Bush Hog repair question

[LD1]

Looking at soe parts diagrams, it looks like the bushhog 266 has the tapered hole and not splined. with a keyway.

Alot easier to make than a tapered splined hub.

Just a bar of steel with three holes. Two round with keyway for blade bolts and the center hole tapered with keyway for the gearbox.

I still wouldnt weld it. Too many unknowns like true RPM, blade weight, etc. But just off the cuff.....about 10,000 pounds of force on that weld as a result of nothing more than speed and RPM. Sure....it would hold on something like that....but now throw in shock loading like hitting a stump or a rock.....impossible to calculate.

It obviously broke once....and a repaired part is not going to be as strong as original....so if you replicate what happened that made it break the first time....there is about a 99.99% chance it will happen again.

Even if you only ever plan on using this out in the middle of nowhere, and no one within a thousand feet and no buildings.....how much does a new rear tire cost? Because I have blades come off and go through the sidewalls of a rear tractor tire like it aint even there. Is it worth the risk to you?

Dont know the dimensions....but have you tried to locate an aftermarket stump jumper/blade carrier assembly?

 

[alpha&omega]

Which crack? The fresh one on the RH side or the one on the LH side that’s already been repaired at least once in its life? If you’re going to say that left side hasn’t been welded, then it has suffered enough damage to have bent/warped/twisted/stretched the bar in that spot, and as such, it now will also be a weak point that is subject to failure.
So after you weld the bar, do you plan on laying a bead down for some added weight on the other side, or what was your plan to ensure things are balanced? Not being balanced you’ll throw off the gearbox and risk damage to more than just the area adjacent to the fresh weld. You did mentioned balancing it, but I wasn’t sure of your plan or the plan those individuals had who suggested to beef up the design. That’s a whole lot of grinding to clean up the metal good enough to lay a “suitable” bead. Plus you would want it clean enough to look for other cracks.

How much do you think the BH is worth if it were in working condition - - as in If the bar were not damaged?
Would it be worth buying a new bar or having one machined, then sell the BH to recoup your investment or having one machined and buying a stump jumper for it? Personally I wouldn’t be operating one without a stump jumper.

What kind of shielding do you have on that BH?

 

[2manyrocks]

How much for an ER trip and loss of lower leg?

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

not on a 6' cutter. 1.5:1 would be on the high end of blade speed....~16000fpm 1:1 would be on the lower end.

And "cheap" or "off brand" has nothing to do with gearbox selection. I had a 306 bushhog with a 1:1 gearbox

If it ain't two to one I'll pass on it. I've handled too many to put up with that.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

How much for an ER trip and loss of lower leg?

Now tell me how you can possibly lose a lower leg.

 

[hosspuller]

Now tell me how you can possibly lose a lower leg.

A person could be a bystander several feet away or an unlucky operator.

Several years ago, a SUV hit a metal sign base on I20 outside Atlanta. When it was hit, it cut the tire & took a divot from the cast right front wheel. Then it proceeded to slash the passenger side of the vehicle like a giant can opener.

It's flight wasn't a straight line. That same piece cut through my radiator & headlamp. A few inches higher, and I wouldn't be typing this.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

not on a 6' cutter. 1.5:1 would be on the high end of blade speed....~16000fpm 1:1 would be on the lower end.

And "cheap" or "off brand" has nothing to do with gearbox selection. I had a 306 bushhog with a 1:1 gearbox, per Johnny dear. I have a J D right here that is 2:

1.38:1, 1.68:1. Were J D ratios.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

A person could be a bystander several feet away or an unlucky operator.

Several years ago, a SUV hit a metal sign base on I20 outside Atlanta. When it was hit, it cut the tire & took a divot from the cast right front wheel. Then it proceeded to slash the passenger side of the vehicle like a giant can opener.

It's flight wasn't a straight line. That same piece cut through my radiator & headlamp. A few inches higher, and I wouldn't be typing this.

You wrote some things. But explain how I can be sitting on a tractor and lose my leg from a bush hog blade.

 

[mrmikey]

When I started working, we had Roanoke grader mounted bushcutters, they were deadly. The problem with them was you had to have the grader engine reving so fast to get the head speed up, you were travelling to fast to safely control the head position. This isn't one we worked on, it's the only good pic I could find online of a Roanoke unit.

A good friend and I were given the task of figuring out some way to power the head independently. We came up with a Cat 3208 powered unit the would mount to the pivot ball at the front and the turntable mounts at the rear under the gooseneck of the grader, needless to say it was a beast. We ended up making 5± units over the span of a couple of years, unfortunately I didn't take one pic which ticks me off.

Reason for my posting this is that I had hear of two instances where the blade had come off the machine and one had gone thru a car door in a driveway, the other had stuck in a house when it came off. I couldn't imagine the centrifugal force on the blade, the thing weighed over 20 lbs I'm sure.

Scariest part of the whole build was checking the head speed with no load. I got elected to stand on the head holding a tach up near the coupling under the motor mount with these blades whizzing around under you, mind you, it was the safest place to be.

Stupidest thing I ever did was taking the first one out for a test cut on a back, untraveled (much) road. I had never operated a grader before but being young and stupid figured it couldn't be that hard...right, you're just driving on the shoulder? Cutting roadside brush on this road all you could hear was the 3208 roaring, the head screaming and the grader engine. I never noticed a guy wire for a light pole...that was till I hit it, even then all I remember was hearing a wierd "twang' noise. we got back to the shop and my buddy who was driving the pickup behind me asked if I had seen the guy wire go. "what wire" I asked him. We went back and looked, the guy wire was looped over the horizontal wire on the pole which was thankfully not a power pole but telephone only for someone who lived way back in the road. Fun times...when you're young and don't know any better.

 

[masseyrider]

You wrote some things. But explain how I can be sitting on a tractor and lose my leg from a bush hog blade.

I've never lost a blade but I have been hit in the back of the leg by stuff flung by the blades. Yes I do have safety chains. And you wouldn't think a small stone could get past the chains, lift arms. axle, controls and pinch me in the calf. I doubt a sniper could make that shot. As I've said before the closest I came to serious injury was a rock that hit my seat back. Luckily my tractor has a highback suspension seat that saved me. Good size dent there.
Never underestimate what can happen when something is moving at those velocities.
Bounce here, bing there, ricochet there and you've got shish kabob (shish roustabout).