Brush hog blade snap & flies...

[ak9]

In 1992 my next door neighbor ,who is an experience responsible farmer with 160 acres stop me in my field while i was mowing and asked if I and everyone in my household was alright. he wanted me to stop at that moment and go check.. I could see the concern on his face as he explained that he snapped a 84" hog blade about 10" off the end and he thought the flight path took it towards my house 1/4 mile away . Like I said he looked very concerned and he was not the kind of follow to joke so I checked and evryone was ok.he relaxed a little and said if I noticed any damage to anything let him know so we could work some thing out .. Nice guy..I, over the nexk year or so kept an eye out for the piece and never found it..and forgot all about it untill this past spring... I was rototilling a "new" food plot/garden area behind my house and KADANG:shocked:did not sound like a rock for sure .After picking the peice up and looking at it I was like damb he was right ... it flew about 485 feet landing about 70 feet from the house WOW!!! be very careful out there!! here is a pic of the piece

 

[markct]

they do break, i have broken two myself, luckly they didnt go far. i recall one time seeing a 4 ft brushog mounted on a medium size excavator that a construction company was using to clear some room in our power line right of way. in the side of the mower was a hole where a blade had gone thru at one time, sure hope it didnt head for the cab and operator, atleast on a tractor its likely to go under the machine, in an excavator it could easily be tipped at an angle to strike the operator

 

[sweettractors]

My BIL was brush hogging in his field 50 ft from the county road. Broke a blade, went across the road and hit the neighbor (walking in his field) in the leg and broke it. Ken Sweet

 

[johnrex62]

My BIL was brush hogging in his field 50 ft from the county road. Broke a blade, went across the road and hit the neighbor (walking in his field) in the leg and broke it. Ken Sweet

The blade or the neighbor's leg?



Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation. I know....not funny. :mur:

 

[sweettractors]

The blade or the neighbor's leg?



Sorry, couldn't resist the temptation. I know....not funny. :mur:

Which would you guess Ken Sweet

 

[ak9]

At the time my neighbor showed me where he was & where the blade launched from..basically level ground +/- 10' elev. diff. skipped once and flew!
My Twp. road/right of way mowers do not post any signs or flaggers when mowing along the roads . They use a hyd.driven brush hog on the end of a back hoe... they will mow/chop tree limbs off with traffic passing by!!! & the debis left on the road...so glad we have some of the highest TWP RE taxes in the country

 

[atgreene]

In 15 years I have broken 3 blades on my B106 6' mower. The blade is 1/2" thick, 4" wide and supposedely is spinning at 120 mph at the tip. One of the blades I never found. The other two landed nearby, one right on the ground under the mower.

Scary thought when you think about the potential.

 

[dirt clod]

Remember to check the bolts that hold the blades on. I had a complete blade come off a rotary cutter. It blew through the mower destroying it. I never found the blade or bolt, even when discing the field. The mower I have now gets bolts check regularly which are installed with loctite.

 

[Renze]

That blade looks worn thin, and probably some fatigue plays its parts here.

My brother once jumped into the air when i hit a piece of wood with the pasture topper, he was standing 3 yard behind the machine. He did jump in the air but at the time he got airborne, the blade hit a hardwood barn door 50 yards away (and still allmost went through).

 

[kebo]

Was discing at the hunt club yesterday to put in some food plots and I dug up a HUGE piece of a bush hog blade. This one looked to have come off a 6ft or maybe larger mower deck. It had broken off about 10 inches from the end. This blade was about 3/4" thick and I'm guessing it weighed at least 4lbs. It was buried under a powerline so it probably came off a tractor from a crew cutting the ROW under the powerline. It definitely didn't come off of one of our mowers!!

 

[IslandTractor]

I was bush hogging by backing into brush yesterday when I heard a "wham" and then lots of vibration from my Woods 600 Brush Bull. I stopped and checked under the mower (and saw the rock I'd hit). A six inch piece of the blade had broken off. Luckily it was sitting about four feet away rather than shooting off towards nearby houses.

When I checked the piece I noted that the fresh fracture was actually only about an inch of the 4 inch by half inch blade. The blade must have been fractured some other time in the past.

I have another set of blades so will install those and then double check the slip clutch (which was reset this spring). I suspect the combination of the previously partially fractured blade and the sudden shock of hitting a fair sized rock (forty pounds or so) simply completed the fracture so the slip clutch was not at fault.

Photo shows the broken surface of the blade tip and the other shows the recovered piece next to the new replacement blade.

Questions:

1) Do any of you check blades for cracks regularly? If so how?
2) Do you guys always replace blades as pairs? Is there any benefit to holding on to the unbroken older partner blade to use as a spare down the road or are "mismatched" blades a risk. Both original and replacement are Woods brand.

 

[jlsmith]

If you replace one blade then you replace both of them. If not you could get it off balance and end up damaging the gearbox.

 

[sweettractors]

I was bush hogging by backing into brush yesterday when I heard a "wham" and then lots of vibration from my Woods 600 Brush Bull. I stopped and checked under the mower (and saw the rock I'd hit). A six inch piece of the blade had broken off. Luckily it was sitting about four feet away rather than shooting off towards nearby houses.

When I checked the piece I noted that the fresh fracture was actually only about an inch of the 4 inch by half inch blade. The blade must have been fractured some other time in the past.

I have another set of blades so will install those and then double check the slip clutch (which was reset this spring). I suspect the combination of the previously partially fractured blade and the sudden shock of hitting a fair sized rock (forty pounds or so) simply completed the fracture so the slip clutch was not at fault.

Photo shows the broken surface of the blade tip and the other shows the recovered piece next to the new replacement blade.

Questions:

1) Do any of you check blades for cracks regularly? If so how?
2) Do you guys always replace blades as pairs? Is there any benefit to holding on to the unbroken older partner blade to use as a spare down the road or are "mismatched" blades a risk. Both original and replacement are Woods brand.

Does Woods still use 3/8 inch thick blades on the cutters? Ken Sweet

 

[IslandTractor]

Does Woods still use 3/8 inch thick blades on the cutters? Ken Sweet

Mine has a 4 inch by half inch blade

 

[D7E]

Ex employee of ours had a blade come off a disc mower ..break the back window and slice his scalp open, Many drum and disc mowers do it as they get old with worn or weak blade hangers then hitting a small rock .

 

[sweettractors]

Ex employee of ours had a blade come off a disc mower ..break the back window and slice his scalp open, Many drum and disc mowers do it as they get old with worn or weak blade hangers then hitting a small rock .

I don't know about drum mowers, but, most disc mower mfgrs suggest replacing the blade bolts each time you put on a new set of blades. Ken Sweet

 

[RickB]

Does Woods still use 3/8 inch thick blades on the cutters? Ken Sweet

No, they are thicker 1/2" I think.

 

[D7E]

I don't know about drum mowers, but, most disc mower mfgrs suggest replacing the blade bolts each time you put on a new set of blades. Ken Sweet

Many disc mowers like PZ drum mowers and many others use a sprung hanger instead of a bolt . Blade change in seconds just by levering the hanger down .
Come with a tool much like a tyre iron that you lever and just slip the blade in ...job done.