How to Remove Brush Cutter Blades

I get a lot of questions about how to remove brush cutter blades. It's not easy! When I worked in a dealership you could hear the process going on out in the shop. First, there'd be the zinging of the air tools trying to get the nuts off. Next would be the pounding of the bolts trying to get them out. Finally would be the crash of the blade and bolt hitting concrete and the job was done. If it would have been a different cutter, I would have loaded it on a trailer and taken it to a dealership and had them change the blades. But, it's an 8-footer and pretty wide to haul and I wanted to do it here, to see if the average weekend farmer, like me, could make it happen in the backyard. The first thing I did was to order a cheap torque multiplier from Amazon. Torque multipliers are just what they sound like, they have gears inside that take the torque you're applying and multiply it so you can tighten a bolt above the specs of your torque wrench or loosen stuck bolts like what we're trying to do here. The torque multiplier was a 5X model, was half inch drive, and cost $78. It didn't have exactly glowing reviews and my expectation level for it was pretty low. I figured it might be able to hold together long enough to take off four nuts to get the old blades off, and put new ones on and torque them to 600 ft. lbs like the owner's manual calls for with my 200 ft. lb torque wrench. I don't say this in the video, but I tried to get the bolts off on my own. I found a socket that fit the carriage bolts on the cutter, secured a 1/2" to 3/4" adapter from O'Reilly's, and started to try to get the nuts to loosen. I quickly saw I was bending the handle on the torque multiplier into a "c" when applying pressure to it. I didn't think it would survive the project. That's when I called Chris, the owner of 417 Service. He has a mobile repair business that specializes in farm and outdoor power equipment. He has a repair truck with air tools, but he seems to prefer electric, or battery-powered impacts to do tasks like this. So we did a test to see what worked and what didn't in removing stuck brush hog blade bolts. The first thing we did was squirt everything with WD-40 to loosen up the nuts. The bush hog deck has holes in it that allow you to get to the bolts, but they're tough to get a spray can into. WD-40, my sponsor for this video, has this cool new product with a flexible straw called EZ Reach which was a cinch to get in to the threads. Next we tried the el-cheapo torque multiplier to loosen the worst of the stuck nuts. Chris broke it almost before I had the camera running. Better torque multipliers can cost between $300 and $600, and they probably would have handled this job. The cheap one did not. Chris then started trying to remove the nuts with several different options...1/2" drive electric and air-powered impacts and 3/4" drive electric and air-powered impacts and you can watch the results. In the end, here's what I learned. First, if you think you'll use a torque multiplier, get a good one. Second, I think I'd take the money I'd spend on a good torque multiplier and instead invest in a 1/2" or 3/4" drive battery-powered impact. Third, I'm keeping the WD-40 EZ Reach in my shop to get into hard to reach areas. Fourth, air tools are still the best way to go for the really difficult jobs and finally, I'm glad I know Chris, if there's a guy like him in your area, you should get to know him. In the next video we'll look at when to sharpen the blades and when to remove and replace, and then a final video will show putting the blades back on. SUPPORT THE TRACTOR MIKE CHANNEL:   / tractormike   Visit the Tractor Mike website: http://asktractormike.com/ Subscribe to YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/tractormi... Visit Facebook Page:   / ask-tractor-mike-312112962245304   Buy Stuff I Use: https://www.amazon.com/shop/tractormike Copyright 2018 Tractor Mike LLC