bushhog model 600

[mattman]

I have a bushhog brand model 600 hog. The bearings are going out in the gearbox. The problem is someone has welded the slip clutch onto the input shaft of the gearbox. So I will have to cut the shaft to get the gearbox apart. I can probaly find the bearings and seals, but what about the input shaft I have to cut??

The gearbox is a design like no other I have seen. The gearbox is a 2 piece design. Are parts aviable? How much?? The hog is a good heavy duty model I would like to keep it. Might have to get another gearbox and make it fit my hog..

Has anyone had any dealings with these older model hogs??

 

[joecdeere]

Matt, that was a great hog in it's day, it does have some age on it and I'm sure it has some wear.
The bad part is the weld. That's telling you that either the input shaft splines are gone, the mating piece of the clutch is bad, or both. And if they did a good welding job, you may not be able to tell if anything could be salvaged. Before buying any pieces, I'd get inside and check the gears and such before investing in shafts, bearings, races, and seals, plus the shaft and what ever else is bad on the clutch. I'd price a complete box also, sometimes they aren't as bad as you think. Good Luck

 

[bjr]

The Bush Hog RZ60 I own has a smooth shaft with a hole for the shear bolt. Why not dissassemble the shaft leave welded hub of the slip clutch on and reassemble OR take shaft to machine shop and have them machine off clutch hub and leave the shaft smooth and drill hole for shear bolt. Then assemble with round smooth bore PTO yoke. The only drawback I can forsee is the hardness of the shaft for drilling a hole for shear bolt, the shaft may be too hard to drill. You may still have just buy a new shaft. bjr

 

[MikesTractor]

mattman,

If the diagram that joecdeere posted is the correct gearbox for your cutter, then you might be able to get it apart anyway. It looks like once you have the front housing off, all you have to do is remove the nut that holds the gear on the shaft. Once it is off, it looks like it will just slide apart.

The diagram is showing tapered roller bearings on the shaft. To get the preload right on them, it would have to come apart this way.

The bottom housing looks like this also.

Maybe you might get lucky (crossing my fingers for you).

Mike

 

[mattman]

Yep that is what my gearbox looks like. Thanks for the picture, now I know what I am dealing with. The bottom section has been replaced some time in the hogs life. It is the only thing on the hog with paint left on it. The paint looks pretty good so I don't think the bottom section is very old. Not sure when the welding on the input shaft was done or why it was done.

I ran the old hog about 6 hours today in the woods. That is where I bushhog the most. Not much cutting gets done on nice open fields. The hog is built like a tank. The metal is thick every where on the hog. I don't know what a hog built as good as this one would cost today, alot would be my guess.


I could buy a cheap hog at say atwoods or something but it would get bent up very quickly when running it thru pine thickets and old clearcuts. Thats why I would like t keep this old hog running for as long as possible. Does anyone know a place that would sell the whole gearbox???? I have called my self looking on the net, but all the gearboxes I find are the newer style gearboxes..


Thanks for the help

 

[joecdeere]

Matt, if I remember correctly, Bushhog makes their boxes, I believe you'll have to go through them.

FYI, that is the box for the 600, remember, even the public can lookup parts on the bushhog website Bush Hog&reg - Performance You Can Count On
It takes some looking but go to the "public" parts look up and everything they've ever built is there.

 

[mattman]

I took the gearbox apart and found almost nothing wrong. One bearing had some damage to the end of the rollers. The only thing I feel was a problem was that the preload on the input shaft bearings was nowhere near tight enough. I am not sure if the nut backed off or was not tight enough to start with.

I found 2 seals on both the input and output shafts. The bushhog picture shows only one seal in each location. I am going to put 2 in each place like I found it. I have the bearings and seals on order.

The input shaft is kind of high. 155 dollars worth. I elected not to buy a new shaft just going to put it back together like it was. I don't want to put alot of money into the hog. As long as I have the hog ready next weekend I will be happy. I also am going to weld on some new ski's to help the hog slide across the ground.

 

[mattman]

Well I got about 200 dollars worth of bearings, seals, blade bolts, and bottom nut that holds stump jumper on.

The blade bolts were higher than I thought they would be. about 17 dollars each, but not as high as the nut that holds the stump jumper on. The nut is left hand thread, thought I was going to have to go to the Bushhog dealer to get the nut. Found it local for 10 dollars. High but did not have to drive 70 miles to get it so I was happy.

My gearbox holds about 3 quarts of oil. Glad I got the gallon jug instead of 2 quarts. I am going to run it till it will not spin anymore, then find a new gearbox. My gears have some wear on them, but are still serviceable.

I see you can drop some money into a old hog in a hurry. To have fixed everything that was wrong would have cost me easy 500 dollars if not more.