Rotary Cutter I love changing bush hog blades

[LoneCowboy]

Not

it's always something.
I do this a lot, it's the same thing for all of them (although I did notice that Woods has a different setup that looks WAY easier)

Jack the cutter up, turn the blades around so the hole matches on top.
Get out the great big 1&13/16th socket, get out the impact wrench

Get the wife to help out. (it's a two person job)

Get the nut off, not a big deal
won't come out, oh yeah, have to whack it with a punch. Get the punch, nothing.
Doesn't move.
get a piece of rebar (it's a deep cutter, Bush Hog 296 in this case) to whack at it.
Nothing.
Get the 4lb small sledge
nothing.
It goes on in this vein for about 30 minutes.
The nut is off mind you.
Finally get the 10lb sledge, a piece of galvanized pipe and literally just wail on it for about 20 hits, finally it falls down.

The other side was the same way.

I think either the woodruff style key in the bolt wasn't set right (twisted and not in it's hole) or it just twisted while working over the past few hundred hours.

2 hours
what a job.
I'm tired already.

 

[kthompson]

Wonder if anti seeze would have helped when installed?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

I've changed quite a few blades on my BH 286. I've found a secret! Once you have everything ready to remove the bolt, put a jack under the stumpjumper as near to the bolt as possible. That takes all the "bounce" out of the stumpjumper and lets the entire force of the sledge drive the bolt out. Next time I need to remove one, I'm going to try a new plan. Gonna take a short (approx 28") piece of 4" iron pipe, put one open end over the bolt, other end on the ground, and set the weight of the mower down on the pipe. That should provide a nice, solid "anvil" to drive the bolt out.

Also, when we service mowers in the shop, I use a Bosch hammer drill with a bit designed to drive ground rods to drive the bolts out. Works really well. No sledge hammer or punches involved....

By using the jack to support the stumpjumper, I've always been able to remove the blades as a one-man job. When re-installing, I use a short piece of 2X4 to support the blade/bolt while installing the nut.

There's ALWAYS an easier way...........

 

[pitt_md]

Not

it's always something.
I do this a lot, it's the same thing for all of them (although I did notice that Woods has a different setup that looks WAY easier)

Jack the cutter up, turn the blades around so the hole matches on top.
Get out the great big 1&13/16th socket, get out the impact wrench

Get the wife to help out. (it's a two person job)

Get the nut off, not a big deal
won't come out, oh yeah, have to whack it with a punch. Get the punch, nothing.
Doesn't move.
get a piece of rebar (it's a deep cutter, Bush Hog 296 in this case) to whack at it.
Nothing.
Get the 4lb small sledge
nothing.
It goes on in this vein for about 30 minutes.
The nut is off mind you.
Finally get the 10lb sledge, a piece of galvanized pipe and literally just wail on it for about 20 hits, finally it falls down.

The other side was the same way.

I think either the woodruff style key in the bolt wasn't set right (twisted and not in it's hole) or it just twisted while working over the past few hundred hours.

2 hours
what a job.
I'm tired already.

Hey Cowboy I just changed the blades on my woods 6' rotary last weekend. I went through the exact same things except I got a 5" long bolt to use as my punch and wached it with a 24 oz framing hammer and it dropped right out.

While we are talking about changing the blades I wanted to comment on the blade edge. I have heard on this forum over and over that they come blunt or not real sharp. I can tell you that the woods 1/2" x 3" blades come very sharp. It sure made a big difference in the way it cut my pasture.

 

[pitt_md]

I've changed quite a few blades on my BH 286. I've found a secret! Once you have everything ready to remove the bolt, put a jack under the stumpjumper as near to the bolt as possible. That takes all the "bounce" out of the stumpjumper and lets the entire force of the sledge drive the bolt out. Next time I need to remove one, I'm going to try a new plan. Gonna take a short (approx 28") piece of 4" iron pipe, put one open end over the bolt, other end on the ground, and set the weight of the mower down on the pipe. That should provide a nice, solid "anvil" to drive the bolt out.

Also, when we service mowers in the shop, I use a Bosch hammer drill with a bit designed to drive ground rods to drive the bolts out. Works really well. No sledge hammer or punches involved....

