tdpalms
New member
Does anybody have any experience with brush hogging on their Montanas? I hadn't gone through a single shear bolt on mine since I bought it, and once I did it was a nightmare. I bought a pack of grade 2 bolts from Menards, but sheared every single one of them on startup, never even got to mow with them. Tried engaging the PTO at low idle RPM and normal operating RPM. Finally just put a grade 5 bolt in there and was able to mow with no issues. I know everybody says to never use higher than grade 2, so I'm wondering if I need to try feathering the clutch at low RPMs to get the shaft to start spinning much slower? I just don't want to continue using the grade 5 and end up destroying my PTO. It is an older 5ft HiCo rotary mower, no slip clutch.