Mowing brush mower sheard off bolt

[kjm3232]

I was brush cutting the other day and noticed the brush mower wasn't cutting normally. I raised the mower deck and saw one of the non-blade bolt heads sheard off. I called terry at Power Trac and he said remove the 5 bolts that hold the blade assembly to the deck and you can seperate the deck to work on the round piece that has the blades attach to. needless to say, the hole in the mower deck is only 3" in diameter and the coupling mechanism is 3 1/2" wide. I removed the zerk fitting, unbolted the hydraulic motor from the deck and removed the key that holds the coupler to the shaft but still can't get the coupler off of the shaft to seperate the mower deck from the blade assembly to get better access to drill out the bolt. I'm not sure if the coupler is pressed on or if i can use something like a gear puller to get the coupler off of the shaft. any suggestions? I'm going to call terry again in the morning. Here's a picture of the coupler. the slot in front was where the square key was in. thanks in advance for the help

 

[MossRoad]

I've got a thread on here somewhere that shows the whole process in pictures when I took my brush cutter apart.

Loosen the allen bolt that holds the bottom half of the coupler to the key in the shaft, then use a cheap gear puller to remove the bottom half. You may not even need to use a puller if you can get a pry bar under the half and pry a bit from several different sides. It is not on very tight.

 

[MossRoad]

Here it is.

Click here for link.

 

[toy]

I was brush cutting the other day and noticed the brush mower wasn't cutting normally. I raised the mower deck and saw one of the non-blade bolt heads sheard off. I called terry at Power Trac and he said remove the 5 bolts that hold the blade assembly to the deck and you can seperate the deck to work on the round piece that has the blades attach to. needless to say, the hole in the mower deck is only 3" in diameter and the coupling mechanism is 3 1/2" wide. I removed the zerk fitting, unbolted the hydraulic motor from the deck and removed the key that holds the coupler to the shaft but still can't get the coupler off of the shaft to seperate the mower deck from the blade assembly to get better access to drill out the bolt. I'm not sure if the coupler is pressed on or if i can use something like a gear puller to get the coupler off of the shaft. any suggestions? I'm going to call terry again in the morning. Here's a picture of the coupler. the slot in front was where the square key was in. thanks in advance for the help

Did you look to see if it has a set screw in the side of the coupling or if it has a taper fit coupling it would have two set screws on the bottom maybe. That being said I had the stop bolt to break on mine and when I looked at it it had a sharp edge where the bolt never broke off completly even so I was able to take a chisel and gently tap it in the direction to back it out and it came out easy. If that had failed I would have used a left hand drill bit and drilled the bolt in reverse most of the time that will back the bolt out. If you use the left hand bit center punch it to start the hole in the center so the drill bit won't mess the threads up in the hole and if you are able to use the chisel watch out and don't mess the threads up in the hole. I hope this helps and you get it back in operation soon.

 

[MossRoad]

And when you replace those bolts, I recommend using longer bolt so that you can put a couple jam nuts on the back side to use to remove them in the future. It has worked for me twice, now.

 

[BobRip]

I was brush cutting the other day and noticed the brush mower wasn't cutting normally. I raised the mower deck and saw one of the non-blade bolt heads sheard off. I called terry at Power Trac and he said remove the 5 bolts that hold the blade assembly to the deck and you can seperate the deck to work on the round piece that has the blades attach to. needless to say, the hole in the mower deck is only 3" in diameter and the coupling mechanism is 3 1/2" wide. I removed the zerk fitting, unbolted the hydraulic motor from the deck and removed the key that holds the coupler to the shaft but still can't get the coupler off of the shaft to seperate the mower deck from the blade assembly to get better access to drill out the bolt. I'm not sure if the coupler is pressed on or if i can use something like a gear puller to get the coupler off of the shaft. any suggestions? I'm going to call terry again in the morning. Here's a picture of the coupler. the slot in front was where the square key was in. thanks in advance for the help

I drilled a hole in the bolt from the bottom of the brush cutter and used an easy out to back the bolt out. No disassembly required. It took about 10 minutes. This may not always work, but it worked when I did it. The remnants of the bolt came out real easily.

 

[kjm3232]

Did you look to see if it has a set screw in the side of the coupling or if it has a taper fit coupling it would have two set screws on the bottom maybe.
The only set screw was the one on the side holding the square key in. I'm going to go buy a gear puller tonite after work. I could have tried drilling a hole and using a easy out to get the remains out from the underside but the angle (and i may still have to do it that way)and having to prop the deck up with a board to potentially keep it from falling down on me while i'm working underneath it. I thought that it would be easier and safer to seperate the deck from the blade assembly. Hopefully, if Power trac does reengineer the brush cutter they would make the hole wider so all you would have to do is take off the hydraulic motor from the deck, take out the 5 screws and seperate the two sections to either replace a bolt,and or blade without taking the coupler apart. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[MossRoad]

Sometimes I take my forks and tip the brush hog up against a tree and chain it to the tree. Then I can inspect it without fear of it dropping on me.

 

[toy]

Did you look to see if it has a set screw in the side of the coupling or if it has a taper fit coupling it would have two set screws on the bottom maybe.
The only set screw was the one on the side holding the square key in. I'm going to go buy a gear puller tonite after work. I could have tried drilling a hole and using a easy out to get the remains out from the underside but the angle (and i may still have to do it that way)and having to prop the deck up with a board to potentially keep it from falling down on me while i'm working underneath it. I thought that it would be easier and safer to seperate the deck from the blade assembly. Hopefully, if Power trac does reengineer the brush cutter they would make the hole wider so all you would have to do is take off the hydraulic motor from the deck, take out the 5 screws and seperate the two sections to either replace a bolt,and or blade without taking the coupler apart. Thanks for the suggestions.

On my brush hog where the quick attach plate is mounted will swing forward and backward, on the side of that bracket there are two empty bolt holes if you push the mounting attachment forward until the holes line up and put a bolt or pin in each side of the bracket. Now hook the pt up to the brush hog attachment plate now tilt the brush hog back and lower it to the ground on its back wheels[might want to put blocks under the brush hog to keep the weight off the back wheels] and that should have the brush hog in a fixed vertical position and make it easier to work on. Always be careful when working on any machine asyou are working at your own risk.