Broken Shear Pins

[Grant1]

I have a Woods BB60 rotatry cutter that I pull with a Kioti CK30 gear tractor. I was having problems having to replace the shear pins far too often. You coudnt even tell when you hit something hard enough to braek the pin but would notice that the machine had quit cutting. I was following the manufacturers suggested size for the grade 2 bolts which I was geting from TSC. I finaly purchased a slip clutch with no more probems. I was interested if anyone else had had these problems?

 

[BB_TX]

I use basic grade 2 bolts and shear 2-3 a year mowing about 4 acres every couple weeks and about 10 acres 2-3 times a year. 27 PTO hp with a 6' rotary cutter.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Shear bolts are nothing but a pain in the.... Well, you get the idea.

Back when I was a youngster, dad had a shear-bolt protected Ford trip-beam plow. Every fencerow on the place was full of sasafras trees. Every spring, I'd spend more time replacing shear bolts than I would plowing. Solution? He finally bought a spring reset plow. Life was good.

You did the most logical thing when you added the slip-clutch. Just make sure you adjust it and make certain it's working maybe a couple times a year. They have a tendency to "freeze" if they aren't slipped once in a while.

And as far as TSC's selection of fine fastener hardware???? I'm not at all impressed. I can't ever find the sizes of grade 5 and grade 8 bolts I need, and their "stove bolts" seem to be about a grade 0. No, I'm not a big fan of TSC.