King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn't turn

hockeyhead · Aug 26, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

I bought a 5' kk rotary cutter 3 months ago at TSC. I notices the tail wheel not turning as they were loading it on my trailer. the guy loading it and me lifted and looked at atleast 6 more and none of then rotated. I voiced my disaproval and they had another guy out there with wrenches and a grease gun to loosen it up. I keep it well greased and have had no other problems. By the way this TSC had 12-15, 5ft cutters and 8-10, 6ft cutters , I was back there a month later for a box blade and they were all gone, all they had left was 48" cutters.

Gary_in_Indiana · Aug 27, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

Well, I returned from my two day sojourn and now have my tail wheel spinning freely by doing what everyone else had to do and told me to do. I loosened the nut, greased it thoroughly and worked it a bit to get it free then retightened the nut to a more reasonable level and I'm all set. I should be mowing this weekend. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

All's well which ends well, I guess. It sure seems like reprinting a few pages of the manual would be a good idea, though. Still, quite a bargain for under $500, to be sure. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

EagleEye · Aug 28, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

Gary, Glad to hear all is now well. I just bought the 6' rotary cutter about 1 month ago and have already put it through the paces quite heavily... I just did about 10 acres with it this past Sunday... I was quite pleased but ended up bending one of the 3 point hitch attachment rods and needed to replace it (that was a chore since the threads were damaged from all the things I was running over (I ended up using a grinder to cut it off and wishing I still had an acetalyne torch or one of those plasma cutters).

In any event... I need you guys to scare me.... I know that I'm not supposed to use anything more than a grade 2 bolt as a shear (sp?) pin but I really am tired of constantly having to replace bolts so I put a grade 5 bolt in and all seems to work well. I know that I am taking risks with my gear box and my tractor's PTO. Question is... just how chancy is it?

shady1701 · Aug 28, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

well i think a grade 5 bolt is 150,000 or 120,000 psi vs 40-80K psi so it depends how well your TC driveline has to hold if it hits solid if the pressure would to exceed that spec it'd break the shaft and be up a creek probaly thousand plus..

so it depends on how much a 30 cent bolt is worth and problem with replacing would be a pain..if your breaking bolts you need to add a $100 clutch but in saying that i don't have one on my tiller and i abuse the heck out of it.. it's risky but i quess in my case i only use it 3 times a year not in my opinion worth the cost.. if you regulary use it..

just stating the obvious i quess... sometimes sheds new light when it's in writing i've found /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Gary_in_Indiana · Aug 28, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

For what it's worth, when I was asking about a slip clutch on here and asked about going to grade 5 on my bolt at the gearbox more than a couple folks suggested I stick with the grade 2 even with the slip clutch. One of them suggested that IF I have a problem at any time with my slip clutch I'd still be better off replacing a thirty cent bolt than anything else that could get damaged in that driveline, especially the tractor PTO itself.

They convinced me. I hope my passing it along convinces you. The idea of having to break my tractor completely down because I used the wrong grade bolt just has no appeal to me whatsoever.

Soundguy · Aug 28, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

Somewhere on here is a message about a guy that rented a tractor.. used a gr5 ( or higher) shear bolt.. blew the pto on the tractor and the dealer wanted like 2 grand for repairs... I never did hear the outcome.. but i bet a couple bucks worth of gr2 bolts would have prevented it...

Youv got the time to do it right.. no need to rush... unless you got the cash just falling out of your pockets or something.

Soundguy

DK35vince · Aug 28, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

EagleEye,
I have the same cutter, 6' King Kutter.
I never liked shear bolts so I bought a slip clutch $95 at TSC when I purchased the cutter.
The slip clutch took a bit of adjusting to slip where I am comfortable with it. But now I can just go and not worry about driveline or shear bolts.

EagleEye · Sep 2, 2003

Re: King Kutter rotary mower wheel doesn\'t turn

Guys, Thanks for the motivation... all your sense made sense... I think I'll go back to the grade 2 and get the slip clutch... Soundguy... your comments on money hit home very nicely...

I guess it's just plain lazy of me to put a grade 5 in vs a grade 2... /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Thanks guys!