Howse gear box on RC

kossetx · Mar 31, 2006

Anyone ever had a gearbox failure on their Howse shreader? Or any shreader for that matter? I'm looking for a larger RC, and I was telling someone how badly I had treated my 5" Howse shreader. The sides are round from mowing over stuff that I shouldn't have. The lower seal went out after about a month, but I just pumped the gearbox full of grease. After 14 years, a few bolts and blades, it still mows fine. I was told I've been extremely lucky with it. Have I?

I'm sure they fail sometimes, but does it happen very often?

TIA, MP

JoeinTX · Mar 31, 2006

I suppose it does, but I've never seen it.

The Howse are supposed to have a decent gearbox anyway, at least from what I was told.

We have a 30 year old Corsicana shredder which has been banged across a lot of buried rocks and stumps and chewed up a whole bunch of wire and cable in it's history and it's never had a gearbox issue. Broken the 3 pt. frame and strengthened it, but that's about it.

Soundguy · Apr 1, 2006

In the past 20ys, my stepfather has had 2 howse 6' mowers on the back of his 50~hp JD 2240. He just finally wore the second one out.. In both cases, the decks have worn out. Both units still have a non-leaking tight gearbox and original blades... just the decks on both have been welded on to the point they need to be replaced.

I've seen bad pto shafts and decks.. but I don't see to many bad gearboxes.. none that I can recall on a mower. I do remember seeing a very old tiller that had a 2-speed gearbox.. 1 gear was out, and the selector handle was welded up to keep it locked int he other speed.. this was 15 ys ago.. and the gearbox was a tad leaky so they swapped it to grease.. but the thing kept on going.

Soundguy

JoeinTX · Apr 1, 2006

Honestly, I don't know that you should worry that much about the gear-box itself. You'll likely tear up something else much sooner than that.

Besides, gear-boxes, I've never broken a shear-pin in all my years of using shredders. I've spun some clutches (with all the beautiful graphite-black clouds they produce), but never actually broken a bolt.

Honestly, most of the shredders on the market today will stand up to 90% of what you want to do considerintg they are proportional to the tractor.

kossetx · Apr 3, 2006

It's not that I worry, really. While looking for a larger shredder I go into places and they tell me that I need a 100 hp gearbox for my 40hp tractor. Yes, Rhino and BH have some big ol' gearboxes, but I wonder if I really need them. They tell me I've been lucky with my Howse and I was wondering if I was. I keep mine indoors when possible so the deck is OK. It has been rewelded a a bunch, but it keeps on shredding.

I bought the Howse because it was the lightest weight shredder I could get at the time. I was worried my 25hp tractor wouldn't be able to handle it. Now, after 14 years, I see no reason to buy the more expensive shreders with the big gear boxes because my Howse has done all I have ever asked it to do, which has been considerable at times. The new Howse's aren't built as well as mine on the sides, so I'm leaning towards the 6' KK with it's "I" beam sides.

Thanks for the responses guys! MP

jinman · Apr 3, 2006

I went through a KK tiller gearbox about two years ago. The seal went out and I didn't discover it until it got hot enough to bind up and start really loading the tractor. I popped two shearbolts before I figured out why. /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I had an old Howse cutter sitting around that was in pieces and the stump jumper spline was gone. I took that gearbox off and it went right on my KK. It's still going perfectly. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Too bad you can't buy just the mower frame from KK and the gearbox from Howse. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif