Heavy duty Howse Bush Hog broke a blade at the bolt hole.

[Bspring]

Heavy duty Howse Bush Hog broke a blade at the bolt hole. How common is this? I even have a clutch on the shaft. I was cutting some saplings in the woods and had run over some Poplar limbs about 2" in diameter when it came off.

 

[Soundguy]

Uncommon for hog blades to break.. but not unheard of. since the bolt hole area is the are of least dimension.. it's a good place for damage to occur.


It's always a good practice to inspect blades when you sharpen /dress them.

if you remove them, i reccomend new shoulder bolts and never reuse the nuts, and never weld on the blades IMHO.

Inspecting the blades ability to freely move on the shouldered bolts.. but not too much slop, and a good rigid connection from the blade carrier bar or stump jumper to the hub.

Hope nothing was damaged / nobody hurt when it let go. Sometimes you can do everything correct and stuff just happens.

 

[Ed of all trades]

I bush hogged many acres (over 100) a year for 20 years and never broke one, bent one though. I would look for a good quality replacement and replace them both unless they weigh the same. I wish you were closer, I am a blacksmith and would love to have the old one for the steel.

 

[RDrancher]

I've broken three standard issue blades while brush hogging for customers. You never know what they have laying around that they "don't know about."

I switched to heavy duty blades from my NH dealer. It takes longer for the tip speed to get up, but in the last four years I haven't broken one.

 

[sawtooth]

They key is to buy hogs with blades that are 4" wide by 1/2" thick. You can brake those too but it's hard. They weigh more which also helps to cut through heavy stuff.

 

[Ken45101]

I broke a blade when I lifted up to go over a stump but dropped the cutter too early and it came down at full speed on top of the stump. That's the only one I've broken. I don't blame the equipment.

Just an FYI, "Howse Bush Hog" isn't possible. Bush Hog (especially when capitalized as two words) is a brand name like Chevrolet. I'm assume it was a Howse brush cutter (rotary cutter, bushhog)?

 

[bcp]

Howse calls them "rotary cutters."

Rotary Cutters - Product Lines

Long ago, after owning several CJ Jeeps, I bought a Toyota Land Cruiser. Everyone wanted to call it a Toyota Jeep.

Bruce

 

[Kioti Tom]

I just call it a brushhog to diffrenciate from a Bush Hog.

 

[Soundguy]

i knew there was gonna be someone on here doing the PC bush hog / brush hog thing. .. yawn....

 

[john_bud]

Blade breakage depends on what you hit. I break blades on my brush bull 600 every couple years. It cuts saplings in the 1-3" range normally plus hits stumps and we have sooooooo many hard rocks lurking. And every year the frost brings up new ones to be hit. And these are the 4" wide by 1/2" thick blades. They snap at the bend transition, not the hole.

Blades break, that's why it's important to keep people away while cutting.