Mowing Help. Downed phone cable vs bushhog.

[Green Acres Homestead]

Telephone company left old downed telephone cable across my property. My bush hog found it.

Damage:
1. one of the blades won’t freely rotate. It’s in a fixed position. The other blade will roam freely. The bushhog is new. Maybe 20 hours on it.

What damage can be done to cause the blade not to roam freely. There is one spindle but two blades attached to the stump jumper. I spend a couple of hours untangling the wires?


2. The tractor now smokes at startup and intermittently misses. Kubota tractor has about 200 hours on it. Because the bushhog didn’t hit something solid the clutch didn’t completely slip. The bushhog made 4 or 5 loud bangs and jumps before it stalled the tractor.

What damage could there be to my tractor?

 

[jfsawatzky]

I managed to wedge a small branch or sapling between the blade and stump jumper that caused something like you described.
I believe it also tweaked the seal enough to cause an oil leak by the time I got it stopped and back home.

 

[macdoesit]

Is cable company liable for the damage? How long ago did the cable come down? Did you know the cable was down?

 

[dodge man]

Your tractor engine smokes or the brush hog smokes?

 

[Carl_NH]

Assume there is wire around one of the blades, and maybe around the center spindle too? Has that been removed now?

The tractor is the bigger concern - if you take the load off (no PTO) does it still smoke/miss when running? If so, that's the bigger concern - did it jam/stall quickly or a slow load up? If a fast/hard stop at RPM, this could be bad.

Does the bush hog have a slip clutch - that should have protected the tractor?

The bush hog fix should be easy, the tractor not so much.

 

[JimRB]

Slip clutch has procedure to adjust how it slips. I am bad about not cleaning, adjusting and testing my slip clutches so they tend to not slip. I have had an occasional band and stall.

The two blades attached to the stump jumper pivot on their own bolts. You can keep working that one blade that is jammed up with crud to loosen and free up the wire still stuck or loosen and pound that bolt out to clean things up. Maybe heat on that bolt and blade pivot end to melt the plastic from the wire. Bolt could/should be tightened to 500-600ft/lb. Some say up to 800lb/ft of torque. That takes some oohga to remove, but not so bad since the unit is new and not rusted together. 40" heavy duty 3/4" breaker bar from Northern Tool is only $90 with tax and an extension. $15-35 for a socket, if you can find a store that has the right size socket. I am not man enough to put 200 lb/ft of push on a 3 foot breaker bar. I tore up a 1/2" breaker bar trying and had to get a 3/4" breaker bar. Then you may need to beat that bolt out without damaging ii. Best practice is to leave the nut on but loose enough to protect the threads of the bolt. You tube videos to show the adventure of breaking bolts loose.

Might not hurt to pull the stump jumper if you are not positive you got all the wire off the output shaft.

My engine is a bit smoky sometimes with low hours, under 2,000 hours. Maybe I broke a ring. Runs ok so it is not worth tearing the engine down to inspect rings. I would get the brush cutter freed up and get the slip clutch adjusted per the manual then wonder about the tractor. Dealership nearby to ask? The local Kubota dealership near me is still family/farmer oriented, not all corporate.

 

[SPYDERLK]

Assume there is wire around one of the blades, and maybe around the center spindle too? Has that been removed now?

The tractor is the bigger concern - if you take the load off (no PTO) does it still smoke/miss when running? If so, that's the bigger concern - did it jam/stall quickly or a slow load up? If a fast/hard stop at RPM, this could be bad.

Does the bush hog have a slip clutch - that should have protected the tractor?

The bush hog fix should be easy, the tractor not so much.

The PTO should also have a clutch within the tractor - for use when engaging. I would expect Kubota has sized it so that some slippage will occur there without allowing catastrophic internal overload. .... I have never had a tractor engine damaged by a quick stall. -- I would be concerned if it happened on a turboed engine working hard tho. Not the case here.

 

[Gordon Gould]

-- I would be concerned if it happened on a turboed engine working hard tho. Not the case here.

Just for my own education why would a turboed engine be different with a fast stall ??

gg

 

[thclimer]

Maybe if its under sever load the turbo is very hot and the oil circulation stops without cooling down cooking the oil in the turbo???