So this was a frustrating project.
I bought a used 15' Bush Hog 2615 Legend shredder a couple of weeks ago, knowing that I was going to have to immediately replace the left wing stump jumper aka blade pan. This protects the gear box and shaft from well .. stumps. and the ground.
I had a picture and uploaded it but the upload didn't accept and now I don't have a picture of the original. The pan was rusted nearly all of the way around the attachment bolt.
We watched several You Tube videos of guys replacing their blade pans on 6 to 7 foot bush hogs but no one had a video of the 15'. The guys on the videos tried pulling it off (after removing the nut of course) with come alongs, trucks and one guy even turned his upside down and tried dragging it with his tractor! There was no way I was going to try that.
All of them finished with heating the pan at the point of attachment and as it cooled it popped off. One guy tried that, thinking he was going to cut it off and as he turned to gather up more acetylene line it popped off and dern near hit him.
We tried that. First, the guys cut the pan off and left the 2" thick flat bar.
Then they heated it.
Maybe we didn't heat it enough or pull hard enough. So we put a 6 ton hydraulic jack on it. Heat it some more.
Nope. That didn't work. At this point we tried for a few hours after work every day for 4 days. In the meantime, we discovered while the shredder was indeed a 2615L, the gear boxes were for the 3715, a much bigger box. Come to find out, Bush Hog put the bigger gear boxes on the 2615L for about a month. So, all of the parts I bought, did not fit. After my 3rd daily 30 mile one way trip I told the guy at the tractor store that I was tired of him jacking with me and he knew dern well the parts were for the 3715 and to stop selling me the 2615L parts. All of the sudden he became helpful.
After the 4th day, I called my expert, Brad. Brad Timmerman is one heck of a guy and I think could fix anything mechanical or build it. I asked Brad for advice and he started talking, but I handed the phone to the guy who seemed to be in charge of this project (because I asked him to be.) The next day, the guys came out for one final go.
Brad told them how to rig this up.
The flat bar is from a track hoe, about 1.5" thick. They clamped it on the blade holes and used the center bolt to continuously add even pressure. Brad also told them to make sure to put the castle nut on the gear shaft to keep it from being damaged. They heated the blade pan bar, turned the center nut and repeated this for about 10 minutes. POP! And just like that it came off!
A round of cheers from everyone! Brad also said to go ahead and replace gear box retaining washer (aka gasket) and the washer. So they did.
A little extra muscle to put the new pan on and I was ready to shred!
Not so fast... I had to figure out the hydraulic lines, sharpen blades, add fluid to the drained gear box, and finish lubing it which required replacing zerks (my new favorite word). And then I had to unfreeze the bearings in the PTO drive shaft so I could properly attach it to the tractor.
I bought a used 15' Bush Hog 2615 Legend shredder a couple of weeks ago, knowing that I was going to have to immediately replace the left wing stump jumper aka blade pan. This protects the gear box and shaft from well .. stumps. and the ground.
I had a picture and uploaded it but the upload didn't accept and now I don't have a picture of the original. The pan was rusted nearly all of the way around the attachment bolt.
We watched several You Tube videos of guys replacing their blade pans on 6 to 7 foot bush hogs but no one had a video of the 15'. The guys on the videos tried pulling it off (after removing the nut of course) with come alongs, trucks and one guy even turned his upside down and tried dragging it with his tractor! There was no way I was going to try that.
All of them finished with heating the pan at the point of attachment and as it cooled it popped off. One guy tried that, thinking he was going to cut it off and as he turned to gather up more acetylene line it popped off and dern near hit him.
We tried that. First, the guys cut the pan off and left the 2" thick flat bar.
Then they heated it.
Maybe we didn't heat it enough or pull hard enough. So we put a 6 ton hydraulic jack on it. Heat it some more.
Nope. That didn't work. At this point we tried for a few hours after work every day for 4 days. In the meantime, we discovered while the shredder was indeed a 2615L, the gear boxes were for the 3715, a much bigger box. Come to find out, Bush Hog put the bigger gear boxes on the 2615L for about a month. So, all of the parts I bought, did not fit. After my 3rd daily 30 mile one way trip I told the guy at the tractor store that I was tired of him jacking with me and he knew dern well the parts were for the 3715 and to stop selling me the 2615L parts. All of the sudden he became helpful.
After the 4th day, I called my expert, Brad. Brad Timmerman is one heck of a guy and I think could fix anything mechanical or build it. I asked Brad for advice and he started talking, but I handed the phone to the guy who seemed to be in charge of this project (because I asked him to be.) The next day, the guys came out for one final go.
Brad told them how to rig this up.
The flat bar is from a track hoe, about 1.5" thick. They clamped it on the blade holes and used the center bolt to continuously add even pressure. Brad also told them to make sure to put the castle nut on the gear shaft to keep it from being damaged. They heated the blade pan bar, turned the center nut and repeated this for about 10 minutes. POP! And just like that it came off!
A round of cheers from everyone! Brad also said to go ahead and replace gear box retaining washer (aka gasket) and the washer. So they did.
A little extra muscle to put the new pan on and I was ready to shred!
Not so fast... I had to figure out the hydraulic lines, sharpen blades, add fluid to the drained gear box, and finish lubing it which required replacing zerks (my new favorite word). And then I had to unfreeze the bearings in the PTO drive shaft so I could properly attach it to the tractor.
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