Senile Texas Aggie - comic relief for the rest of you

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

Calling all BYH tractor owners! I am still breaking shear pins on my shredder / rotary mower quite frequently. Yesterday, for example, I broke 2 shear pins, one from scalping the ground and 1 from hitting a cut down tree about 2" in diameter. I am considering putting a slip clutch on the PTO drive shaft of the cutter, hoping that it will slip before the shear pin breaks. How many of you folks have slip clutches on your shredder / rotary cutter and how well do they work?

 

[Bruce]

You are out of my knowledge area. I thought the machine itself had either shear pins or a slip clutch and the shaft connected to that gear box. Not sure I've heard of/seen (on the YouTube channels I follow) about a slip clutch on the shaft itself.

Maybe you need to lower the rear wheel and cut a bit higher? You could also contact Tractor Mike and see if he has any ideas. He has been putting up videos answering "letters" from people.

 

[farmerjan]

The shear pins are doing EXACTLY what they are designed to do..... shear before you tear up the mower. A slip clutch is not going to solve the problem of you trying to cut things that are not designed to be cut..... the ground or a cut off sapling that must have had some size to it. Our 15 ft bat wing bush hog will hit and the clutch will slip.... but it is designed to cut rough stuff; the rotary mower/shredder that you have may not be designed to attempt to cut off the size saplings you are trying.... and NONE of them are designed to cut dirt/gravel/rocks.
I agree with running it a little higher so that you don't hit as much. If it has a hydraulic cylinder to lower it, there are spacers that go on the shaft of the cylinder that will only allow it to go down so far....They snap on and off easily. We use them on all our bush hog jobs so as to not cut the grass/weeds/brush too low and then cause the underlying ground to burn up like with the temps we have had lately.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

... Maybe you need to lower the rear wheel and cut a bit higher? You could also contact Tractor Mike and see if he has any ideas. He has been putting up videos answering "letters" from people.

... I agree with running it a little higher so that you don't hit as much. If it has a hydraulic cylinder to lower it, there are spacers that go on the shaft of the cylinder that will only allow it to go down so far....They snap on and off easily. We use them on all our bush hog jobs so as to not cut the grass/weeds/brush too low and then cause the underlying ground to burn up like with the temps we have had lately.

Thanks to you both for replying. I have not tried to lower the tail wheel yet. I may try that. I did contact Tractor Mike and told him of my issues. He suggested that I use a stronger shear bolt or buy a more rugged mower. I had failed to tell him at the time that I am already using grade 5 1/2" shear bolts and am reluctant to go to grade 8, as I fear that would offer no protection at all. I am considering buying a more rugged mower.

Regarding the spacers, I was unaware of their existence. I will look into those. Regarding the height of the mower off of the ground, I have been running the 3-pt position control at level 3 (where level 1 is fully lowered and level 5 is fully raised). I have a hydraulic top link where I position to have the mower level when at the level 3 position. I think what is happening compared to my old tractor is that my old tractor had less HP and the hydraulic PTO clutch was weak, so if the mower hit a stump or contacted the ground, the PTO would slow down so as not to apply so much force. With my new tractor with the higher HP and a mechanical PTO clutch that is less forgiving, then when I hit a stump or contact the ground, the shear pin cannot handle the additional force and then shears, just as it is designed to do (as you both pointed out). The only control I have at the moment is the depth of the cut and the speed of the tractor. Whenever I get into rough terrain, where there are erosion channels or tractor ruts in the ground, then I have been slowing WAY down, which has helped some. Still, though, I will hit stumps which I left when I used the tree shear to cut down a lot of small trees. Because the trees were often in brush and thus I could not see if the tree shear was on the ground when I cut the tree, I often would leave a stump as high as 3". Then when I later mow over that brush with the stump, the mower will hit the stump and shear a pin.

I will figure out something. Thanks again for everyone's input.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Bruce]

Yeah I wouldn't go up any higher on the shear pin hardness, you will be buying a new mower whether you want to or not ... or at least a new gearbox.

 

[Mike CHS]

This may not help you but I have cleared a lot of area on our place but I won't cut a tree down to ground level. I always cut trees leaving at least 4-5 feet of trunk standing. I have yet to find but a few that I can't take out with the front end loader pushing on that trunk and I don't have a big tractor. Last summer I had enough left that I couldn't take out that I hired a friend that we get our hay from that does dozer work to come in and take those out along with some larger trees that I didn't want to mess with. I spray our fence lines a couple of times in the summer and while at it, I spray the grass around those tall stumps that I left but I never have to worry about them with a mower.

 

[farmerjan]

They are hydraulic cylinder spacers... different sizes.... will fit right on the hydraulic cylinder, arm that comes out. prevents it from going all the way back down to the lowest level.... and then you can free float the lever and not set it at a specific height.
@Mike CHS way of cutting them high then pulling/pushing them out to not leave a stump makes alot of sense. Have to remember that one. Easier to get at to pull out too.

 

[Bruce]

Might need to dig some roots before pushing over depending on the size of the tree.

 

[Senile_Texas_Aggie]

All,

Yesterday when I got up, the forecast called for 90% chance of rain. The NWS radar for the southern plains showed rain in Oklahoma near the Arkansas state line headed our way. I figured there was no point of going out to work in the pastures or woods only to get rained on. So I waited until around 9:30 for the rain to come, but it still hadn't. The radar showed that the rain appeared to be falling apart along the state line. I decided I would go out anyhow, with the intent of taking pictures and cutting down a lot of the tree stumps that had been causing me to shear pins on my mower.

