Rotary Cutter Please help with mower noise

Djrose · Jul 11, 2012

Hello,
I have a problem with my landpride rotary mower and am stuck. It started to make a "clunk" sound while mowing at an angle. Kinda sounded like the blade was hitting something. I stopped mowing checked blades they are both fine. Checked to see of there was anything under the blades or the metal pan, nothing. I made sure mower was level side to side and front to back. Everything is tight. Blades tight but will move when I manually turn them. Greased everything. It worked ok for one mowing. Next time I started it it started to clunk again. I turned it off and then tried to engage pto again and it made a grinding sound. I removed mower completely. Engaged pto again with nothing attached and no sound. I checked oil level in motor it is ok. Shear bolt is intact. The universal joint looks ok. No breaks or nicks anywhere. I do not know what else to check. Does anyone have any ideas? I am completely lost and have just basic knowledge. We live far out and taking it in would be very expensive.

Thank you for your help.

leonz · Jul 11, 2012

Candidly,

it sounds as if you have a broken tooth in the gearbox, drain all the oil out and see if you have any large pieces of metal
in the oil or if the drain plug has a magnet it should have a piece of the gear tooth that is attached to it.

Djrose · Jul 11, 2012

Hello,
Thank you very much. I will give that a try.if it is a broken tooth then will I need a new gearbox?

beckmurph · Jul 11, 2012

How old is you cutter?

Djrose · Jul 11, 2012

Hello,
Cutter is five years old. It is a landpride rotary cutter used mainly for rough cutting.

Steave · Jul 11, 2012

You might also should check the driveshaft where it slides in and out. I had one that had a lot of play and it made a noise. I was doing as you are and checking everything and found that was the problem. Mine is not a Land Pride mower.

beckmurph · Jul 11, 2012

The gear box on some LandPride cutters have a 5 year waranty

chim · Jul 12, 2012

What angle are you talking about? For example, are the tractor and mower being "folded" at the bottom of a hill? (Tractor on level ground at bottom of hill and mower still on the hill) I have heard what I assume is noise from PTO joints complaining about the angle when egtting to that position at the base of a hill with my RFM's .

I also had a PTO shaft rub a rotary cutter when the angle went the other way after the back of the cutter dropped low.

Steave · Jul 12, 2012

chim said:
What angle are you talking about? For example, are the tractor and mower being "folded" at the bottom of a hill? (Tractor on level ground at bottom of hill and mower still on the hill) I have heard what I assume is noise from PTO joints complaining about the angle when egtting to that position at the base of a hill with my RFM's .

I also had a PTO shaft rub a rotary cutter when the angle went the other way after the back of the cutter dropped low.

Exactly, I think that is what caused my driveshaft to develope play inside the slide.

Djrose, as there are a number of ways to get a "Cluncking noise" hope you narrow it down soon, cause if its anything like around here if I miss any cutting the woods will take over.

Djrose · Jul 12, 2012

Hello,
Thanks for all of the replies.

The mower makes the sound when I try to engage it in level ground now. At first it was just on hill. I do mow where the cutter is at an odd angle rot tractor when going up and down hills. Is that bad? Is there a better way to cut the grass on hills? I HATE weed whacking.

Yes, things do grow fast here but right now it is so hot and dry that the only thing growing are the weeds. Not exactly what I want to grow.

Thanks again for all the suggestions. I am going to try them today. I have discovered that sitting on the mower and crying does absolutely no good.