OT - How to balance blades on Bush Hog?

SHINTON

SHINTON

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 17, 2005
Location
Triad area of NC
Ok, we have an older bug hog that at lower rpms has a pretty good vibration/obvious that it is out of balance.

This is the stump jumper style with a central disk and 2 blades bolted onto it.

It is older / rusted, we tried to remove the whole thing but the teeth have pretty much rusted to the gear at this point so if it comes off it is destroyed, so we are going to leave it on if we can.

We have not tried removing the two blades yet, but suspect they could have same issue, come off, might not go back on.

So...with blades on there, is there "ways" to tell which side/blade is out of balance?

We thought of painting one blade white to see if we could "see" the difference or anything, but hoped someone on here knows how to do this?

Thoughts/suggestions appreciated..

Sam
 
Man, I will be honest with you.......... I used to mow with a Massey Ferguson 135 all of the time and we had a 5ft. bush hog on it.......... It sucked for lower RPM as far as balance goes....... When I mow, I try to keep my rpms as high as possible..........
 
I agree - when I bought my bush hog new I was told to always run it at 545 PTO rpm. It has always shook at lower RPMs since new, so I stick it right at 545 and run in whatever gear matches the speed I need.

I think it's 545 PTO RPM - I'll have to look on the tach - there is a line marked on there by Ford, so I guess this is a common "nice" RPM to be at?

I think that part of the reason it doesn't balance at lower RPMs is that the blades can pivot. So your balance is affected by whether the blades are fully extended or not.

I have never had to take the blades off mine, but aren't they just bolted or pinned on somehow? If so, you could cut the bolt even if rusted, and get a new one. But look at it to be sure. The blades should just be on some kind of pivot, not anything complicated.
 
Check to make sure the stump jumper isn't dented or off center. That'll make it vibrate. Also check the pto shaft and lift arms. If one is lower then the other it'll cause vibration, as will a sloppy PTO shaft (universals sloppy).
 
All tractors have a 545 pto, it is standard ,some of the biggers machines have a 545 & a 1000 pto , Flip your bushhog over to check if the shaft is bent , gearbox to the stump jumper, If not just use it , its not like a bushhog is a precision piece of machinery.
 
OJ505 said:
All tractors have a 545 pto, it is standard ,some of the biggers machines have a 545 & a 1000 pto , Flip your bushhog over to check if the shaft is bent , gearbox to the stump jumper, If not just use it , its not like a bushhog is a precision piece of machinery.
Click to expand...
equipment:bounce2: I love a machine that shakes ya down:huggy:
 
Don't overlook the gearbox bearings. Oil leaks are a good sign that the bearings have excessive play. If everything that the other guys mentioned above checks out, and you still suspect the blades are the issue, the only way I know to balance them is to take them off and weigh them. Grind the cutting edge A/R to get them as close to the same weight as possible. Yeah it's only a bush hog but having it in balance will extend the life of the gearbox.
 
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