If you push my blades upward, they come very close to hitting the front edge of the hog front piece. IN fact, if I should go over a woodchuck hole, the upward movement of the blade can crease the deck of my cheapo Lowery 500. What are the chances the bolts are worn allowing more slop in the blade movement upwards toward the deck or front steel bar on the anterior part of the deck? I notice that when I grab the blade tips, I can move the blades a good 3" when I push upwards. When I bought the unit, it had the circular indented crease mark on most of the tip circumference. Is it possible to tighten the nut on the blade so there is not so much slop when moving the blade tips upward? I swear it is not some real nasty problem, just loose bolt nuts, say.
wear on bush hog blade bolts
- Thread starter msjanket
- Start date
- Views: 3950
mddorange
Elite Member
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2014
- Messages
- 3,357
- Location
- Guin, AL
- Tractor
- 2014 Kubota L3200 DT w/LA524 FEL, Loaded rear tires, LP RCR 1860 5' Cutter, LP RTA 1258 5' Tiller, LP PFL 2042 Pallet Forks w/60" Extensions, KK BB60 Box Blade, KK PHD-12" Post Hole Digger
The thing to make sure of, is that it is actually the blade bolts allowing for the slop and not the center rod from the gearbox. If it is just the bolts, then it might be that the bolt holes are enlarged.
bigtiller
Super Member
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2006
- Messages
- 7,540
- Location
- central Iowa
- Tractor
- John Deere 2720 John Deere 3039R John Deere Z545R
If you bought it with a partial ring around the top and really cheap, the fix may be a little deeper than blade bolt holes.
rbtjr
Gold Member
In my experience, from having replaced the blades on three separate rotary mowers, the bolts have thin bushings between the bolt head, on the underside of the stump jumper, and the place where the bolt goes through the stump jumper. Those bushings can wear, which will cause some slop in how tightly the blades are held, which could explain part of your 3" travel. But in my experience, wear in those bushings would not come close to explaining you being able to lift the ends of the blades 3". It could be that the nut on the top has loosened some. I would try tightening those bolts. But, it seems to me that it is highly unlikely that the bolts on both blades would have loosened to the exact extent required to allow the tips of both blades to be lifted the same distance. Like mddorange said, one explanation for you being able to lift the ends of both blades the same distance is that over long use in extreme conditions the slots that the bolts fit in and/or the bolts themselves have become worn. Logically, if the ends of both blades can be lifted the same distance, the cause is something common to both blades, which could be that they have both been used a lot in extreme conditions. It seems unlikely, although possible, that the nuts on both blades have worked loose to the exact extent required for the ends of the blades to be able to be lifted the same distance.
WranglerX
Super Member
Think I would disassemble and find out where worn/loose parts are instead of trying to get a guess/opinion from people who can not actually see the issues of the unit.... Something as big and heavy as blades or other rotation parts can be dangerous if they decide to depart from their mounting...
Dale
Dale
rbtjr
Gold Member
Good advice, especially since it sounds like the problem is such that it is inevitable that you will need to take off the blades.
