One other thing. If you do ever have to remove the mower blades, on many mowers (if not most) there is a plate you can remove from the top of the mower and you can take the nut off the mower blade from the top side. The swivel bolt which holds the blade on is keyed, so it won’t turn. You do have to get underneath the mower to fit the blade back on, but I generally just prop it up on blocks to do that.
I never sharpen the blades of a bush hog, but I knew one guy who did. He just crawled under it and sharpened the blades with an angle grinder. I abuse my bush hog enough (it’s actually a Woods brand) that if I sharpened the blades, they would stay sharp for about an hour (or less). It makes a terrible racket when I mow all my peach prunings, grinding/throwing chunks of wood against the deck.
They sure can be tough, I had a Landpride I literally mutilated. Bent blades, Bent and dented deck, All the covers had been ripped off. Put new metal on the top for all braces after i dropped it moving it with my grapple, had the gearbox serviced. new blades put on and sold it for 500 bucks. Probably still works today. I dropped some big money on a Woods Brushbull 600XX and it literally cuts 3-4 inch trees down. These things are built serios tough for the right ones…
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I imagine the bolt was just a bit old and maybe rusty, and just popped. At least that’s what I’m hoping that it was. When I go to town I’ll pick me up a bag o’ bolts.
After comments about not needing to sharpen the blades, I may pass on that. But, I do cut mostly pasture grass, briars, and the occasion skinny sapling, so it may benefit to sharpen them. I try to avoid any tree trunks thicker than a couple inches.
I don’t even know what brand it is, it has an old label on it, but it’s faded and mostly tore off. Maybe I could get a pic of it, and someone could perhaps ID it for me.
One thing I’ll mention. A lot of those old mowers (and old equipment in general) have the pto shields missing, which is very dangerous, imo. Some even have the old square shafts, which is even worse.
Since you are a bit new to equipment, I’ll mention that pto accidents are never mild and generally deadly. I have a friend who knew a guy who got caught in an post hole digger and it sucked him in before he knew what hit him. The scene was so grisly the two other people there when the accident happened, went into shock.
Never hook the pto shaft up (or decouple) while the tractor is running. And don’t go near the PTO shaft while it’s spinning (it’s actually best not to ever get off the tractor while it’s spinning).
If the any pto shields are missing it’s better than a good idea to have them replaced, even if someone slips and falls into a spinning pto, the shield will likely save a life.
I have used a carefully cut piece of PVC pipe as a shield before. While it doesn’t expand/contract like a real pto shield, I put it on a piece of equipment I borrowed, and it was better than nothing.
Pardon, if you already know all of this. In that case, just consider it a good reminder for me.
Thanks, I try to be very careful when I engage my PTO. I usually don’t even get off the tractor until I turn it off, and it’s stopped turning. I’m usually out there by myself, and try not to take any risks while on the tractor. I’m leery about going across and up hills, which we do have a lot of. Some places I don’t even try, not worth it.
Can you elaborate on square shafts? Are you referring to the shape of the pto shaft that slides inside itself? I was told long ago category 1 shafts are the triangular shape and category 2 implements have the heavier walled square tubes. I was told it’s a hp thing. Category 1 ~20-50hp Category 2 ~55-85hp or something close to those numbers.
You’re right. Evidently they still sell all kinds of different shaped shafts. I’m not sure about the horsepower rating, it probably depends on the size/thickness of the square tube. I have seen a lot of old low horsepower equipment with square shafts (which is why I assumed the square shafts were old style).
Here is a chart which shows different shapes of pto shafts. Apparently the shape of the tube depends on the country of origin.
As you know the square shafts were particularly bad about grabbing coats/pants. I have some Cat 2 equipment with the triangle shafts.
Interesting. According to that site, mine is of Italian origin, it is triangular, with those odd points. I’ll try to get a pic of the whole mower soon.
That sticker/paint on the side almost looks like a Bush Hog sticker. From memory, it seems like the Bush Hog brand had stickers with black lettering on a white background. Of course the red color matches the Bush Hog brand.
World Agritech also made rotary cutters which sort of looked like that.
Even if you can’t find the exact make, most of the parts on those mowers are fairly standard, if you measure the right size. There are tons of aftermarket parts, if you need them. Everything from the PTO shafts to the wheel assembly to the gear box, so at least from that perspective you should be good to go.
I had to replace the dishpan/stump jumper on the mower I currently own. That part was only available from the manufacturer.
I would say color is right for Bushhog, but I don’t believe it’s a Bushhog brand. Bushhog (Squealer was the medium duty line) brand usually used a chain from the top link to the tail wheel. They also used a splined pto shaft at the gearbox that needed a shear pin type shaft. The kind that has an “ear” on the shaft toward the tractor side and takes a 5/16 bolt. Bush hog gear boxes were also not interchangeable with almost all other makes. If I remember correctly, the bottom shaft that connects to the blade carrier had a 15 spline shaft where most all others take a 12 spline shaft. Not that is matters much. Be sure your gear box has the proper amount of oil in it (or corn head grease if it has leaky seals).
Thanks for the replies. Quick question, my wife is in town, and I asked her to pick me up some bolts. She went to Tractor Supply and found a bag of supposed shear bolts, about 3" long, 5/16" thick. But, they had 3 lines on top of the bolts, are they grade 5? They were silver colored, zinc I guess?
Those are shear bolts for a pto with “ears” type shear built into the shaft. They are 5/16" and they are grade 5.
Your shear protection is between the pto shaft and the gear box, not on the shaft itself. The bolt you need is a 1/2" grade 2 standard bolt with a Nyloc nut to hold it on. (or you can mash a few threads so a regular nut won’t come off)
Only thing I might add is that the correct amount of oil in the gear box is when it comes out the lower plug hole. A lot of inexperienced people fill those gear boxes up to the top (thinking more is better). But the box needs to have some air so it won’t blow seals when it expands (same for packing wheel bearings).
The Bush Hog brand mower I used to own didn’t have any place to drain oil. I called them about it and they said nobody ever changed the oil in the gear boxes anyway, so they quit machining the gear boxes for drain pugs. Boo!
Thanks. I told her to hold off on those, but she did get a few 5/16" grade 2 bolts/nuts/washers while she was there. I think she said she got 3 sets or so, and all of it was no more than a dollar. Hopefully those won’t be too thin. But, when I was down in the barn looking at the broke bolt, I measured the hole, and it’s about a half inch, so the 5/16 should be OK. We’ll see.
I’ll check the gear box oil, it has a large nut screw bolt (1/2?) that can be removed for checking/adding. I haven’t checked it in over a year, but then it had enough in it then, but I’ll make sure it has the right amount. If it is low, what kind of oil would it use?
A 5/16" might work, if you are doing light mowing. But the shear strength of a 5/16 is considerably less than 1/2. It might wallow the holes out a little to. But believe me, your by far not the first one to use an under sized pin.
Generally 80/90 wt. oil is what you use in those boxes.
OK, thanks. I told her to get he 5/16" because the hole didn’t seem to be quite 1/2". I don’t know if all brands have a half inch hole there or not. If need be, I’ll pick up some half inchers tomorrow when I go to town.
Now I gotta figure out how to get that sheared bolt out, I guess using a hammer and a metal rod of some type to pound it out would work.
