TractorGuy
Elite Member
- Joined
- Sep 15, 2013
- Messages
- 4,611
- Location
- N. FL
- Tractor
- John Deere 4310 CUT, Ford New Holland 575E Industrial Backhoe, John Deere F725 Front Mount Mower
In your case you should do as I had to. Remove the mower from the tractor. Remove All the clutch bolts. Tap the components apart with a hammer. Clean, reassemble, and adjust.I am truly a tractor tenderfoot, but with some machinery experience. The bolt that sheared may not be a "Shear Bolt," per se, but it is a bolt, and it did shear. I am working a slip clutch issue on a different thread based on a quote from my Frontier RC2060 manual.
My Frontier RC2060 manual has this quote:
"Slip Clutch Operational Check"
"After the implement has been stored for thirty days or more, perform the following operational check."
It goes on to describe how to loosen the bolts on the slip clutch and then to operate the PTO to make sure that the slip clutch . . . slips to protect the rest of the drive train. In my case, it does not slip (it sat for a long time prior to my ownership) and I'm in the process of figuring out how to get it free. The best advice I've gotten on this forum to free it is that while the bolts on the slip clutch are loosened, to engage the PTO back into heavy grass that would presumably cause the clutch to slip, then adjust the bolts as described in my manual and go about my mowing business.
Questions: Is it possible, that you engaged the PTO while at full-rated engine RPM, rather than engaging it at idle and then ramping up the RPM to full speed? I have heard anecdotally that such can shear bolts.
Why didn't your new mower come with a manual?
There are quite a few minor maintenance issues associated with tractoring, and you may want to consider getting familiar with them to save many trailer trips to the dealer.
I check mine by loosening the bolts and turning the driveshaft piece with a 3ft screwdriver while locking the gearbox side so it can't turn. I tighten my nuts 1turn after contact and paint a line across the two halves. This serves as and indicator of if it slips when I've hit something.