John_Mc
Elite Member
- Joined
- Aug 11, 2001
- Messages
- 4,577
- Location
- Monkton, Vermont
- Tractor
- NH TC33D Modified with belly pan, limb risers & FOPS. Honda Pioneer 520 & antique Coot UTV
I finally replaced my old Woods BB60 rotary cutter. It had been beaten to death mowing rocky trails over the years and more was broken on it than was worth fixing (or so I thought until I saw the price of a new one).
I'm having some issues with the slip clutch. The manual says to loosen the 8 adjusting bolts until you can spin the springs freely, run it to slip the clutch, then tighten the bolts back down until the springs are compressed to a length of 1.12 inches. There is no table of spring lengths to set for different HP tractors, just the single notation of 1.12", despite the fact that it is rated for 25-50 PTO HP. There is no mention in their procedure of making sure it slips when hitting a solid object.
The first issue I ran in to was that it is a real pain in the butt to even get to the bolt and nut behind the shields. Even worse, it's just about impossible to measure the length of the compressed springs: the access holes allow you the reach the heads of the bolts, but it's hard to even see the springs, and there is just no room to get a caliper on them. I finally gave up and asked the service manager at the dealer. His advice: we just set them before we put the PTO shaft on the mower. Duh! not sure why I did not think of pulling the shaft off. I did that and had a much easier time tightening them down. I went to 1.20", so it should be a bit easier to slip than what the Woods spec calls for.
My tractor is 33 HP, or 27 HP at the PTO, so I'm near the bottom of the HP range (but have always been satisfied with the performance - I did not even consider going with a smaller mower). I hit a few rocks and stumps as I was mowing and it would stall the tractor, unless I was quick on the clutch. No sign of slipping. Do people generally set theirs to the factory specs, or loosen them up until a solid hit makes them slip? Do you intentionally set it down on a stump to test?
My old one was set about where I thought it should be when I bought it: slipped (and made a very distinctive noise) when hitting a solid object, ran normally otherwise. All I had to do was loosen it at the beginning of the mowing season, slip the clutch, then tighten it back down the same number of turns that I loosened and I was good to go. Every few years if it loosened up, I'd tighten all of the nuts just a bit.
I'm having some issues with the slip clutch. The manual says to loosen the 8 adjusting bolts until you can spin the springs freely, run it to slip the clutch, then tighten the bolts back down until the springs are compressed to a length of 1.12 inches. There is no table of spring lengths to set for different HP tractors, just the single notation of 1.12", despite the fact that it is rated for 25-50 PTO HP. There is no mention in their procedure of making sure it slips when hitting a solid object.
The first issue I ran in to was that it is a real pain in the butt to even get to the bolt and nut behind the shields. Even worse, it's just about impossible to measure the length of the compressed springs: the access holes allow you the reach the heads of the bolts, but it's hard to even see the springs, and there is just no room to get a caliper on them. I finally gave up and asked the service manager at the dealer. His advice: we just set them before we put the PTO shaft on the mower. Duh! not sure why I did not think of pulling the shaft off. I did that and had a much easier time tightening them down. I went to 1.20", so it should be a bit easier to slip than what the Woods spec calls for.
My tractor is 33 HP, or 27 HP at the PTO, so I'm near the bottom of the HP range (but have always been satisfied with the performance - I did not even consider going with a smaller mower). I hit a few rocks and stumps as I was mowing and it would stall the tractor, unless I was quick on the clutch. No sign of slipping. Do people generally set theirs to the factory specs, or loosen them up until a solid hit makes them slip? Do you intentionally set it down on a stump to test?
My old one was set about where I thought it should be when I bought it: slipped (and made a very distinctive noise) when hitting a solid object, ran normally otherwise. All I had to do was loosen it at the beginning of the mowing season, slip the clutch, then tighten it back down the same number of turns that I loosened and I was good to go. Every few years if it loosened up, I'd tighten all of the nuts just a bit.
