Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Repairing a bush hog

Most of the used shredders I looked at before
this last one I bought were effed up from lack
of care and the operator trying to use it for
something that it wasn't intended for.
Top sheet metal rusted away from allowing the
thatched up weeds to lay on there forever plus
2 days and collect and hold moisture, the sides
bashed in from running over sh*t, the gearbox
tore up from being lazy and not checking the
grease level regularly and running over baling
twine etc. and chewing the bottom seal up
and allowing all the grease to run out and
running the box dry. Not taking 2 minutes to
grease the shaft u-joints and wheel zerks,
etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

If you find yourself in Middle Tennessee with your equipment I could use your help. I'm buying dinner of course. Great work!
Rick

Not to mention the used discs I've looked
at with dry floppy boxes and bushings and
chunks gone from the discs, and discs worn
down to half their original diameter, etc. etc.
etc. etc.

Do you have more daughters?

Nice work.

I bought a DR in the 1990s.
That is a walk behind brush hog.
It had a warranty.
I started clearing the roadsides in my area.
Under warranty, I replaced nearly every part on that machine.

Probably 300 lbs

They are old ladies now

Tack on a strip of Hardox 450 along the drag/wear edges, they will outlast the tractor. Or lay down a few lines of Stoody 31.

He came and picked it up a few minutes ago. It is out of my life now

I bet it'll last awhile now!

Fall '22.
My buddy loaned me his JD 3035E w/tiller to move my box blind and set up a food plot.

Setting up box blind was a no brainer..
Weeds were "thick", so I kicked the tiller in gear and was knocking the weeds down.
Hit a 4"×4"×16" buried in the sand. The tiller jumped and quit working. (?)
Took it to a farmer friend of mine to see if the tiller could be rebuilt or was it destroyed!
That thing was wasted!
The gear box on top hadn't seen gear lube in ages! The side drive works weren't in any better shape!
CRIPES!!!
Rebuild parts weren't available. A new one was $3200!

Ok, it wasn't my fault thevthing catered, but after all, "I" was the one sitting in the seat when it died.
Thankfully, my buddy saw it that way too and kicked in half the cost!
$1600 and all I got was a lousy JD cap! LOL!

I once had to rebuild a 16 ft bush hog that ate its operator. Very messy.

That was a Howse mower. I had no idea bush hogs were so expensive

Howse equipment was built in Laurel MS. Howse Implement Co.

Out of business now.

They're still in business.

https://howseimplement.com/product-lines/rotary-cutters.html

https://www.rurallifestyledealer.com/articles/6205-howse-implements-rise-fall-resurrection

i usually cut those angled back corners off a old bush hog and use it to back into brush. cuts it instead of knocking it down

Definitely much more sturdy and should last a long time. Might be a bit of a pain cleaning the top off after a day of mowing with all the debris that will accumulate in the top. Can't just sweep it off. Also might not allow rain water to drain off if it is stored outside.

He is going to have spray in bed liner put on it. He will keep it inside, blow it off with leaf blower he said. Hopefully he will. The metal was 500.00 to do what I did on it.

They don't necessarily have to be kept
under cover. You DO have to clean the
debris off of the top of the deck no matter
how unpleasant the chore may be.
I used to have a small sapling I cut for
the job of raking the debris off of the top
of the deck. Cut it like a walking cane
and I'll pull off to the side somewhere and
raise the back up all the way and rake all
the crap off with my improvised tool
and be done with it until the next go round.
That and mine is properly adjusted so as
not to drag in the blankety blanking dirt
like so many do. That's what all the adjustments
on the linkage and wheels are for.
If it drags, it's not adjusted properly.
It ain't a plow or a bulldozer ( although it seems
many try to use it for one)

I also can't figure out what the objection is
to keeping the gearbox(es) full and the PTO
shaft joints greased. Gear oil and grease has
ALWAYS been way cheaper and less time
consuming that repairs and replacing parts

At Bush Hog we used to make all our own gear boxes. Then the company cheapened them up to compete with others and started buying Italian gear boxes. Our old gear boxes were tough as hell, the Italian are a light duty set up. We used to have a obstacle course set up behind the factory and invited all other brands to come and show the public their mower. After seeing the course most all packed up and went home. Our old mowers were built like a tank, if you could run over it, it would chop it up. Most farmers knew nothing about adjusting slip clutches or taking care of their equipment.