Some mower manufacturers tighten the blade bolts so tight that it requires a impact wrench to loosen them, I had purchased a new Bad Boy mower year before last (Since sold it) and I wanted to install some mulcher blades and had to use a 4' cheater bar to remove the original blades, they were way over the torque specs given. I usually use never seize on the blade bolts (I know some folks disagree but I've never had a problem with them getting loose) when torqued correctly.
Curt
When you know what you are doing and have the right equipment, it really don't take an hour. Maybe 5-10 minutes per spindle.I get a few blade bolts each year that require a lot of effort and patience to remove. You have to remember that blade bolts on a mower are self tightening. The longer you leave them on in between sharpening, and the more stuff you hit, the harder they will be to take off. When you are using a breaker bar, penetrating oil, heat, and a 5’ cheater pipe, things are getting serious. So my question to the shop owners is this. Do you charge the customer extra to remove blade bolts that take say an hour to remove vs 30 seconds?
Yes homeowners are bad about not getting the blades mounted correctly which lead to problems that must be corrected.Most of the homeowner mowers use some type of star center so they are not self tightening. When a cust hits something and twists the blade on the star and makes it super tight it's going to get a new spindle and blade so I don't care how bad the impact tears it up getting it off. In the last 5 years or so I haven't had a blade nut or bolt the impact couldn't take ooff. Even the self tightening ones. 3/8" air line, high flow couplers, 150 psi, 1/2" IR2235 impact.
Kinda wish I had funds available to have extra equipment but I have try to buy what works all around here. And yes most times it takes longer to get things out then it take to resolve a problem.I have the battery HF Earthquake 1/2 impact and a 3/8 Milwaukee impact that handles the day to day stuff. I only bust out the IR air gun for the stupid tight type stuff. If the HF doesn't take it off in 10 seconds I get the IR. Usually takes longer to get it out and hookup the air line than it takes to solve the problem.