3
CUTTING BLADE MAINTENANCE
DANGER
To avoid serious injury or death:
•Always disconnect driveline from power
•take-off shaft before servicing underside of
cutter. The tractor can be started with
power take-off engaged.
•Always secure equipment with solid, non-
concrete supports before working under it.
Never go under equipment supported by
concrete blocks or hydraulics. Concrete can
break, hydraulic lines can burst, and/or
hydraulic controls can be actuated even
when power to hydraulics is off.
WARNING
To avoid serious injury or death:
•Do not operate cutter with blades that are
out-of-balance, bent, excessively worn,
excessively nicked, or with blade bolts that
are excessively worn. Such blades can break
loose at high speeds.
•Do not attempt to straighten a bent blade
orweld on a blade. Do not attempt to
modify ablade or weld on a blade. Do not
attempt to modify a blade such as hard
surfacing, heat treating, cold treating, or by
any other method.
IMPORTANT:
Only replace cutting blades in pairs. Replacing
single blades can result inan out-of-balance
condition that will contribute to premature
bearing wear/breakage and/or structural cracks in
gearbox and/or deck.
Always inspect cutting blades before each use.
Make certain they are properly installedand are
in good working condition. Replace any blade
that is damaged, worn, bent, or excessively
nicked. Never try to straighten abent blade!
Small nicks can be ground out when
sharpening.
Remove cutting blades and sharpen orreplace
as follows:
1.
Place tractor gear selector in park and/or
set brakes, shut engine off, and remove
ignition key.
2.
Disconnect main driveline from tractor
power take-off and secure cutter deck in
the up position with solid supports
beforeservicing underside of cutter.
Refer to Figure 4-4:
3.
Remove access rubber cover (#5).
4.
Rotate Blade bolt (#1) until in alignment
with access hole (A).
5.
Unscrew locknut (#3) to remove cutting
blade (#6). Blade bolt (#1) is keyed and
will not turn freely.
6.
Both blades should be sharpened at the
same angle as the original cutting edge
and must be replaced or re-ground at
thesame time to maintain proper
balance in the cutting unit. The following
precautionsshould be taken when
sharpening blades:
a. Do not remove more material than
necessary.
b. Do not heat and pound out a cutting
edge.
c. Do not grind blades to a razor edge.
Leave a blunt cutting edge approximately
1.5 mm thick.
d. Always grind cutting edge so end of
blade remains square to cutting edge
and not rounded.
e. Do not sharpen back side of blade.
f. Both blades should weigh the same with
not more than 1 ½ oz. difference.
Unbalanced blades will cause excessive
vibration which can damage gearbox
bearing and create structural cracks.
Refer to Figure 4-5: