Rotary Cutter Aligning Drive Shafts

[JimHam]

I have a 10 Ft. Howse Rotary mower that I need to replace the outside gear box on. When inspecting the coupler I noticed broken plates. Talked to a Howse guy and he said likely that the gear boxes are out of alignment. I've got a dial indicator and know how to align shafts using the indicator but was wondering if anybody on here had experience with this sort of job. Not sure how I would adjust the gear boxes so everything lines up other than shimming up or down. Left to right I guess there would need to be some play in the mounting holes. Having never done this I would sure appreciate somebody with more experience sharing some good advice. Doing some research online I ran across some pretty bad reviews of some of the Howse 10 ft bush hogs the "Boss" model being the one mentioned as pretty much junk. Said they ate up gear boxes in short order. Mine is a later and different model so I'm hoping Howse corrected the problems. Anyhow, for now I need some advice on making sure the outside gear boxes align with the center box so it runs smooth and doesn't eat drive lines and gear boxes.

 

[Oldtink]

I think you're right on track to correcting the broken coupler plates. That is certainly what is breaking them.
I'm not familiar with your mower but is there room to weld a piece or two of angle iron and use jack bolts to move the gearbox laterally in a controlled manor?

 

[JimHam]

Oldtink, Not sure what your are describing. I am assuming you mean weld pieces of angle on the mower near the gear box and using the jack bolts to move the box around to align. Is that what you are referring to?

 

[Oldtink]

Yes, Jim exactly. Gees, a lazer aligning tool sure would be nice but been doing it for years with dial indicators.

 

[ProjectKing]

Have any pics? I'm not sure why alignment is so critical. On most mowers the gear boxes are connect with u-joint equipped drive shafts. They absorb any misalignment. Maybe I'm missing something! (0:

 

[JimHam]

Don't have any pictures. The mower is at my property in Illinois and I only get over there once in a while. There are couplers which are in the drive line to absorb some of the misalignment that are made up of two plates of metal with a rubber disk sandwiched between the plates. There is so much flexing of this coupler that the metal plates cracked and split. I have replaced but I want to fix the alignment problems because the folks at Howse told me that misalignment is what is causing the couplers to break. Besides, any equipment that is properly aligned and set up will run much smoother and last longer than a machine that is out of line and wobbling - placing stress on all parts and causing premature wear and failure. And because I'm **** about my stuff and want it to be "right". :laughing:

One thing I noticed about the replacement coupler from Howse though, the metal plates were much thicker than the originals. Hmmm could this be a common problem so Howse is replacing the plates with thicker material??

 

[JimHam]

OldTink, You are probably right about a laser alignment but I am a little old-school and don't know how to use the laser. Guess I could go to YouTube and search for that procedure, they seem to have everything on there. The dial indicator will quickly show the alignment problems but fixing them is the challenge.