Blades Major trouble removing blades

[iMower]

Skizzot. if you think you are going to be long solving the problem, best to go and spray the lawn out with Roundup.:laughing:

This is finally the beginning of the mowing season, and all I have is weeds. We had a nice warm day and I had to work late, the next day it rained cats and dogs, and today it is very cold. :frown:

I think that I will do as Frankmulcahy suggested and just Roundup the weeds/lawn. The good news is that my snow blower has been on overtime this year.:laughing:

Happy Mowing Season!

 

[rw collier]

I just bought a set of blades for my Cub Cadet Z-Force 44" and have run into problems removing the old blades. The three blades are each bolted on by a 1-1/8 nut. I have attempted to remove them with an impact wrench, socket and pry par, socket - pry bar - sludge hammer combo, torch, solvents, and praying. I cannot get a single nut to rotate and looking at the threads as well as the manual, they are common threaded nuts which left turning "should" loosen. Any suggestions? It's hard to even get a bite to wedge the blades stationery on this thing.

THANKS!

try an impact wrench

 

[dangrif]

If you were heating up everything untill the grease was boiling you may be using the wrong technique. What you need is a lot of heat in a very small area,on only one side of the nut. Soak up an old towel in water and wrap it arounr the spindle under the blade as tight as you can get. I know you can't get much but anything is better than nothing. Now take an acetylene torch ( A propane or mapp gas torch won't work) with the smallest tip you have and heat the nut in the center of one of the nut flats red hot. This should only take a few seconds. Imediately hit that nut with your impact wrench. I'll bet the nut comes off. Imediately douse plenty of water on the spindle. You don't want to hurt the grease seals if you haven't already. Worked great for me on an old Cub Cadet.

 

[Rustaholic]

Ric has the key to this problem. In copying torque charts for the forum (threads, lube, torques-current) I note that a 1-1/8" nut in grade 5 takes 794 ft lbs to tighten. BREAKING TORQUE IS BEYOND THE CAPABILITY OF THE BEST RED NECK BREAKER BAR UNLESS IT IS A 10ft 4x4? This is heavy equipment tool capability? Again...why would a mfg set up such an obstacle to the poor home
gardener?:confused2: rfi also saw this clearly.

SWEET, Maybe that is why my impact puts out 960 FP of torque.
If it can't take a rusted nut off a 1/2 " bolt it will just snap the bolt.
That is why we do not always use that one. 8>)))
I am glad you got it loose.

 

[oicub12]

Why wouldnt you use never seize on the blades if you dont mind me asking? will it loosen easier?

I myself would also use never seize but i think the only concern would be that maybe the nut would back off during use!!!!

 

[enigma-2]

...... Really you should consider your self lucky to have the 3/4" shaft with greasable spindles, you will not find those in 90% of the residential mowers made today.

In most cases those "grease fittings" are not really fittings at all, vents to let any moisture escape. (They are designed to look like a grease fitting).

Those which do have actual grease fittings installed are there because owners want and expect them. They actually serve no real purpose.

All spindles use sealed bearings (have for over a decade) and no grease is able to get into the bearings; so the only real benefit for greasing a spindle is to get grease on the shaft to prevent rusting. Don't buy into the argument that the grease gets hot, melts and works it's way into the bearing. The seal is designed to keep dirt, water and everything it can, out (including additional grease).

 

[motoman]

This cub cadet nut thing is still a puzzle (read this thread). It would seem that the factory ?125 ft lb? torque callout would avoid these "frozen" bolts. But the very large size of the nut no doubt tricks mechanics into applying huge tightening torque. Remember that never seize only worsens the application of "unadjusted" high torque as it over tightens the nut.

Tell me more about the fake zerk fittings on my Craftsman that I regularly grease. Since 2004 I have pumped in at least 1/2 cartridge worth and never seen any expelled.

I like the theory of selective heating the nut, but the seal would go quickly in overheat and so would bolt hardness.

 

[iMower]

I like the theory of selective heating the nut, but the seal would go quickly in overheat and so would bolt hardness.

Dangrif is correct. "Now take an acetylene torch (A propane or mapp gas torch won't work) with the smallest tip you have and heat the nut in the center of one of the nut flats red hot. This should only take a few seconds. Imediately hit that nut with your impact wrench. I'll bet the nut comes off. Imediately douse plenty of water on the spindle."

I worked many years in maintenance as did my father before me. I learned early on that only oxy-acetylene torches will heat up a tough nut without messing up bearings. Using oxy-acetylene makes the nut red hot faster than the heat can flow into the shaft and damage the bearing, seals, or shaft hardness. You heat fast, take the nut off fast, and cool it fast and you usually get away with it.

Oh, and buy a new nut and clean your shaft threads well. I usually lube with lithium grease and tighten to a slightly lower torque, but I am old and weak anyway. :smile:

 

[djdicetn]

This cub cadet nut thing is still a puzzle (read this thread). It would seem that the factory ?125 ft lb? torque callout would avoid these "frozen" bolts. But the very large size of the nut no doubt tricks mechanics into applying huge tightening torque. Remember that never seize only worsens the application of "unadjusted" high torque as it over tightens the nut.

Tell me more about the fake zerk fittings on my Craftsman that I regularly grease. Since 2004 I have pumped in at least 1/2 cartridge worth and never seen any expelled.

I like the theory of selective heating the nut, but the seal would go quickly in overheat and so would bolt hardness.

motoman,

User enigma-2 is spot on. I too had a 2006 54" Craftsman YS4500(made for Sears by Husqvarna) that I "religiously"(every 12 hours) lubed the blade spindles. When I began shopping last fall for a ZTR I noticed most of the "Commercial" models had sealed spindles and front forks. Based upon my belief that unless you could keep the bearings greased regularly that the bearings would go out in no time, I was "very reluctant" to spend close to $7K on a mower that didn't have grease zerks. The dealers let me talk to their mechanics who showed me bearings they were replacing in a Residential ZTR(that had grease zerks) and indeed it had sealed bearings in it. They too told me that all mowers had been using sealed bearings for many years, but customers "demanded" greasable spindles(because they wanted to do that "maintenance" to preserve the bearings) so the manufacturers added them(even though it was nothing short of a placebo effect). My Gravely has sealed cast iron spindles that have a 3 year/1,000 hour Warranty and the Gravely mechanic told me to expect to get between 2,500 and 3,500 hours out of them. Since I mow about 1.5 acres, putting less than 100 hours/year on my mower I will be dead and gone before my ZTR needs the spindles rebuilt:0)

 

[motoman]

djdicetn, Well that do beat all...Even the crafstman manual shows diagrams and instructions that all "jerks" should grease zerks. Only your high credibility allows me to belive this. So the zerks are "little white pills signifying everything, but doing nothing." Craftsman (or MTD) should have saved $ put into the zerks and put on an overtemp gauge so owners don't fry their engines. One flew over the cuckoo nest..... motoman

PS I won't miss tearing up my arm to reach the center zerk. Where's the grease going? :laughing: