Rotary Cutter Best way to get stump jumper & blades off rotary cutter?

[Dargo]

A few days ago when mowing in some really high weeds on a part of my property I've not been on yet, I managed to wrap some 5/8" high tension cable under my rotary cutter. The cable consisted of about 10 1/8" really stiff strands of hardened wire. Apparently a utility company took down overhead wires (copper is expensive) but left the high tension lines. I found a spot where they obviously let that wire drop to the ground.

After laying under the deck for almost 2 hours with a pair of pliers to no avail, I just started yanking and yanking. With my tractor locked in 4X4 in low range and standing on the diff lock, I yanked, backed up 10' or so and yanked again; over and over for almost an hour. I was about 3/4 a mile from my truck and any road. Just when I thought I'd made it, since I was going down a steep hill to my truck, all progress stopped. Being that I'd pretty well had it, I backed up about 50' and put the tractor in M range and took off down the hill as hard as it would run. When I came to the end of my rope (so to speak), out of the corner of my eye I saw the top rip off of a utility pole about 1/3 mile away.

Once I got out to my truck I ran about a full mile out the gravel road, still pulling the cable, and then drove back to my truck. The cable was still coming out of the woods!! I literally had over a mile of cable attached to my rotary cutter. Being that I didn't want to leave my tractor there, I spent the next 2 1/2 hours bending the cable back and forth over the back edge of my rotary cutter until I broke the cable by hand from just bending it back and forth over and over and over.

Here is where my real question lies. After I got home I thought I'd just take the nut off that holds the stump jumper and blades to the rotary cutter. I took the cotter (sp?) pin out and used my impact wrench to take the nut off. It came off relatively easy; no rust or bad threads. But, under no circumstances could I manage to get that stump jumper off. I would wiggle and pry over and over, but I never got it off. My 18" bolt cutters would not cut the cable either. So, I used my plasma cutter to cut it off as close as I could to the stump jumper. From there I un-twisted each strand and (2 or 3 hours later) finally got all the cable out from under the deck.

I went ahead and put the nut back on the bolt under the stump jumper and, believe it or not, all seems to work fine now. However, if this ever happens again, how do you get the stump jumper and blades off these things?? Do you have to keep spraying it with WD40 and pry away, or do you have to heat it up to get it off? Or, am I completely missing something?

P.S. Anybody want a mile or so of some really tough steel cable? It's free for the taking!!

 

[Slamfire]

Have you called the utility. They might be interested, especially about the broken pole. I've never heard of a bonding wire that long, that's what the wires on top of the pole lead to, they are called the counterpoise, and protect the line from lightning strikes.
The most I've wrapped up has been fence wire, and it was trouble enough. Tip the cutter up on the framework for the three point and see if the stump jumper will come loose, while you are standing beside it.

 

[Deerlope]

Are you the cause of the power outage in ST Louis. Just j/king with ya.

 

[Bird]

how do you get the stump jumper and blades off these things??

The way I did it was to put that nut back on just part of the way, then made a homemade "gear puller" with a couple of 6" C-clamps and two short pieces of channel iron I had. It was quite a loud bang with it finally came loose, but that nut being on part way kept it from falling all the way off and hurting me.

 

[Dargo]

Thanks Bird. As tight as the darn thing is stuck on, I had reservations about even putting the bolt back on. I figured it didn't need it, but I put it back on anyway to keep the threads from getting messed up

 

[geneP]

Thanks Bird. As tight as the darn thing is stuck on, I had reservations about even putting the bolt back on. I figured it didn't need it, but I put it back on anyway to keep the threads from getting messed up

I think most of the output shaft splines are tapered. That keeps the stump jumper from wearing the spines and becoming loose over time. The dealer that replaced a defective gear box on my cutter said there is a puller for them, but since the gear box was bad anyway they used a sledge hammer on the output shaft while prying on the edge of the stump jumper.

 

[Dargo]

I think most of the output shaft splines are tapered. That keeps the stump jumper from wearing the spines and becoming loose over time. The dealer that replaced a defective gear box on my cutter said there is a puller for them, but since the gear box was bad anyway they used a sledge hammer on the output shaft while prying on the edge of the stump jumper.

That's kind of what I figured. The only reason I bought this particular rotary cutter was because it had a 70 hp gear box. The cutter itself was flimsey junk, so I as I've mentioned before, I've added well over 500 pounds of steel to make it a bit stronger to take my bashing. Being that I didn't bend anything with my temper tantrum, it must be fairly strong.

 

[botaman2]

I pick the rotary cutter up on end with a chain-fall,then rest it on end.I like BIRD use a gear puller to pull off the hub section. I then clamp the hub section with blades still attached into bench vise,ane use impact wrench to remove the blade nuts.Install in reverse order,(note!I put a little grease on gearbox splines to aid in future removals.)

 

[gizmo]

When I pulled mine it was quite an ordeal. I think my cutter is more than 30 years old. I had a very heavy duty puller on it cinched down with a 3/4" impact wrench as far as I dared take it. Then I drilled two holes through the deck such that I could drop in a 1/2" hardened steel pin to the rotor bar (no stump jumper, just a large bar). With the puller still attached I began driving the pin against the bar with a 16# sledge. It finally gave way with quite a bang. The gear box did have a tapered spline.

 

[Dargo]

Okay, you guys have enlightened me that I'm not going to be able to pull the blades off by hand while out in the middle of nowhere laying on my back under the cutter if this happens again. So, what would be anyone's best idea as to how to get heavy cable out from under the deck in case I catch more while cutting trails?

If I snagged one cable that I didn't know was there. Because of that, I'm concerned that I may find something else like that. I made the frame on the cutter strong enough that I cut pretty well anything I can push over with my tractor. I just never figured on getting stuff wrapped around the blade that was made of steel. Maybe buy me a huge set of bolt cutters to keep in the truck?