Do I need a torque multiplier to get these nuts off?

[JoeBuyer]

I'd try heat first in this situation but if space allows, cutting them off is less hassle as far as I am concerned.

 

[joshuabardwell]

Are you sure they are right hand threads?

I have stripped more than one thing this way. There's that moment when it starts to move and you're like, "A ha! I got it!" And then it starts to move way too much and comes off in your hand.

 

[sparc]

Torque multipliers do work, but I don't know that you need to put out a couple hundred just to get these bolts loose.

I vote for heating the nut and spinning off with your impact. Manual doesn't say but they may be prevailing torque nuts or deformed or distorted thread nuts, these can be a bugger to get off.

The torque multiplier may be of use putting the baldes back on if you don't have a torque wrench good for use at 450 Lb/Ft.

Always good to RTFM (Read The Fine Manual) if you have one. If not it's available here.




Manuals


Parts Manual for 3000 series

http://www.bushhog.com/images/stories/documents/manuals/3000seriesparts.pdf

 

[RickB]

Nuts are RH thread and are not lock nuts or prevailing torque nuts.

 

[LD1]

Its already been said several times. HEAT. Once you get them off, you will wonder why you waited so long to use the heat.

 

[pclausen]

Appreciate all the feedback guys. I've been out of town (picking up a monster Vermeer PTO chipper!), so I'm late coming back to this thread. I'll go ahead and try the heat and see what that does. I tried giving the nuts all I had both forward and reverse with both the impact and wrench. I also added a 2nd extension to the first extension and gave it all I had, to the point where I though the ratchet was going to break (I could see the handle starting to bend).

I'll try the heat and see what happens. Didn't think that the nuts might have locktite on them, I could see how that would make them very hard to get off. I purchased this cutter used and I don't think the blades have ever been off before. I'll report back how the heat works. A torque multiplier would be handy, but I've gotten by for a lot of years without one, so I'd rather not go through the expense unless I have to. Got a good relationship with my dealer, so he would probably let me borrow his if push came to shove.

 

[Baby Grand]

I had success with my Woods cutter using a Horrible Fright 3/4" drive ratchet with a 4 foot section of 2" pipe as a torque multiplier. I still had to lean into it and grunt.

 

[leonz]

I got a Bush Hog 3209 cutter, and I'm trying to get the 1 5/16" bolts off that holds the blades on as I'm replacing them.

The 4 nuts have been soaking in PB blaster for a week, but neither my 3/4" impact wrench (being feed from a 1/2" hose @ 150 psi), nor my 3/4" ratchet with an extension will break any of them free.

I spoke to my dealer about it and they use a torque multiplier in the shop for getting bolts like that loose. Here's a link to one that takes a 3/4" input:

Central Tool 6387 4:1 Torque Multiplier : Amazon.com : Automotive

Does anyone have any experience with these devices? For that price, I wonder if I would be better off getting a monster 1" impact wrench? On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to accurately torque large bolts.

Any other thought on how to break these nuts free? I'm have reservations about using heat given that the bolt are hard to get to and I don't want to cause damage to anything else.

The cheater bar scares me no to end,

The torque multipliers work very well and it
is tool that will not lose value.


you just have to have an adequate backstop to
hold the handle in place-the gearbox of the hog
will do fine for thisusing a block of wood to separate
the handle from the gearcase.



I take it your bush hog has the splined bolt head?

If you have enough thread left you can use flashlight to
check the thread direction from the inspection hole.

The torque muultiplier will not go to waste as you can use
it for car, truck, and tractor lug nuts providing you use a
hand ratchet wrench ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You can buy long handle 1 inch ratchet wrenches for what you need with a deep well
12 point mpact socket to also use on a torque multiplier.

 

[Baby Grand]

That 4 footlong, 2 inch diameter section of pipe has proven itself to be one of the handiest tools I own. Just have to show a little respect when you use it. On the end of a big pipe wrench you can straighten all sorts of twisted steel. Just need to develop a good feel for when something is yielding and not use it on anything brittle. It allows you to apply a load in a very controlled, predictable way, with good feedback to your hands. I really don't like using the impact wrench anywhere near a bearing.

Add a little heat and some good penetrating oil into the mix, as required, and you have yourself a versatile tool kit.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I just removed the blades from an old mower last week with nothing but a 1" drive rachet, no cheater bar. If you cant get it off with what you have been using, I would get the torch and cut off the bottom of the bolt then let the blades drop off. The bolts are shoulder bolts so they are larger on the bottom end than top,so you may have to cut them again after the blade is off to remove the shoulder before it will come out from the top.
This would all be a lot easier if you used the FEL to stand the BH on it's edge. If you dont have a torch, use a grinder with a cut-off wheel. You will need new bolts anyway whether using heat on the nut or just whacking off the head.
Just get off the computer and go do it.

