Rotary brush cutter gnawing circular hole in deck

[drizler]

Yeah it痴 a tractor supply yellow I think land pride whatever they sell model and not the thickest to be sure. But after 10 years or so of banging around through the usual stuff it痴 chopped enough of a circular hole in the deck lid that I got to do something with it besides stuff some more Weld on it. My buddy was telling me it痴 caused by the blades tips being bent up where I知 thinking it痴 just cause by it randomly hitting at one something trips a stump jumper and it bounces. What痴 the opinion on this? Can you tell by looking at the blades themselves? I知 getting ready to take the tractor and drag it over and throw it on sawhorses upside down pretend to try to get those blades off anyways before the seize on I went through a friend of mine壮 last year and it was a ungodly task just to get the stumpjumper off of that thing so I could weld on it. I知 kind of have the feeling that I知 better off just make a new deck for it out of the 1/8 inch steel and being done with it however if I can just weld up what I got and keep the blades off it who knows I might just managed to coax another five or six years out of it. What痴 the opinions ?

 

[mcfarmall]

I think you are seeing symptoms of a much bigger problem. I have a King Kutter and there is at least 3 inches of clearance between the blade tip and the underside of the deck.

 

[mddorange]

If it is all the way around, it could be a bent arm of the stump jumper/dishpan.

If it is only in one area, it could be a gearbox problem. Check to see if the blades are level all the way around.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I suspect you have or had loose blade bolt(s). That quickly wallows out and ruins the blade carrier. Grab each blade an try to wiggle it up towards the deck and down towards the ground. If either move more than about 1/2" independent of the blade carrier, you have your problem (and you need a new blade carrier).

 

[kebo]

Imo, a potential cause of the "circular hole" is the steel that the deck is of made isn't thick enough, or the deck design isn't strong enough, to prevent the gearbox (with blade pan and blades attached of course) from "flexing" or "wobbling" every time it hits a solid object, ie a rock or a stump. If you zoom in close and look at the deck design of my rotary mower, you will see that the gear box is mounted onto a 1" thick steel plate, that is welded to the deck, which also has substantial framework around it to support the steel plate and the gearbox pretty solidly. This design doesn't allow any movement of the gearbox relative to the deck.

So, if the OP decides to flip the mower upside down and remove the pan, you might want to consider going a step further and add a heavy steel plate for the gearbox to mount onto. Just a thought here, but good luck.

 

[drizler]

I suspect you have or had loose blade bolt(s). That quickly wallows out and ruins the blade carrier. Grab each blade an try to wiggle it up towards the deck and down towards the ground. If either move more than about 1/2" independent of the blade carrier, you have your problem (and you need a new blade carrier).

I’ll have to look into the flexing though I haven’t seen any indication of it going on. Mine seems to hit in the front and back but not the sides Stranger yet the one I fixed for a friend last year is that exact same one on your picture. Built way better than my king mutter it still cracked right across from the gear box. I used a big slab of 5/8” and cured it. I got rid of those chains too. They made It so miserable to work on that I fabbed up a set of arms just so I could safely stand it up to work on.

 

[Luke'sScreenName]

I’ll have to look into the flexing though I haven’t seen any indication of it going on. Mine seems to hit in the front and back but not the sides Stranger yet the one I fixed for a friend last year is that exact same one on your picture. Built way better than my king mutter it still cracked right across from the gear box. I used a big slab of 5/8” and cured it. I got rid of those chains too. They made It so miserable to work on that I fabbed up a set of arms just so I could safely stand it up to work on.

Ahh, I missed that it only hits on the front and back. Given that, a lose gearbox seems like a good place to start.

 

[drizler]

Ahh, I missed that it only hits on the front and back. Given that, a lose gearbox seems like a good place to start.

The more I think about it considering everything else is in good condition I might just as well go with my original idea and go buy a couple of pieces of 1/8” inch plate and make a whole new deck. That flex business starting to get into my craw and when I think about it if that great big red Monster with the heavy deck could flex enough to split all along that reinforcing plate which I later doubled in size then that little flanged light tin king cutter is probably flopping all over the place when I touch anything. It just hasn’t broken yet. His has some circular damage as well but it never came through or even close. Sometimes there’s just no substituting real steel I guess .

 

[John_Mc]

Are your blades bent? Repeated hammering on stumps and rocks eventually bends them upward.

 

[drizler]

I guess I should’ve done this in the first place this is a picture of this thing I guess I should’ve done this in the first place tiki this is a picture of this thing. Well used but still kicking