removing stump jumper

[DTCOOPER]

Okay fellas, I raised my mower up (5' Howse - OLD), and decided I would sharpen the blades and tighten up the gear head. Well, After a couple of busted knuckles, I got out the torch and heated (persuaded) the nut to get it to rotate and back off. Well ,then came the fun part ! I could not for the life of me figure out how to get the stump jumper (with blades attached) to drop off the shaft. I have to get it off in order to tighten the bolts/nuts on the gear head. So, what's the trick to it? Do I have to heat something there too ?
Thanks for your continued help and patience with my novice questions..

 

[MrJimi]

It's on a splined shaft after you remove castle nut and cotterpin and washer, bump it from one side to the other like 6 O'clock and 12 O;clock and so forth with a sledge and do not bend anything, maybe a 4 X 4 post would be better with gloves on
i hope that helped you
Jim

 

[jimainiac]

Maybe this would be a good place to try the wax trick. Some have said that parrafin wax works better than penetrating oil on stuck parts, after heating. Apparantly, it seeps way in, kind of like solder in a joint. I just got some wax and am eager to try it.

 

[MrJimi]

Maybe this would be a good place to try the wax trick. Some have said that parrafin wax works better than penetrating oil on stuck parts, after heating. Apparantly, it seeps way in, kind of like solder in a joint. I just got some wax and am eager to try it.

The wax trick, I wonder if it has to be a certain kind or will a everyday candle work? and You got me thinking about his problem, its a RC lower shaft in the wet grass all the time and I would bet it is one piece rusted together till he knocks it loose with some openings in it

 

[EddieWalker]

Daniel,

Any luck with those blades? I also couldn't figure out how to get mine off. I went to my dealer, but he wasn't any help either. He just sells them and his mechanic was out in the field. I could wait, or I could call Land Pride. He gave me the number and I called them from his office. They were very helpful and told me how to do it and what sized socket I needed to use.

Maybe calling Howse will help?

Eddie

 

[Farmerford]

DTCOOPER:

I had the same problem with a Bush Hog. The Bush Hog shaft has a tapered spline made to a Society of Agricultural Enginers (or something like that) standard and your KK probably has the same arrangement. Since it is tapered, it comes off easily once you get just enough movement to separate the hub and shaft.

Mine came off after I put an air impact hammer (like the one muffler shops use) through the blade bolt access hole in the deck and hammered on the top side of the stump jumper. The vibration loosened the splined coupling in a minute or so.

You should get same effect by putting a steel rod through the blade bolt access hole and tapping it firmly and repeatedly with a hammer.

Since yours has been on a long time, I would also heat the hub with a torch. A propane torch works pretty well for this and there is no danger of getting the heat treated shaft too hot. The hub, at least on my two Bush Hogs, is not heat treated, so the heat doesn't harm it.

And the use of wax or something like PB Blaster through all this helps too.

 

[DTCOOPER]

I DO have an air impact hammer.. I'll give that a shot this afternoon. Best case, it'll break free and slide off. Worst case, my dentist will make some money next week when I go to have the loose fillings replaced.

If I JUST had to sharpen the blades, I would do as others have suggested and do them on the deck.. but needing to tighten the loose gear head housing, warrants removing the stump jumper.
Who knows, when I get the stump jumper off, I might just replace the blades all together. I know they're knicked up considerably. And any attempt to grind them off enough to get rid of the knicks, might make them unbalanced.

Always something right ?

 

[tommu56]

DTCOOPER

If there is a setscrew hole in part?
Our mechanics remove the tapped pulleys on our press with an adaptor in the setscrew hole and connect an enterpac hand pump to adaptor and pump they usually pop right off.

Sorta like removing clutch pilot bearing by packing hole with grease and putting a punch in center and hitting it with hammer compressing grease pushing out bearing

tommu56

 

[TrippleT]

I replaced the blades on my brush cutter/bush hog, not the brand, and tried the candle wax thing I had read on here. Before I started I had used the air wrench and it had not loosened the nuts holding the blades. Then I heated the nuts with a propane torch and let the candle wax melt as I went all around the bolts.
Like Mr Jimi said, I hit the stump jumper at 6 and 12 positions and it came right off without any thing other than I sprayed it with WD 40, and it came right off.

Whether the candle wax was the thing that made it work or not I cannot say for sure. I do know that the nuts holding the blades came off and the area that was wet was more than the length of the nuts.
You might have to let the wrench tighten or loosen several times as well. One thing you need to be careful not to over heat and burn the candle wax. Just let it turn to liquid. Good luck!

 

[BillyP]

Loosen the bolt holding the stump jumper to the splined shaft. Start tractor and engage PTO for a second. The sudden jar is usually enough to loosen the stump jumper.

 

[pinemountainman]

I had same that problem, Thats when I used the wax. Watch out it may fall right off like mine did.

 

[RobJ]

Loosen the bolt holding the stump jumper to the splined shaft. Start tractor and engage PTO for a second. The sudden jar is usually enough to loosen the stump jumper.

Sometimes, my BIL had a mid 70's I think BH bought with an L175, splin shaft, we removed the nut about 3 years ago (so long I think we lost the nut now). Still on there. This unit was also so old it didn't have a top access hole to remove the blades, so I cut one in the deck. You can tell if it's a spline by looking at it, like others said try and bang down from the top. If it's tapered turn it on it's side. But a wood block or aluminum hammer on the shaft and bang with a sledge. Eventually it'll slip, some heat may help but you have to watch the seals and not overheat. This is the way I had to remove the flywheels on some large Wisconson gas engines. Wisconson even sold the 2 and 3# aluminum hammers as a part. I still have one of each. Softer than a brass hammer.