 

[scollins]

From the photo, I saw where a ratchet wrench was used with a "cheater bar". That will FUBAR your ratchet mechanism. Get a BREAKER BAR , 3/4 min. with a 6-point impact socket and impact extension.
The regular sockets can shatter when used with an impact wrench and a 12 point socket will just round off the edges of the nuts. If all else fails, there is the oxyacetylene "blue wrench". The manufacturers recommend replacing the nuts and bots when changing blades, anyway.

 

[pclausen]

Ok, so after working on these 4 nuts on and off for the last 2.5 years, I FINALLY GOT THEM OFF!!! Just kidding, well sort off. I did actually get them off summer before last using a little heat. Problem was, that was only half the battle. The challenge I had then, and now, is trying to drive the bolts out to free the blades so that I can replace them.

I have lowered the stump jumper into a cinder block with a pair of 4x4 blocks on either side of the bolt pancake head, and then rested a 2" diameter piece of steel on top of the bolt thread and have whacked it like 50 times with a 10lbs sledge to no avail. Next I progressed to a tamping bar, standing immediately above the bolt and dropping the tamping bar directly down on the 2" piece of steel. And other than a lot of ringing in the tamping bar, noting. This is after soaking on the bolt in PB Blaster for days.

I guess my next step will be to heat up the bolt, then let it cool and try again...

 

[jeff9366]

This experience with your Bush Hog must be building CHARACTER and be bringing you and the implement closer---------

 

[RalphVa]

Your torque multiplier that you show in the picture isn't long enough. I use a 6 ft length (think it's 1 inch, maybe 1 1/4 inch) of steel pipe over the handle of my 3/4" drive. Even then, you'll need about 80 # pressure on the end of the pipe to get 450 ft lb nuts loose.

I use the same setup to "torque" them up. I basically tighten them until I can't move the pipe. Run the "hog" for 4 hours or so and check tightness.

Ralph

 

[kebo]

Heat the nut. Don't worry about damaging any seals, the seals are to far away from the nut with to much steel in between the two. It is not uncommon to replace (sacrifice) these 4 bolts.

According to the Torque class I went through at work, any nuts or bolts that have been torqued once, and removed, they should not be used again in an application that requires a torque setting. In other words, nuts or bolts should only be torqued once, and then tossed.

 

[RickB]

According to the Torque class I went through at work, any nuts or bolts that have been torqued once, and removed, they should not be used again in an application that requires a torque setting. In other words, nuts or bolts should only be torqued once, and then tossed.

Must be you work for a hardware manufacturer. That advise might be SOP for your workplace, but it runs contrary to most manufacturer's published machine technical information.

 

[LD1]

Class must have been put on by a bolt mfg.

Certain things...yes I believe you should replace the bolts. Things like head bolts or connecting rod caps. But for most things its a waste of money

 

[DuckSlayer1017]

According to the Torque class I went through at work, any nuts or bolts that have been torqued once, and removed, they should not be used again in an application that requires a torque setting. In other words, nuts or bolts should only be torqued once, and then tossed.

They taught you correctly. When the bolts are torqued the threads stretch and will not go back to the original size when loosened. At work we actually confirm bolt torque by measuring the initial and finial length of some critical bolts on assemblies to validate the torque drivers. Now for a lot of things it isn't necessary to scrap the bolt but something like a brush hog I would spend the money. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near one of those blades of the bolt fails.

 

[FTG-05]

I got a Bush Hog 3209 cutter, and I'm trying to get the 1 5/16" bolts off that holds the blades on as I'm replacing them.

The 4 nuts have been soaking in PB blaster for a week, but neither my 3/4" impact wrench (being feed from a 1/2" hose @ 150 psi), nor my 3/4" ratchet with an extension will break any of them free.

I spoke to my dealer about it and they use a torque multiplier in the shop for getting bolts like that loose. Here's a link to one that takes a 3/4" input:

Central Tool 6387 4:1 Torque Multiplier : Amazon.com : Automotive

Does anyone have any experience with these devices? For that price, I wonder if I would be better off getting a monster 1" impact wrench? On the other hand, it would be nice to be able to accurately torque large bolts.

Any other thought on how to break these nuts free? I'm have reservations about using heat given that the bolt are hard to get to and I don't want to cause damage to anything else.

Hopefully, not a hijack.

I have the 286 Bushhog and when it comes time for me to change the blades out, I have a question about the above picture. What keeps the blade assembly from turning as you are torquing on the bolt head? Are you clamping the gear box or the PTO shaft or what?

I always understood it that changing out a bushhog blade was a two man job, one on the bolt, one to hold the blade assembly from turning.

Thanks,

 

[whis]

blade can't turn with extension in the hole, for the op get a piece of round stock and weld it on the end of a piece of pipe or tubing ( it will look like the letter T ). get someone to hold it on the bolt and get a bigger hammer