Changing Mower Blades

[pfrederi 18,124]

It is 1-1/8"   You only need the thin wrench to hold above the blade.  Any 1-1/8  socket/wrench will work on the nut.

 

Make you own out of an old blade.  Hacksaw and grinder..isn't pretty but it works and is free.

[tunahead72 2,470]

I ended up buying one of the genuine Wheel Horse wrenches from a fellow RedSquare member.  It was used, and if I remember correctly, it was about $25 plus shipping.  It works pretty well, except that some of my spindle "nuts" are worn to the point that it just doesn't get a good grip (the wrench itself might also be a bit worn).  If I use the wrench on those, the "nuts" just start rounding off.  18" long sounds about right for the length of the wrench, but I'll have to check later today.

 

I've gone back to the "block of wood wedged between the blade" method for the most part.  It works well, but you have to be careful about the blade trying to "climb" the block of wood as you loosen or tighten the bolt.  Use anti-seize on the threaded part of the spindle when you reassemble, and torque the bolt to the lower end of the torque value range (80 ft.-lbs.?), I've never had a blade come loose.

 

--------

 

EDIT -- There's a really good discussion here:

 

 

[Cable 179]

I use a HF air 1/2 inch impact with a 1 1/8 inch socket. One hand holds the impact and the other hand, with a leather glove on, holds the blade itself.  Never had any difficulty at all.  I do have the Wheel Horse wrench but don't bother to go get. 

[tunahead72 2,470]

Good point.  The only time I was not able to get a set of blades off (because they hadn't been removed in something like 8 years), I brought the deck to my auto repair guy and had him use his air impact gun.  Piece of cake, took all of about 30 seconds.

[Lee1977 6,907]

To keep from rounding off the blade nuts, get a 6 point socket. I have two 1 1/8" 6 point sockets I bought at Northern. I guess I forgot that I had already bought one. At least they are not the same one's deep and the other regular. I also use an air impack and a floor jack to get the deck up high enough use it.

 

[tunahead72 2,470]

On ‎10‎/‎23‎/‎2017 at 4:06 PM, Lee1977 said:

... I also use ... a floor jack to get the deck up high enough use it.

 

 

I don't mean to give you a hard time, but I'd be afraid to get up under that tractor to get the blades off.  One little slip and you'd have five to six hundred pounds of Wheel Horse crashing down on whatever body part happened to be in the way at the time.  It would certainly be safer, and I think easier, to just remove the deck completely and work on it separately.

 

[oldredrider 2,553]

I have one of those Michelin jacks. I don't trust it at all. Piece of junk!

[AMC RULES 37,144]

1 hour ago, tunahead72 said:

 

I don't mean to give you a hard time, but I'd be afraid to get up under that tractor to get the blades off.  One little slip and you'd have five to six hundred pounds of Wheel Horse crashing down on whatever body part happened to be in the way at the time.  It would certainly be safer, and I think easier, to just remove the deck completely and work on it separately.

 

 

 The bottom side of our tractors tend to be pretty slippery. 

        Agreed, that old  would definitely...leave a mark.   

[Lee1977 6,907]

I know the risk, you can warn other people. I didn't say this is the way you should do it, it's the way I do it. I wouldn't do it if I had to take the blades off by hand. I also know it's not the best floor jack I've had better.

 

As the say don't try this at home!

[r356c 375]

The older I get, the more I have to assume my guardian angel is plumb tuckered out.

Lord knows it has well-earned some nap time.

 

Cheap insurance.

https://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/jack-stands.html

[AMC RULES 37,144]

      

             

[Lee1977 6,907]

I have 6 jack stands all better then anything Harbor Freight sells.

[r356c 375]

No offense intended about the jack stands Lee.

I was trained to -never- trust only a hydraulic floor jack as the only support -ever-.

 

That lesson was brought home for me 28 years ago. The next door neighbor teenager was a motor head, always tuning and detailing his car.

He had the rear wheels off for some reason and was under the car on a creeper.

The hydraulic floor jack failed and his mother came home from work to find him dead crushed under the car.

 

So yes, I am a little more paranoid about floor jacks than most people.

 

[pabird 40]

Ridgid nut wrench works great.

