Rotary Cutter Looking for blade changing advice. Thanks! :)

[MarkV]

Hi Linda, welcome to the forum. If it is of any help your IM500 is a 5' International by Hawkline rotary mower. I am sure Ken Sweet can help you with replacement blades or do a google search. With any rotary mower the blade bolts are very hefty and hard to remove without an pneumatic impact wrench. If that is equipment you do not have access to most any automotive shop would be able to help you if you can get the mower to one.

MarkV

 

[RalphVa]

I remove mine and sharpen them every spring. Here's how I do it:

1. Move PTO to "off" position (on mine, it to the front PTO position)
2. Tighten top link up all the way and raise bush hog.
3. Place jack stands to each side of back opening as high as you can set them and then gently lower bush hog onto stands.
4. Remove tail wheel assembly (on mine I have to do this to get to the bolts on the blades)
5. Rotate blades by hand until a bolt is in view through the access hole in the deck underneath where the tail wheel assembly was. Put proper-size socket onto the bolt. You'll need a good, sturdy 3/4" drive with socket. You'll also need a 5 to 6' length of pipe to fit over the socket handle.
6. After you get the first bolt off, put a C clamp in place to hold the stump jumper in place.
7. Rotate to other bolt and remove it.
8. Go underneath with new/sharpened blade in hand. Put C clamp in place to hold stump jumper and bolt in place. Go up top and start the nut, tightening it with the socket handle (no pipe cheater). Go back underneath and put C clamp that's probably dropped off back in place to hold stump jumper, making sure other side of stump jumper is in right spot. Rotate assembly and put another C clamp on other side of stump jumper.
9. Put other blade and bolt in place and relocate C clamp to hold bolt in place. Go up top and start and tighten nut with socket wrench.
10. Now remove C clamps and use cheater bar to tighten to required torque, which is probably about a 100 # push on a 5' bar for 500 ft-# torque or just push until you can't push any more.
11. Leave trail wheel off and run bush hog for a little bit, 2 or 3 hours maybe without the trail wheel.
12. Bring back and check torque before reattaching tail wheel assembly.

BE SURE AND PUT BLADES ON PROPER DIRECTION, which is usually pointed down. Note bush hog assembly rotation before removing the blades, but you can still get them turned upside down. A clue is the blades probably come within 1" of the bottom of the bush hog cover. If they're higher, you've got one upside down. Been there done that. Vibrate like ****.

Ralph

 

[Lineman North Florida]

I use a bottle jack on the stumpjumper to give me something solid when I am pounding the bolts out of the blades, I've seen people get the nuts off and beat on the bolts till they were give out without them moving an inch because every time they would hit the brass pin or punch that was on the bolt the stumpjumper would flex or give ever so slightly, the bottle jack stops that and it has worked for me every time.

 

[Dead Horse]

Hi Linda, welcome to the forum. If it is of any help your IM500 is a 5' International by Hawkline rotary mower. I am sure Ken Sweet can help you with replacement blades or do a google search. With any rotary mower the blade bolts are very hefty and hard to remove without an pneumatic impact wrench. If that is equipment you do not have access to most any automotive shop would be able to help you if you can get the mower to one.

MarkV

I use a 1" ratchet set with a 5' pipe, for torqueing the bolts down. An air wrench seems to do for removing them, same 1" socket and extension.

As to reinstalling blades, if the disc is not bolted to the rotor, R&R the blades one at a time, That saves having to deal with positioning the disk while trying to install a blade. I find that by inserting the sholder bolt through the blade and into the rotor, the tension from the blade hanging off the end of the bolt will hold it in place in the rotor, long enough for me to insert the nut through the top hole and get it (gently) threaded on to the bolt to get it started.

To keep the nut from dropping out of the socket while I thread it through the deck hole and on to the bolt, I take a piece of grass stalk and jam it between the nut and the inner surface of the socket. Provides just enough tension to hold the nut in place intil I have it threaded on to the bolt.

When removing the bolts, if they wont drop out after the nut is removed, Use a large steel dowel, say 1" diameter and long enough to hold it on the bolt end and whack it with a BFH. The bolts should NOT be jammed in the holes as the forces on the mower make the (octagonal on a deere) holes in the rotor bigger over time.

Of all the implements I have worked on, sharpening, changing out BH blades is prolly the easiest thing to do. JUST BE CAREFUL!