Rotary Cutter Abuse - Expert Level

jinman · Oct 30, 2012

I won't go to counseling, but I'm an admitted abuser of my rotary cutter.

:ashamed: Even in the best of situations, using a rotary cutter at my place is gonna be borderline abuse. I have so many rocks, trees/stumps, and uneven ground that things are gonna slam up against unmovable objects on a regular basis. The shear pin hole in my rotary cutter's u-joint hub is football shaped (oval) from the dozens of grade 2 bolts I sacrifice to the rock gods.

That said, I grease the u-joints on a regular basis and always remember to grease the tailwheel's swivel and axle hub. I learned a long time ago that an ungreased tailwheel swivel would lead to the wheel just digging a trench instead of swiveling when changing directions.

While mowing this last weekend, I noticed a trench being dug by my tailwheel and was surprised to see the axle hub had separated from it's mounting flange. The continuous weld around the hub had just failed. I'm sure it's from frequent smacking the wheel against trees or other obstructions. The life of a tailwheel has got to be an ugly story.

The picture of the busted hub and wheel is below.

jinman · Oct 30, 2012

I knew I had a spare wheel on another cutter. There's nothing wrong with the other cutter except it has a frozen axle bolt inside the hub on its tailwheel. I know you are gonna think it was due to my not greasing it, and technically that is correct. I had been adding grease at the zerk, but failed to realize that the axle was frozen inside the hub and turning the entire axle bolt. Of course, it wore out the hole in the fork and rubbing wore the axle bolt down to 1/4" diameter.:confused2: Again, of course it is my fault for not realizing this was happening, but I didn't notice until the damage was done. Since I had two cutters, I set the one with the damaged bolt to the side and used the other cutter. Now that I needed a spare tailwheel, I had to face the job of removing the axle from the hub. Any person with sound reasoning would have been off to Tractor Supply to buy a new axle hub and bolt, but nobody ever accused me of sound reasoning.

I pulled the tailwheel fork and commenced to beat the old axle bolt out of the hub. It took me almost an hour of applying PB Blaster, grease to the zerk, and smacking the axle bolt with a drift punch and small sledge hammer to get it out. When I did, it looked like the photos below.

Notice the worn fork and how the bolt was holding on with only a 1/4" fragment.

jinman · Oct 30, 2012

Now that I have my tailwheel fixed, I decide to go to TSC.:laughing: Of course, they have the tailwheel hub for $27 and the 1" dia x 8" axle bolt in their bulk hardware bins. I'm all set to go.:thumbsup:

cmbertrand · Oct 30, 2012

Coincidence, my tail wheel is getting changed out at dealer due to it falling apart. Dug trenches all summer with broken wheel then a family of rats under my tc40da dash board bought me a bit of down time at local shop. I have three 'parts' cutters laying around but it seems the same parts keep breaking or the swap is a dif size. One cutter was a junker a buddy gave me with no tail wheel and I bolted a extra gear box I had on it and ran with no tail wheel for two cut seasons. Your right about a tail wheel's life being a tough one! Good luck on the repair.

brin · Oct 30, 2012

Jim - I did not see anything wrong with the tail wheel except that gap in the side that could be filled with silicone or anything.,..what am I missing ?

jinman · Oct 30, 2012

Bob, are you talking about the first tailwheel photo? That's the one with the broken hub. See the bead around the hub? That's supposed to be welded to the center of the tailwheel.

After removing the frozen bolt from the older tailwheel, I put that tailwheel on my mower. That's the one in the last photo. I used the axle bolt from the broken wheel. I could have just taken the hub into a welding shop or done it myself, but for $27, I'm sure I would not find a welding shop that cheap. I have my old buzz-box welder, but I'm NOT a very good welder.

I know this is confusing because of two wheels and assorted parts.

Soundguy · Oct 30, 2012

i'd weld it up.

