Rotary Cutter Woods 15.50 Woes (15.60, 15.70)

[KY Gun Geek]

I have recently upgraded (traded) my 2 5 year old Woods 15' light duty (BW15LH) mowers to 3 15' regular duty (BW 15.50). One was delivered 12/30/2018 (taxes), one about 9/15/2019 and one about 9/20/2019. None of them have a lot of hours - I used the older ones through most of the summer, only occasionally needed the 3rd cutter. The other 2 were bought in August, but we haven't had any rain since the last week of August (38 or 39 days, plus lots of 90 + degree heat!), so not much mowing.

As things stand right now all 3 15.50's are down suffering a similar affliction - the bushing that holds the right wheel yoke to the wing fails and causes a pin to back out, then things get bent (more details in a sec). All 3 have done this (with varying degrees of destruction). The yoke was replaced on the older one, but now has a similar problem on the center yoke. For reference, the right yoke is about $600, the center is about $1100, and the pins are $50 each. I have been waiting on the center yoke for 4 weeks! Woods and the dealer replaced the wing yoke.

Standard questions - anybody heard of issues with this? What (if anything) is being done. Any insight into what might be causing/how to I stop it?

It is certainly possible that something we are doing is the cause - I mean no way I got the only 3 lemmons, right? But I did make it 5 years with the other 2 light duty units with only minor issues.

I've included some pics that I hope will make things clearer.

"Woods pin backed COMP.jpg" shows a broader view - see the circle. It also shows the pin actually backed out on the center yoke. Tough to see here, but what failed is the weld that holds the keeper on the pin. The pin backed out, tweaking the bushing. See "Woods pined backed ZOOM.jpg". "Woods link copy.jpg" is a close up of the link held by the pin look at the left of the link and you will see the yoke is tweaked, and maybe you can just see that the bushing is tweaked. The pin was welded back to the keeper before we realized the yoke was bent. "Woods Pin Copy.jpg" is our weld job to repair. I included it because it shows the keeper - the flat plate with the bolt though it.

This failure has only happened on one unit. The other failure is harder to photograph but works in a similar way, and happens on the joint between the wing and its yoke. On all 3 the bolt holding the keeper broke and allowed the pin to back out. The pin can not back all the way out so the pin and bushing get cocked - breaking the welds holding the bushing to the yoke then breaking the bushing.

So what I think is happening is that there is lots of torque being put on the pin by the link - like it grabs the pin because it is rusted inside. This torque breaks the keeper bolt or the weld on the pin/keeper joint. With nothing to keep the pin in place, it backs, then gets out of line and tweaks the bushing and yoke. We have kept the things greased - but remember, 2 of them probably have less than 10 hours on them (the dealer greased them and we greased them). The other one (that has now broken 2 yokes) maybe has 25 hours on it.

Talking to deal and the local Woods rep as soon as I can get them tomorrow (Monday).

Thought, comments, ideas appreciated!

 

[Harry in Ky]

A horse farm nearby bought one those machines early this summer. The only issue I heard about was one of the wing lift cylinders developed a problem. As I recall there was some sort of beef with the dealer over warranty or something, Woods couldn't supply a replacement in a timely manner or something like that. It was eventually taken care of. Haven't heard anything concerning pivot pins yet. I do most of their work, so when something breaks I usually hear about it. Will definitely check that next time I'm out there.

 

[KY Gun Geek]

Update:

First - I do not believe the below applies to the 15.60 or 15.70 models. I was under the impression that the suspensions were the same. In my discussions with the dealer and Woods, as well as some of my own confirmation, I do not think that they are the same, so the issues seen with the 15.50 do not directly translate to the other models.

The meeting with the Woods rep and the dealer happened. They conformed that the 15.50 is having the problems I outlined above.

Woods is working on a fix, no eta.

Woods and the dealer have committed to replacing parts as necessary, and even keep some in stock as my concern is that we get to April 2020 and mowing season starts again. I might be in a position of having 3 dead mowers again - very bad.

Will let you know as things change.

 

[Zebrafive]

Larger bolt possible for the keeper? ?

The one pin looks like they only tack welded it to the keeper.

Is there room for a bolt & nut rather than the pin? Then weld a plate on the yoke to prevent the bolt from turning, maybe mill one flat of the bolt to the shank of the bolt for more area to engage the plate welded to the yoke?

 

[KY Gun Geek]

Larger bolt possible for the keeper? ?

The one pin looks like they only tack welded it to the keeper.

Is there room for a bolt & nut rather than the pin? Then weld a plate on the yoke to prevent the bolt from turning, maybe mill one flat of the bolt to the shank of the bolt for more area to engage the plate welded to the yoke?

I'm not ready to start hacking yet - this is about $45k worth of gear that is essentially new (2 of them delivered in September).

Per the plan hatched with the dealer, parts have been replaced. On 2 of the units, wings have started to sag when used for about 4 hours. Could be normal new parts stretching?!? (have seen this on all of these units), could be a sign of an issue. Dealer installed parts so there is no fog of "Customer incorrectly installed parts" Dealer and Woods are aware. Waiting for a next step.

I'm back to 1 unit out of 3 in a ready state. I COULD adjust the sagging wing(s) and go to it, but then there's the "well, if you hadn't monkeyed with it...", or "We don't really know what's going on since you didn't let us see the failure..." response.