just thought I'd update, I drilled and tapped all the hinge sections on the "wing" side of the mower tonight. IIRC, it was 4 sections per side, so 8 total holes/zerks that had had to make. It actually wasn't that bad, I got a really high end tap and a 10 pack of cobalt bits (used 2). Went pretty darn well, no real drama. Well, except for one hinge. I simple could NOT get it to take grease. I have a joint breaker/zerk cleaner, filled that with MMO and beat the heck out of it into the joint. It just would not go. So I tapped it two more times, one on either side. And I was finally able to get it to take grease. Yes, I even had an oxy/propane torch on it to see if I could loosen it up a bit, I've never seen something like this before. The joint would move, it just would not take an ounce of anything. I'll take pictures of the finished product when I get a chance, all the zerks are on the "down" side, you have the lift the wing to see them. Not ideal, of course, because they are somewhat in the line of fire down there, but there's no way to put them on the top because that area gets totally closed off when the wings are closed. I didn't really have any time to play with it to see if it's improved. I kind of doubt it yet, there's so much grease/pressure in there right now, it still felt pretty sticky when I pulled the wings down to move it around. But I do think that this will be the real fix for it, just take some time to get the grease in and distributed well, and, of course, for all the rust to wear down and get everything moving easy.

Overall, if I didn't have that one nightmare hinge, this wasn't a bad job. Maybe 2 hours start to finish, probably could do it in 1 if you had a good bit/tap sitting there and were ready to roll on it. Get a good tap! I have cheap ones and this metal would have eaten them, no doubt about it.

Oh, also, just for completeness, I only did one set of the hinges. There's only one "moving side" on each wing, it's only the hinge section that's on the wing that actually moves. I might do the other side too at some point, but it's not entirely necessary, it won't make the wings lower easier. It would help, of course, if I need to drive that pin out for some reason. But, honestly, I suspect the other side (the one that doesn't move) is so seized in there by now that if I need to drive the pin out it's a lost cause anyway. Thermal lance time!

leonz · Jul 4, 2019

If you can purchase a very light turbine oil you can fill a grease gun with it
and use that and it should help you a lot with the movement of the wings.

Just as a bit more information for you:
I also wanted to let you know that you can purchase a boom mounted folding Orchard and
Vineyard flail crop shredder that will let you mow/clear brush in a vertical position with the
flail mower fully extended to the right and with the three point hitch elevated to its highest point.

aczlan · Jul 4, 2019

leonz said:
If you can purchase a very light turbine oil you can fill a grease gun with it
and use that and it should help you a lot with the movement of the wings.

or you could go to your local John Deere dealer and pick up a couple tubes of corn head grease which is a lightweight flowable grease specifically intended for things that are exposed to the air and move.

Aaron Z

Overtaxed · Jul 5, 2019

aczlan said:
or you could go to your local John Deere dealer and pick up a couple tubes of corn head grease which is a lightweight flowable grease specifically intended for things that are exposed to the air and move.

Aaron Z

Just got a case of it heading this way, seems like that would be useful on a few different things that I need to grease/keep protected. I use a lot of silicone spray on things that I don't want to rust, but also don't have a fitting to grease, so I'm sure I'll find a use for it. But, of course, first use will be shooting it into the hinge on the BW to see if that'll loosen things up further. The joints are greased well now, but I'd like things to move a little easier still. The grease in there is a high moly/high temp grease, it's pretty tacky, so, hopefully putting something with less tack in will make everything move even better.

I'm gonna get some pictures of what I did for others who might have this problem, it really wasn't that bad an operation if you have all the right tools (good taps and some cobalt drill bits in the right size). Much easier than I expected, if I didn't have that one awful joint (where I had to put 3 zerks to get it to take grease!) I would have been in/out in maybe an hour or 2.