I have repaired far worse tailwheel, even making nw hubs with cut down hard 3pt pins and pipe / bushings, drilled for gease zerks. All I got is a hobart buzzbox welder.

when you are welding on broke parts.. you can't get any worse than broke.. so it';s good practice

Yellowhair42 · Oct 30, 2012

jinman said:
I won't go to counseling, but I'm an admitted abuser of my rotary cutter.:ashamed: Even in the best of situations, using a rotary cutter at my place is gonna be borderline abuse. I have so many rocks, trees/stumps, and uneven ground that things are gonna slam up against unmovable objects on a regular basis. The shear pin hole in my rotary cutter's u-joint hub is football shaped (oval) from the dozens of grade 2 bolts I sacrifice to the rock gods. That said, I grease the u-joints on a regular basis and always remember to grease the tailwheel's swivel and axle hub. I learned a long time ago that an ungreased tailwheel swivel would lead to the wheel just digging a trench instead of swiveling when changing directions.

While mowing this last weekend, I noticed a trench being dug by my tailwheel and was surprised to see the axle hub had separated from it's mounting flange. The continuous weld around the hub had just failed. I'm sure it's from frequent smacking the wheel against trees or other obstructions. The life of a tailwheel has got to be an ugly story. The picture of the busted hub and wheel is below.

Rotary cutter?! You mean a mower? lol

greasemonkeyok · Oct 31, 2012

The cure, Jinman, is to purchase a JD MX6. Then you will be afraid to do anything but baby it.

jinman · Oct 31, 2012

Yellowhair42 said:
Rotary cutter?! You mean a mower? lol

If calling it a mower makes you happy, then I'll call it a mower. They are called shredders, rotary cutters, and brush hogs. King Kutter calls theirs a "rotary kutter." Whatever. . .

Do a search on google for "mower" and then do one for "rotary cutter." See which turns up the most cutters like I am discussing.

greasemonkeyok said:
The cure, Jinman, is to purchase a JD MX6. Then you will be afraid to do anything but baby it.

You just don't know how true that is.

My first cutter was a Howse cutter that I used when I first bought my property back in 1992. My dad passed away and I took the mower to his place to clean up his pastures that had become grown up with berry vines, plum thickets, and other assorted brush. The Howse performed flawlessly, but it's welds finally started to give up. I drilled the sheetmetal and put in short carriage bolts with big washers to help support the failing welds. That worked really well until stump jumper became loose on the shaft from the gearbox. It seems the stump jumper splined adapter was soft metal and it was moving around. I finally had to call it quits with that cutter and start looking for another one. Even so, to do all the work that little Howse did and take all the hard abuse was amazing. I would probably have bought another one if TSC had not been so close. Buying from TSC makes great sense to me because they have daily extended hours and are open on weekends. Try finding a tractor dealership that does the same.

My TSC cutter worked great. It was a bit heavier than the Howse and King Kutter OEM parts were/are available through TSC. I used that TSC cutter on my rough 33 acres, cutting and clearing the underbrush in my woods and making trails over four years of use. Finally, one day when I stopped and restarted, the shear bolt popped. I got off to replace the shear bolt and the gearbox was almost red hot. I got the shear bolt back in, but the gearbox was seized up. The output shaft seal had failed and the box was dry. I was ready to buy a new gearbox when I remembered the Howse cutter. I checked the gearbox; a perfect match. I removed the gearbox off the Howse and installed it on the TSC cutter. I was back in business until the tailwheel froze on the axle.

But hey! This is a long story.

Before the tailwheel froze, I had another TSC cutter that I got from my wife. Before we got married, I was dating my wife and she needed a new cutter for her old International tractor. I suggested TSC, and she bought one there. When we got married, she sold her tractor, but kept the cutter. So, when my tailwheel froze, all I had to do was hook up to her cutter and go. That one has lasted until the current tailwheel incident.

So what I really need to do is have a fixin' session and get all the cutters going. I think I have enough spare parts between my cutters and hers to get three full working mowers. As Soundguy said, this stuff is easy to do. Hauling the buzzbox over to my house and plugging it into my clothes dryer plug is a pain though. I've just been putting these kinds of jobs off until I get my shop built. That's what I need to do most.

redfarmer · Oct 31, 2012

You need a woods cutter. We had to buy a new bushhog each year untill we got a woods. Its bit heavier and expensive but well worth it. Have it two years and looks like new with same abuse.

