I wore them out....

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
We've been so busy with the house lately haven't had time for much else. Well that hasn't stopped the grass from growing. So I decided I had to bite the bullet and give the tractor some TLC. First up was an oil change. I had gone over the 100 hour recommended change by 10 or so hours. It wasn't low, but it was pretty black - a little blacker than normal. No issues though. I also change the fuel filter. Didn't have any problems getting it off or back on, but I am having an issue with turning the fuel on and off. I ended up having to use a crescent wrench to turn it. Worked it back and forth 2 or 3 times and it still didn't free up much.

Finally on to the mower deck. Got the center blade off w/o any issues. Outside 2 are another story. The heads of the bolts have actually rounded down from the wear. My 12 point socket just wants to spin on them. I went to town to get a 6 point, but Lowes didn't have any. Guess I'll have to go to Sears today and get one there. I probably then put a breaker bar with a little persuader on it to help a little bit. I did hit them with PB Blaster last night. I also bought new bolts to put back in when I do get them out. Wish me luck....
 

jbrumberg

Member
jwstewar:

Good luck on the bolt removal :(. I would hit them with a little torch action as well to help loosen them up. Jay
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
penetrating oil might help. Good luck though. I'd be tempted to mow with them stuck on like that and mess with sharpening them after you move in. I've had to mow 3 times already. :pat:
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Wow, what a busy few days this has been. I made it to Sears Friday night. I wanted a standard depth 1/2" drive 13/16 6-point socket. They didn't have one. I ended up buying a deep well 1/2" drive and a standard depth 3/8" drive. First thing Saturday morning I put the socket on the impact gun (I know, I shouldn't use standard sockets, but I did & do), the socket held onto the bolt but the gun wouldn't budge it. I then put the breaker bar on the socket and I still couldn't budge it. I then decided a little help with a cheater bar. That just managed to bust the new socket. Then put the 3/8" drive socket on the impact gun with my Harbor Freight 1/2 - 3/8 adapter. The impact gun just twisted the adapter. I then broke down and called Dad. He said he would be down Sunday - we were gone furniture shopping for the day.

He came down and I took the mower deck outside. I laid it on the ground upside down. He had a 13/16" 6-point that was either 3/4 or 1" drive that he then adapted down to his 1/2" gun. His gun, while more powerful than mine, wouldn't budge them either. He then had a longer breaker bar. I moved the tractor around to the side of the deck. I wedged a board between the mower deck and the tractor. I then wrapped a chain around the blade and hooked it to the bucket hook. I then took my little sledge hammer and wacked the head of the bolts several times each. Finally, that started slowing back themselves out. Once the blades were sharpened, I put them back on with new bolts with grease on the bolts. I bet I replace the bolts about once a year from now on.:cool:

I then also replaced one of the wheels on the mower deck. If you lose the bearings out of the wheels, do not continue to use them. Those littles wheels are almost $50 each.:eek:
 

jbrumberg

Member
jwstewar:

Glad that you were finally able to back out those bolts; too bad at the cost of a socket and adapter. I have lost count of the number of sockets I have broken (American and foreign) with a cheater bar :(. I usually do the combination of penetrating oil, hand sledge, propane torch, hand sledge, penetrating oil, and the socket/cheater bar methodology to remove stubborn bolts (plus the expression of a lot of very, very foul language which makes me feel better ;)). Jay
 

jwstewar

Senior Member
Staff member
Cost wasn't much. I took the socket back to Sears. I really hadn't put that much pressure on it and the adapter was a Harbor Freight cheapy, so no loss there.:yum:
 

Doc

Admin
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Congrats on 'getting er done'. :thumb:
I've never heard of one being that STUCK!!!!!!!
 
N

Nicahawk

Guest
I've learned over the years to put a little anti seize on the bolts to keep them from freezing. On my 72" MMM the blades tighten opposite the rotation (left hand thread) to prevent damage to the spindles if the blade hits something solid. These are non keyed/locked blades and need to be very tight when reattached so the blades don't unscrew the bolts in normal operation. I used to put thread lock on them, but now just make sure there really good and tight.
 
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