Mowing Check your mower; mine cracked

RobertN · Jun 1, 2001

I was looking at the blades on my BL348 rotary mower last night; was going to pull them off and sharpen them them. To my dismay, I found a piece missing, cracked off of, my stump jumper. The opposite side was cracking too.

It would have been disasterous if this had come apart! I have removed the mower, and will not use it till the parts come in...

The new stump jumper is $172 from Kubota. Blades are $81 a set.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

Muhammad · Jun 1, 2001

Yikes, Robert! Just another reason to regularly inspect your equipment for any damage. Glad you found it before some serious damage was done.

Bird · Jun 1, 2001

The more I use those things, the more I worry about them. I posted a thread recently about the loose nuts holding the blades on mine. I figured I probably got them tight enough with my weight on a big crescent wrench, but I went ahead last night and ordered a big enough impact socket to use my impact wrench on them. I think I'll be checking mine rather frequently.

Bird

RobertN · Jun 1, 2001

Bird,
I can not get my blades off. The neighbor has a 1" impact(works on big rigs). That took the nuts(1-11/16") off fine. But, the blades are not coming loose from the stumpjumper. They need replacing anyways...

I looked at my book; the tip speed is 13,000fpm. If that had come apart, it would hve crshed through the side deck, and flew a ways.

RobertN in Shingle Springs Calif

Bird · Jun 1, 2001

Sure would like to see your rotary cutter, Robert. I'm not familiar with that model, and on the ones I am familiar with, getting the nuts off is the hard part; once they're off, the blades (and bolts they're mounted on) just fall off. On my Bush Hog, the same two bolts held the stump jumper to a heavy metal cross piece that was attached to the spindle, whereas on the Howse, the stump jumper is attached directly to the spindle, and even after you remove the cotter pin and nut, you need a gear puller to get it off the spindle. I'm a little curious as to how yours is made, and I agree, if it had come apart there could have been some serious consequences.

Bird