Bad day brush hogging... need FEL advice

[LD1]

Loose castle nut? You are kidding, right? I had a castle nut come off on me because debris took out the cotter pin, then the nut came off and the stump jumper fell to the ground. Here are the threads on the $400 shaft.

View attachment 718328

I ended up spending a few hours removing the shaft and putting it on my lathe and cleaning up (re-cutting) the threads. Not fun, but the Mrs would not understand that kind of expense.

To make matters worse, this was the center cutter on my 3-cutter batwing. The two outside blade sets did a beat-down on that center stump jumper. I can't find a picture of it, but the 1/8" steel pan was mangled.

Did you repair that wollered out keyway why you were at it?

Most stump jumpers anymore are splined.

Had an old bushhog 105 that was a key and taper. Looked as bad as yours and stump jumper was wollered out and wouldnt get tight on the taper any more.

Took some welding and a special broach hub I made for the taper on the jumper and some work on the lathe and mill re-keying the output shaft but the end result worked.

Had it been splined I have no way to re-work that on a mill and lathe...so I guess that is one benefit of a simple taper and key

 

[RancherGuy]

Did you repair that wollered out keyway why you were at it?

Most stump jumpers anymore are splined.

Had an old bushhog 105 that was a key and taper. Looked as bad as yours and stump jumper was wollered out and wouldnt get tight on the taper any more.

Took some welding and a special broach hub I made for the taper on the jumper and some work on the lathe and mill re-keying the output shaft but the end result worked.

Had it been splined I have no way to re-work that on a mill and lathe...so I guess that is one benefit of a simple taper and key

I did minimal work on the keyway. The metal on the shaft was pushed up, so I used a hand grinder to take it back down to where it should be. That left the walls with a little slope to their sides. I didn't see anything worth messing with on the hub so just bought new key stock and made a new key and slapped it all together. Pieces seemed to pull up tight together. I figure if there is stress on the key because of the wollering, then the key may get slightly reshaped if it hits something pretty hard. I too am glad it was not splined. This unit may be at least 25 years old.

 

[RancherGuy]

... BTW - A stump jumper plus blades ejecting from a 6' RC doesn't travel as far as one might think (though mine went far enough into brush that it was a hunt to find it- my trusty "bloodhound" found it) ...

At least you had the jumper with it and it went backwards. I broke a blade a year ago and it went forward, through the rear tire tread then bead then struck the rim.

 

[RancherGuy]

...If the brush is taller than 5 or 6 ft, I usually go in reverse with the mower about a foot off the ground till I can't go anymore, then just go forward with the mower all the way down.

That's a bit dangerous to the pocketbook in my opinion. Here's why: when backing, the objects end up pointing backwards even after cutting, and you are cutting at a height of 12" or so. All is well as you continue backing, but there is danger when you start going forward because all of those saplings have now turned into small spikes that now point straight at your tire(s) as the tires advance towards them. I have that experience and seen neighbors with flat tires because of that situation.

I have two solutions, depending on the situation. (1) I drop the mower as low as possible as your back up, preferably so the blades barely skim the dirt, or so their work leaves the sapling tops very short (3" or less) with their tops shredded. And I mean shredded so they are not at all pointy - a requirement regardless. (2) If I need to raise the mower for the initial cut as I back, I stop when the first of the cuttings reaches the rear tires, then drop the mower as low as possible and move forward for the finish cut that shreds the sapling tips. Repeat as often as needed (back and forth).

 

[ptsg]

That's a bit dangerous to the pocketbook in my opinion. Here's why: when backing, the objects end up pointing backwards even after cutting, and you are cutting at a height of 12" or so. All is well as you continue backing, but there is danger when you start going forward because all of those saplings have now turned into small spikes that now point straight at your tire(s) as the tires advance towards them. I have that experience and seen neighbors with flat tires because of that situation.

I have two solutions, depending on the situation. (1) I drop the mower as low as possible as your back up, preferably so the blades barely skim the dirt, or so their work leaves the sapling tops very short (3" or less) with their tops shredded. And I mean shredded so they are not at all pointy - a requirement regardless. (2) If I need to raise the mower for the initial cut as I back, I stop when the first of the cuttings reaches the rear tires, then drop the mower as low as possible and move forward for the finish cut that shreds the sapling tips. Repeat as often as needed (back and forth).

It's not really an issue around here because as we use chains instead of blades. It will slash the brush instead of cutting, so the tip of the brush is not sharp at all. It's basically malleable strings instead of the sharp ends that the cutting action of the blades would leave.

The way I explained on the previous post is how everyone does it around here as there is really no other way to do it with the kind of brush we get and it doesn't seem to be a problem at all. So far I only had two flat tires and were not related with brush.

 

[smithdenny]

The brush hog is a old, tired, pretty well beat up Land Pride RCR 1272 due to all of the abuse I have given it over the years.. Still I cut about 30 acres with it monthly. I have been known to level dirt and gravel piles and to pull small stumps with it. I did say abused didn't I? I was cutting an area my neighbor later called 'The bog'. "I didn't mean for you to cut there!" he now tells me. And I should have known myself to not cut that area. The area was very soft dirt/sand with 'potholes', pulled stumps, limbs and other debris hiding in the weeds. One blade dug into the soft dirt when I fell into a 'pothole' shutting down the tractor. After turning off the PTO, restarting the tractor, raising the brush hog and driving past the pothole I tried to restart the PTO. Very heavy vibration. I assumed the blades had crossed and bound against each other. Shutting everything off I crawled under the raised brush hog to find there was only one blade! After searching the area for awhile I found the missing blade buried in the soft dirt with only about 2 inches of it sticking up. Next to the blade was the tip of it broken off at the mounting bolt hole. I now have the blades, bolts, nuts, washers and dishpan on order from www.germanbliss.com at a cost of $376 including shipping. Obviously I need to learn a little more patience using the brush hog instead of plowing with it. I might also should consider a frail mower instead...

Just a quick update... Today I was thinking that I should check on my ordered parts to see if they had been shipped. When I got home this afternoon, there they were! A quick inspection looks like all of the parts are here. In a few days (I'm off on other projects now) I'll replace them and see what this old, tired, worn RC can do with new blades and stump jumper. But my neighbor will have to clear out his 'bog' area himself...!

 

[Jstpssng]

my neighbor will have to clear out his 'bog' area himself...!

That's why they make chain saws...

 

[DieselBound]

That's a bit dangerous to the pocketbook in my opinion. Here's why: when backing, the objects end up pointing backwards even after cutting, and you are cutting at a height of 12" or so. All is well as you continue backing, but there is danger when you start going forward because all of those saplings have now turned into small spikes that now point straight at your tire(s) as the tires advance towards them. I have that experience and seen neighbors with flat tires because of that situation.

I have two solutions, depending on the situation. (1) I drop the mower as low as possible as your back up, preferably so the blades barely skim the dirt, or so their work leaves the sapling tops very short (3" or less) with their tops shredded. And I mean shredded so they are not at all pointy - a requirement regardless. (2) If I need to raise the mower for the initial cut as I back, I stop when the first of the cuttings reaches the rear tires, then drop the mower as low as possible and move forward for the finish cut that shreds the sapling tips. Repeat as often as needed (back and forth).

I've got an hydraulic top link on my Kioti. I just lift up the tail wheel and back in. The front part of the deck is still lowered. This will eject material into the ground at the front, or send it off into the wild blue yonder if ejecting out the rear side: I'm WAY out where no one is exposed to any potential harm.

Dull blades mean saplings get chopped up/shattered. It's why one doesn't want/need to sharpen blades: I've been amazed at how well dull blades can cut grass).