Bush Hog Blade Question

[soarkrebel]

Take the blades off. you'll need a 3/4 drive socket and i use an extension and a t bar. you need a cheater pipe .

By taking the blades off you can check the balance when your done. if they are not in balance they cause excessive vibration to the driveline and can damage to bearings.
i use a balance beam that i made but you could use a scale.

plus by taking them off you have a chance to coat the bolt with antisieze or a corrosion preventive compound to keep it from seizing.

me personally i would never pick it from the ground with the fel . i lift the thing up with the 3ph and let it down on jack stands placed on the rear and the front ends up on the ground. i feel alot safer this way than any other way.

Your owners manual should cover this . my woods does.

Now installing them my manual says the torque is 450 ft lbs now i don't have a tq wrench that big. i use the cheater pipe and use my calibrated arms to ensure proper torque.

To me it's just as easy and probably will save me money in the long run to take them off. plus i don't really want to be under there with all those sparks flying around.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( FEL to lean the cutter up against a tree and then use the angle )</font>

I flip my deck over with the boom pole.. It can't go too much farther after that. I always hit the pivot bolts with penetrating oil every season, to keep the blades swinging free.. but I don't unbolt them.. too worried they will come off. If the bolts rust on.. that's fine.. I can get shoulder bolts and nuts for those blades at tsc super cheap.. cheaper than me worrying about re-using old ones, or than worrying about destroying them taking them off.

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( taking the blades off you can check the balance when your done. if they are not in balance they cause excessive vibration to the driveline and can damage to bearings.
)</font>

Keep in mind these are brush cutters.. not finish mowers. There is some room for differences between the blades. They don't have to be ballanced to the gram to not vibrate.

At work I've mowed with a machine with an inch missing off a blade tip.. felt no different than when the blade was replaced. Obvously the smaller the blade.. the more a descrepency can be felt. The larger the blade.. the less a nick makes on the overall weight ratio.

You don't want them grossly different.. like one side square and new, and the other planed off to a nub.. but for a brush hog.. you should be able to 'eye' it.

Soundguy

 

[PineRidge]

<font color="blue"> Mike, I always use the FEL to lean the cutter up against a tree and then use the angle grinder. </font>

I like Jim's method, I think I'll use the FEL to get it in position then wrap my chain around the tree to keep it in place while I sharpen the blades. I figure the tree isn't going anywhere real soon. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[OkieG]

<font color="blue"> ...nothing ever seems to come apart without something else breaking in the process. </font>

Hmmm. I guess so. Your brush hog may be an exception to that rule. My ritual is like SoArk and em14. There's only one bolt holding each blade. It just takes a minute to remove them. Then just put 'em in a vice and grind away.

It's cramped under a cutter deck. The blades will want to pivot while you're grinding. It's awkward and etc. My grinder is a "it takes two hands to use it" size, and I fear I'll lose control of the grinder while under the deck and end up treating an injury. Besides, my body does better when vertical than horizontal.

I don't understand the prevalent concept that ever removing the blades will make them more likely to auto-eject?? My blades are removed for sharpening a couple times a year. The blade nuts are always on tight when it comes time to remove them again.

OkieG

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

I was told by a friend that some folks will remove the blades, mill or torch out a section of the beat up cutting edge, and weld some premium harder metal into place. Of course you would want to make sure the welds are good and not to use too brittle of metal. But I would guess that a bit harder metal might hold an edge better/longer. We have rocks on our place and they tend to beat up blades quickly. Luckily, I can drive my tractor to the dealer and blades are $32/pair or $50 total cost installed. Because of this price, I have two sets of beat up blades. Maybe I'll try to get a pair fixed up with beefier cutting edges. Just wondering if anyone has heard of this.
I would guess that most people don't remove their own blades because they don't have the tools to deal with 450 lb/ft ...Kyle

 

[HickoryNut]

One reason I like Woods cutters, excellent blade holder design. I have my farrier heat and peen my blades back in shape every spring for $5 a blade then with just a little grinder dressing they look like new and don't loose as much metal. I thought this was a popular practice?

 

[OhioGuy]

I back under my chain hoist, remove the PTO shaft and toplink and raise the cutter close to vertical with the hoist.
Then it's grindin time, works pretty well. Oh yeah, I throw another chain around the tail wheel and ceiling support for safety. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif I do have a small rotary (4 foot).

Curt

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It's cramped under a cutter deck. The blades will want to pivot while you're grinding. It's awkward and etc. My grinder is a "it takes two hands to use it" size, and I fear I'll lose control of the grinder while under the deck and end up treating an injury. Besides, my body does better when vertical than horizontal. )</font>

Everyone's setup is different. Also.. there is no reason why you would have to be horizontal. Looks like everyone here is using loaders or boom poles to stand their hogs up.

Again.. also appears that many of us are using palm sized die grinders.. or small angle grinders, and not big 'brutus' industro-mill it down in 2 seconds 45hp grinders..

I'v found that using a c-clamp or even a 2x4 wedged under the blade carrier to an edge locks them in nicely.

May be different for some people.. but it is way easier for my to sing the hog over.. hit each blade for a few seconds with the die grinder and then unflip it.. rather than go get the 3' pipe and breaker bar.. r&r and grind them.

Again.. everyone's got a different setup.

Soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( was told by a friend that some folks will remove the blades, mill or torch out a section of the beat up cutting edge )</font>

Our mechanic has welded a bead of hardface ( abrasive resistant material )on cutting edges before, and then contured it back to original blad length/width... but he didn't actually cut out or weld any 'new sections' in.. I guess you might consider the 'built up' area a new section though.

Soundguy