By using the jack to support the stumpjumper, I've always been able to remove the blades as a one-man job. When re-installing, I use a short piece of 2X4 to support the blade/bolt while installing the nut.

There's ALWAYS an easier way...........

Yup, I have my wife put the nut on while I hold it.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Yup, I have my wife put the nut on while I hold it.

There's a joke there, but I'm gonna let it go this time.

 

[AndyMA]

Not

it's always something.
I do this a lot, it's the same thing for all of them (although I did notice that Woods has a different setup that looks WAY easier)

Jack the cutter up, turn the blades around so the hole matches on top.
Get out the great big 1&13/16th socket, get out the impact wrench

Get the wife to help out. (it's a two person job)

Get the nut off, not a big deal
won't come out, oh yeah, have to whack it with a punch. Get the punch, nothing.
Doesn't move.
get a piece of rebar (it's a deep cutter, Bush Hog 296 in this case) to whack at it.
Nothing.
Get the 4lb small sledge
nothing.
It goes on in this vein for about 30 minutes.
The nut is off mind you.
Finally get the 10lb sledge, a piece of galvanized pipe and literally just wail on it for about 20 hits, finally it falls down.

The other side was the same way.

I think either the woodruff style key in the bolt wasn't set right (twisted and not in it's hole) or it just twisted while working over the past few hundred hours.

2 hours
what a job.
I'm tired already.

Yours came out easy. We just need to change one on a broken blade and the nut cam off easily with a 6 foot pipe on a 3/4 inch socket. After about 8 hours of beating we took it to a shop. The 3 guys there worked on it for over an hour with all kind of tools and torch with no luck. Finally they torched it off flush with steel plate and punched the little piece through. The cost of this operation almost equaled the cost of a new Bush Hog

Andy

 

[AndyMA]

Hey Cowboy I just changed the blades on my woods 6' rotary last weekend. I went through the exact same things except I got a 5" long bolt to use as my punch and wached it with a 24 oz framing hammer and it dropped right out.

While we are talking about changing the blades I wanted to comment on the blade edge. I have heard on this forum over and over that they come blunt or not real sharp. I can tell you that the woods 1/2" x 3" blades come very sharp. It sure made a big difference in the way it cut my pasture.

Some do, many don't

Andy

 

[LoneCowboy]

Yours came out easy. We just need to change one on a broken blade and the nut cam off easily with a 6 foot pipe on a 3/4 inch socket. After about 8 hours of beating we took it to a shop. The 3 guys there worked on it for over an hour with all kind of tools and torch with no luck. Finally they torched it off flush with steel plate and punched the little piece through. The cost of this operation almost equaled the cost of a new Bush Hog

Andy

Man, that's crazy
Really, before this one, it's not been such a problem.
Couple love taps on a punch and it comes right out.
No idea why this one was so stuck.

FWJ, I did actually finally shove a old piece of log under the stumpjumper to keep it from moving, just as you said. I would have dragged the floor jack out, but well, the log was just laying there. I do think that's a key part of it, esp on the HUGE stumpjumpers that these big BH brand BH's have.

I notice on the new Wood's bushhogs that they have just a little 5/8" or so bolt that holds the big nut in place. Much better design it looks like, I wonder if it holds up.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Man, that's crazy
Really, before this one, it's not been such a problem.
Couple love taps on a punch and it comes right out.
No idea why this one was so stuck.

FWJ, I did actually finally shove a old piece of log under the stumpjumper to keep it from moving, just as you said. I would have dragged the floor jack out, but well, the log was just laying there. I do think that's a key part of it, esp on the HUGE stumpjumpers that these big BH brand BH's have.

I notice on the new Wood's bushhogs that they have just a little 5/8" or so bolt that holds the big nut in place. Much better design it looks like, I wonder if it holds up.

I had a couple Woods mowers with the quick change blade retainers. They were easy to deal with for a while, but once the mower had a year or so of use, they got a little difficult. The small bolt holds a flat steel plate that locks the blade pin in place. I had one bolt snap off (while using the mower) launching a blade. The retainer plate rusted in place on another. In the end, the "advatage" wasn't that great to make up for what I thought was other more serious shortcomings with the mowers I had.

Did I mention I DESPISE Woods mowers?