Repairs
Michael T Hahn
August 28, 2025
The morning after the misadventures described in last week’s column, I recommenced mowing. An hour later I noticed that the last swath appeared to be trampled rather than cut, with small bushes standing erect. I put the tractor in neutral, dismounted and peered under the still-revolving brush hog. Something was spinning around under there, but as the revolutions slowed, I realized that it was just long grass wrapped around the shaft. The cutting blades were missing!
It didn’t take me long to find the blades, still attached to the two-foot-diameter metal plate that was previously connected to the brush hog by a large nut threaded onto the shaft. An extensive search failed to locate the nut amongst the cut vegetation, so I had to go buy a nut and cotter pin. The trip to the supply store consumed the rest of the morning. After lunch I parked on a level spot and removed the brush hog from the tractor. Then I secured a chain to the brush hog and hoisted it into the air with the tractor bucket. I lowered it onto its side and attempted to tip it over, so it would lay upside down. This proved to be more difficult than I imagined, as I hadn’t left enough slack in the chain to allow me to unhook it, but after an hour or so of cursing, the brush hog was laying upside down.
I muscled the blade assembly onto the shaft, sprayed the shaft with WD40, and threaded on the nut, which turned easily by hand for a ways, then became very hard to turn, even with a big crescent wrench. As I struggled with this, my brother drove by and stopped to help. We didn’t have a breaker bar large enough to slide over the wrench. We had a breaker bar big enough to slide onto a socket driver, but we didn’t have a socket big enough for the nut. The next day I bought a big socket. The breaker bar provided enough leverage to tighten the nut, but I couldn’t insert the cotter pin. I discovered that the previous cotter pin had broken off inside the hole, protruding slightly, which is what made the nut turn so hard. I extracted the broken pin and tightened the nut, only to discover that I needed a washer. The store was closed, but maybe today I’ll resume cutting.
Michael Hahn Band varies in size from a duo to a six-piece band, depending upon the size and budget of the venue. They love to make music for any occasion. For bookings call 802-754-8889.
It didn’t take me long to find the blades, still attached to the two-foot-diameter metal plate that was previously connected to the brush hog by a large nut threaded onto the shaft. An extensive search failed to locate the nut amongst the cut vegetation, so I had to go buy a nut and cotter pin. The trip to the supply store consumed the rest of the morning. After lunch I parked on a level spot and removed the brush hog from the tractor. Then I secured a chain to the brush hog and hoisted it into the air with the tractor bucket. I lowered it onto its side and attempted to tip it over, so it would lay upside down. This proved to be more difficult than I imagined, as I hadn’t left enough slack in the chain to allow me to unhook it, but after an hour or so of cursing, the brush hog was laying upside down.
I muscled the blade assembly onto the shaft, sprayed the shaft with WD40, and threaded on the nut, which turned easily by hand for a ways, then became very hard to turn, even with a big crescent wrench. As I struggled with this, my brother drove by and stopped to help. We didn’t have a breaker bar large enough to slide over the wrench. We had a breaker bar big enough to slide onto a socket driver, but we didn’t have a socket big enough for the nut. The next day I bought a big socket. The breaker bar provided enough leverage to tighten the nut, but I couldn’t insert the cotter pin. I discovered that the previous cotter pin had broken off inside the hole, protruding slightly, which is what made the nut turn so hard. I extracted the broken pin and tightened the nut, only to discover that I needed a washer. The store was closed, but maybe today I’ll resume cutting.
Michael Hahn Band varies in size from a duo to a six-piece band, depending upon the size and budget of the venue. They love to make music for any occasion. For bookings call 802-754-8889.
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