[lzone3 0]

Not sure if I missed something in this thread, but when I go to loosen the 1 1/8" nuts, with the blades all chocked/stabilized with wood/my hand, I can't crack the nut but I get the spindle to move, while the blade is still not moving. So picture me holding the blade with the socket/breaker bar around nut, and I finally get it to move, but its not the nut, its the spindle...how do i prevent the spindle from spinning so I can get leverage to break the nut?? I was able to get the middle nut free to remove middle blade. See pics, the middle spindle didn't have the extra "hex jam nut/spacer" is this vital or important to me getting the nut to break free?? I've sprayed the nuts with a penetrant, and used my porter cable 20V impact driver with socket adapter to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[953 nut 56,632]

Best bet is to use a wrench to hold the spindle and a pneumatic impact wrench on the nut.

[WVHillbilly520H 10,376]

6 hours ago, lzone3 said:

Not sure if I missed something in this thread, but when I go to loosen the 1 1/8" nuts, with the blades all chocked/stabilized with wood/my hand, I can't crack the nut but I get the spindle to move, while the blade is still not moving. So picture me holding the blade with the socket/breaker bar around nut, and I finally get it to move, but its not the nut, its the spindle...how do i prevent the spindle from spinning so I can get leverage to break the nut?? I was able to get the middle nut free to remove middle blade. See pics, the middle spindle didn't have the extra "hex jam nut/spacer" is this vital or important to me getting the nut to break free?? I've sprayed the nuts with a penetrant, and used my porter cable 20V impact driver with socket adapter to no avail. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

That much exposed spindle thread is not helping you out there, when installed correctly the nut should be flush to the spindle just barely protruding past the nut, those fine threads are taking a beating exposed to the scrapenel being spun around by the rotating blades...now if you don't have a a pnuematic impact wrench a 1-1/8" box end wrench and a rubber mallet/dead blow hammer can be substituted to break the nut loose so you can finish with your battery impact.

[Wes P 2]

On 5/16/2012 at 8:01 PM, mrocket49 said:

 

I'd love to get me one of these wrenches someday. the Craftsman wrench I use is a tight fit behind the blade.

I found the wrench on e-Bay and ordered it!

My Craftsman 1 1/8" wrench is too wide for the gap, I have a Wheel Horse 36" Rear Discharge Deck (0536MR03). Is there any alternative wrench until my Wheel Horse Wrench arrives? I thought about just buying a 1 1/8" wrench and grinding it down?

[davem1111 2,073]

4 minutes ago, Wes P said:

I found the wrench on e-Bay and ordered it!

My Craftsman 1 1/8" wrench is too wide for the gap, I have a Wheel Horse 36" Rear Discharge Deck (0536MR03). Is there any alternative wrench until my Wheel Horse Wrench arrives? I thought about just buying a 1 1/8" wrench and grinding it down?

 

That's what I did.  Got one at Rural King, I think it was about $12. Figured if it was a bit messed up from grinding it down, it was no big loss. Works great for me. I just picked up a 520-8 with a deck that looked like it had been sitting on the ground for years and the blades hadn't been off in quite a few more years. I also bought a larger socket and breaker bar - I think it might be a 3/4" drive and the bar is about 3/4" in diameter and about 20" long. If you get the wrench well seated and turn the spindle, the wrench will wedge against the deck. Then you've got lots of leverage. Some penetrating spray and sometimes some heat from a torch can help also.

 

And like @WVHillbilly520H said, you don't want the threads sticking out to get beat up. The decks I'm familiar with have a thin washer behind the blade, and a thicker one in front against the nut. If you need to add another washer behind the nut or a thicker one, it will be worth it.

[Wes P 2]

Thanks for your help! Going to work on the blades now!

 

[lynnmor 7,459]

Don’t overwork your new Wheel Horse wrench, they are made out of peanut butter.

[Wes P 2]

Interesting!

How do you under-work your wrench when the Jam Nut requires 80-100 Ft-lbs of torque?

[lynnmor 7,459]

6 hours ago, Wes P said:

Interesting!

How do you under-work your wrench when the Jam Nut requires 80-100 Ft-lbs of torque?

You buy wrenches made of quality steel.

[Wes P 2]

So, your saying I need to re-temper this steel? Or, is the steel just trash?

 

[lynnmor 7,459]

10 hours ago, Wes P said:

So, your saying I need to re-temper this steel? Or, is the steel just trash?

 

In my opinion, the Wheel Horse wrench is something that you hang on the wall with the rest of your collectables, then use a real wrench to do the work.  There is no way of knowing the type of steel, so just forget about doing any heat treatment.