Rob

 

[Soundguy]

I thought aluminum was harder ( more brittle than brass? )

in any case.. I like a copper maul..

Really no way to mar a iron / steel casting or plating with a brass, aluminum or copper maul.. unless it is a thin delicate webbing.

Soundguy

 

[JerryG]

We cast some lead hammers for things like that one time. I still have one that I use once in while. It works great for stuck things and doesn't mar or flare out the end of the shaft.

 

[RobJ]

I thought aluminum was harder ( more brittle than brass? )

in any case.. I like a copper maul..

Really no way to mar a iron / steel casting or plating with a brass, aluminum or copper maul.. unless it is a thin delicate webbing.

Soundguy

Maybe these are softer. Both have mushromed out over the years and sometimes they do chip with a miss blow so it is more brittle. I still have my brass hammer from the 70's and other than some nicks and dents it's pretty good shape. Comparing these 2 the brass is harder than the aluminum.

Rob

 

[VAChesterfield]

I was faced with the same challenge of taking off the stump jumper on my King Kutter rough cut mower so I could tighten the four bolts which hold the gear box to the deck. I decided to call King Kutter and the rep I spoke to was very helpful and explained how best to handle this little problem -- and it worked like a charm.

1. Turn the deck on its side.
2. Remove cotter pin and the castellated nut.
3. Turn the castellated nut over and put it back on so that the bottom of the nut is flush with the bottom of the drive shaft.
5. Whack the nut and shaft with a good sized hammer. I used a small sledge and one hit broke the stump jumper loose.
6. Remove the castellated nut and stump jumper.

I asked the KK rep why this procedure wasn't captured in the User's manual and was told -- "Well, we can't get everything in there".

 

[huntingnmore]

I was faced with the same challenge of taking off the stump jumper on my King Kutter rough cut mower so I could tighten the four bolts which hold the gear box to the deck. I decided to call King Kutter and the rep I spoke to was very helpful and explained how best to handle this little problem -- and it worked like a charm.

1. Turn the deck on its side.
2. Remove cotter pin and the castellated nut.
3. Turn the castellated nut over and put it back on so that the bottom of the nut is flush with the bottom of the drive shaft.
5. Whack the nut and shaft with a good sized hammer. I used a small sledge and one hit broke the stump jumper loose.
6. Remove the castellated nut and stump jumper.

I asked the KK rep why this procedure wasn't captured in the User's manual and was told -- "Well, we can't get everything in there".

hello,just tried this procedure it worked great thanks alot. now if can only remove or tighten the blades any ideas????

 

[RobJ]

hello,just tried this procedure it worked great thanks alot. now if can only remove or tighten the blades any ideas????

OK for real I'm NOT kidding. Put the stump jumper back on. Look for a blade access nut in the deck of the mower. If it does NOT have one then drill, bore, burn one in the deck. Next time you can just take the blades off and leave the jimper on.

Then I use a crow bar in the PTO shoft to hold it while I loosen it. I have a 3/4" drive nut for this and a long breaker bar. Hard to hold it just sitting on the ground.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[foggy1111]

I was faced with the same challenge of taking off the stump jumper on my King Kutter rough cut mower so I could tighten the four bolts which hold the gear box to the deck. I decided to call King Kutter and the rep I spoke to was very helpful and explained how best to handle this little problem -- and it worked like a charm.

1. Turn the deck on its side.
2. Remove cotter pin and the castellated nut.
3. Turn the castellated nut over and put it back on so that the bottom of the nut is flush with the bottom of the drive shaft.
5. Whack the nut and shaft with a good sized hammer. I used a small sledge and one hit broke the stump jumper loose.
6. Remove the castellated nut and stump jumper.

I asked the KK rep why this procedure wasn't captured in the User's manual and was told -- "Well, we can't get everything in there".

Thanks for this post. I have loose gear box bolts too and need to get at 'em by removing the stump jumper. Was wondering how that was going to work out for me. Hopefully mine goes as smoothly as yours did. I don't understand that KK doesn't put lock nuts or lock washers here.....they put 'em most other places. I'm going to either put on lock washers or double nut em.

 

[kebo]

I DO have an air impact hammer.. I'll give that a shot this afternoon. Best case, it'll break free and slide off. Worst case, my dentist will make some money next week when I go to have the loose fillings replaced.

If I JUST had to sharpen the blades, I would do as others have suggested and do them on the deck.. but needing to tighten the loose gear head housing, warrants removing the stump jumper.
Who knows, when I get the stump jumper off, I might just replace the blades all together. I know they're knicked up considerably. And any attempt to grind them off enough to get rid of the knicks, might make them unbalanced.

Always something right ?

Really, unless you go to the trouble of balancing the stumpjumper pan, grinding the blades enough to sharpen them will more than likely make no discernible difference in the operation of the mower. Think about the pto shaft too, do you think yours shaft is balanced and true?

If you really wanted to, you could grind the blades sharp, then weigh the blades individually on an accurate scale. Then start grinding some more on the heaviest blade of the pair until they evened out.