As I headed to the shop, I found my phone was down to 20% charge and felt quite warm. I'm not sure what caused it to discharge so quickly, but that meant I would not be taking pictures of my work. Oh, well. Little did I know what lay in store.

When I got to the shop, I discovered that the tractor's right front tire was flat. As I tried to loosen the lug bolts, the 12-pt sockets would simply round off the shoulders due to the bolts having been tightened so much. My little 1/4" Dewalt impact wrench cried uncle when I tried it to remove the bolts. So I went to a True Value hardware store to see if they had any impact wrenches and 6-pt socket sets. They had a Dewalt 1/2" impact wrench for $449. Ouch! They also had a air impact wrench whose brand I did not recognize. I decided to check with the auto parts store down the street. They had an Ingersoll Rand air impact wrench and some 6-pt deep sockets, so I bought those.

Once I got home, I discovered that there was no owner's manual with the wrench, only a safety warning manual. I didn't want to use the wrench before finding out if I needed to add oil to the wrench before using. So I decided to look on-line. When attempting to get on-line, my laptop decided it was time to update the BIOS, what turned into a 30 minute procedure. Finally I was able to get online and went to the Ingersoll Rand web site. There I started another hunt for the manual, a 30-minute effort. Here are the two relevant pages for the use of the impact wrench:

...

I wasn't certain from the drawing of how much oil to put in the wrench, so I put less than a teaspoon and then connected the air hose. I was then able to remove the lug bolts with no problem.

Next I rolled the tire out to the truck in the parking area. (Why I didn't back the truck up to the shop where it was closer and the concrete a lot smoother and level is an example of my Texas Aggie I/Q in action.) Once I got the tire to the truck, I was unable to lift the tire into the bed of the truck because the tire was too heavy for my 192 lb weakling body. So I dragged the floor jack to the truck, rolled the tire onto the jack, jacked up the tire so that it was almost halfway above the tailgate, then was able to lift and rotate the tire into the truck bed.

After lunch I took the tire to be repaired. It turned out that I had run over a locust tree thorn, which caused a slow leak. After getting the tire back home, I was able to get it mounted with no problem. By then, though, it was 2 PM and I didn't feel like going out.

So that is how I spent my day yesterday.

If there are any air impact wrench experts on the forum, feel free to provide me any guidance as to how I can care for the impact wrench.

Senile Texas Aggie

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

All,

Yesterday when I got up, the forecast called for 90% chance of rain. The NWS radar for the southern plains showed rain in Oklahoma near the Arkansas state line headed our way. I figured there was no point of going out to work in the pastures or woods only to get rained on. So I waited until around 9:30 for the rain to come, but it still hadn't. The radar showed that the rain appeared to be falling apart along the state line. I decided I would go out anyhow, with the intent of taking pictures and cutting down a lot of the tree stumps that had been causing me to shear pins on my mower.

As I headed to the shop, I found my phone was down to 20% charge and felt quite warm. I'm not sure what caused it to discharge so quickly, but that meant I would not be taking pictures of my work. Oh, well. Little did I know what lay in store.

When I got to the shop, I discovered that the tractor's right front tire was flat. As I tried to loosen the lug bolts, the 12-pt sockets would simply round off the shoulders due to the bolts having been tightened so much. My little 1/4" Dewalt impact wrench cried uncle when I tried it to remove the bolts. So I went to a True Value hardware store to see if they had any impact wrenches and 6-pt socket sets. They had a Dewalt 1/2" impact wrench for $449. Ouch! They also had a air impact wrench whose brand I did not recognize. I decided to check with the auto parts store down the street. They had an Ingersoll Rand air impact wrench and some 6-pt deep sockets, so I bought those.

Once I got home, I discovered that there was no owner's manual with the wrench, only a safety warning manual. I didn't want to use the wrench before finding out if I needed to add oil to the wrench before using. So I decided to look on-line. When attempting to get on-line, my laptop decided it was time to update the BIOS, what turned into a 30 minute procedure. Finally I was able to get online and went to the Ingersoll Rand web site. There I started another hunt for the manual, a 30-minute effort. Here are the two relevant pages for the use of the impact wrench:

View attachment 76511
...
View attachment 76510

I wasn't certain from the drawing of how much oil to put in the wrench, so I put less than a teaspoon and then connected the air hose. I was then able to remove the lug bolts with no problem.

Next I rolled the tire out to the truck in the parking area. (Why I didn't back the truck up to the shop where it was closer and the concrete a lot smoother and level is an example of my Texas Aggie I/Q in action.) Once I got the tire to the truck, I was unable to lift the tire into the bed of the truck because the tire was too heavy for my 192 lb weakling body. So I dragged the floor jack to the truck, rolled the tire onto the jack, jacked up the tire so that it was almost halfway above the tailgate, then was able to lift and rotate the tire into the truck bed.

After lunch I took the tire to be repaired. It turned out that I had run over a locust tree thorn, which caused a slow leak. After getting the tire back home, I was able to get it mounted with no problem. By then, though, it was 2 PM and I didn't feel like going out.

So that is how I spent my day yesterday.

If there are any air impact wrench experts on the forum, feel free to provide me any guidance as to how I can care for the impact wrench.

Senile Texas Aggie

That's a lot of work for just a tire! Bummer you weren't able to work with it yesterday but it hopefully won't have any more problems when you go to use it next.