Soundguy · Oct 31, 2012

jinman said:
If calling it a mower makes you happy, then I'll call it a mower. They are called shredders, rotary cutters, and brush hogs. King Kutter calls theirs a "rotary kutter." Whatever. . . Do a search on google for "mower" and then do one for "rotary cutter." See which turns up the most cutters like I am discussing.
.

i've heard em called slashers from the down under members too!

cmbertrand · Oct 31, 2012

The most colorful of my cutters came from a card game and it was the one that had served me the longest, not even sure of brand name. Bought repo mahindra recently for my guys and it came with a land pride cutter which I kept for myself and it is a great cutter. Got my guys a brand new bush hog brand a few years ago but I have always pieced together the junk ones for myself. I have always felt if it was already junk I couldn't tear it up much worst. Long live the junk!

riptides · Oct 31, 2012

Made me smile when I read of this abuse.

I am a huge fan of grease and wd-40 on my cutter.

I took a sledge hammer to the front corner of mine on Saturday. I managed to get in the pastures before the hurricane hit.

My woods is separating at the front corner weld by the rubber anti-throw shield. I need to find someone with a welder and stay farther away from trees and tee-posts.

texasjohn · Oct 31, 2012

Gosh, you got more cutters than Carter has Little Liver Pills....don't you do anything but drive around slashing everything in sight??:laughing:

mmurphydds · Dec 16, 2012

greasemonkeyok said:
The cure, Jinman, is to purchase a JD MX6. Then you will be afraid to do anything but baby it.

Sooo...does this mean the JD MX6 has a bad reputation in the universe of abusive rotary cutter users?? I feel like a fool asking this, cause I have had mine for 7 years and have not had any problems with the gearbox or driveline. I have frozen the tailwheel for lack of grease and beat the heck out of the blades hitting rocks and stumps as I cut deer trails, and have needed some welding on the skirt from banging into tree trunks...

Okay, so what brands would you recommend as "the best"?? I heard you all say good things about Woods and LandPride, yes?? What others do you like and why??

john_bud · Dec 16, 2012

mmurphydds said:
Sooo...does this mean the JD MX6 has a bad reputation in the universe of abusive rotary cutter users?? I feel like a fool asking this, cause I have had mine for 7 years and have not had any problems with the gearbox or driveline. I have frozen the tailwheel for lack of grease and beat the heck out of the blades hitting rocks and stumps as I cut deer trails, and have needed some welding on the skirt from banging into tree trunks...

Okay, so what brands would you recommend as "the best"?? I heard you all say good things about Woods and LandPride, yes?? What others do you like and why??

The MX gear box has been known to shear the shafts ... often. They are no longer serviced by JD. You will need to buy a whole new gear box for the far north side of a grand. So, don't break it!

Woods Brushbull medium and heavy duty lines are good. Bushog's medium duty and heavy duty line is good too (probably a bit better than the Woods even). Oddly enough, the Kingkutter is good ---> IF you buy the heavy duty one. it's about equivalent to the the other medium duty units. Not quite, but pretty close.

I don't even think that's close to abuse! I doubt there are any rocks or stumps that haven't been hit by me. Broke both blades (several times) and all the welds holding the stump jumper to the cross bar on mine. Have backed over and chopped down trees a LOT larger than the spec max.

DT86 · Dec 17, 2012

john_bud said:
The MX gear box has been known to shear the shafts ... often. They are no longer serviced by JD. You will need to buy a whole new gear box for the far north side of a grand. So, don't break it!

.

I broke two on a new MX10 in about '04 or '05. The first time I took it to JD dealer and there was a JD rep there. She said it happens all the time but only to the left side. Which it was. (This was before she'd been told which side broke or even saw it) Long story short, took it home a week later and broke the other side with in 20 minutes of use. Back to Deere, then straight to an equipment auction.

When they broke I was clipping pasture both times and did not hit anything.