Bush Hog blade sharpening advice, please...

As Larry59 pointed out last week- it's probably way past time to sharpen the blades on my 5' Hi-Lo bush hog. I mowed about 4ft. high grass a couple of weeks ago, and I don't think I cut the grass as much as beat it into submission. (grin)

The cutter is 23 years old- and has been sitting unused for at least 14 of those years... I've never done any maintenance to it but keep the gearbox full, so it's time to try some blade sharpening.

A couple of questions, please:

1) What's the best way to go about sharpening the blades? I figure my two options are to prop it up on jacks and get under there with a hand grinder, or try and get the blades off and sharpen them in the shop.

I can't imagine that it's going to be easy to get the mounting bolts loose- no telling what kind of shape they are in. (the neighbor has offered to torch them off for me if I want to go that route, though)

2) How are the blades typically made to pivot? Is there some sort of spacer to allow the blades to be tightened yet swing freely? I'm assuming that these would be Grade 8 bolts for safety sake?

3) How critical is balance? Is it super crucial to take the same amount of material off of each blade, or is it not that precise of an operation?

Any advice would be appreciated. I won't know more about how it's put together underneath there until I get back out to the place this weekend.

-Schotte

I did the blades on my Bush Hog a couple of years ago and I just opted to replace them. Mine were well worn and beyond.

There should be a small round cover on top of the deck that either removes or swings away to access the nuts holding the shouldered blade bolts. An impact does wonders for this job. I doubt mine had ever been replaced, and my old hog has to be more than 30 yrs old, but the nuts came loose with minimal effort. Tractor supply carries quite an assortment of blades, shouldered bolts and nuts for all types of shredders. They're not overly expensive and I found the much improved cut and lessened hp drag on the tractor well worth the time, effort and expense.

Depending on how much wear and damage on your blades, the ammount of metal reqired to clean one up verus the other, you could create an imbalance problem that will shake your hog to pieces over time in the process of trying to save a buck.

Got you trailer? Load the hog, run it down here and we'll change 'em out in a couple of hours time.

Makes for a miserable job crawling around underneath with all manner of debris dropping down you shirt collar, up your sleeves while your banging around, grinding, etc, etc .....

We have a lot of spring brush sprouting up in the fields in my area. Conventional wisdom is that the cutting edge should be no sharper than that necessary to cut grass. Clubbing off the brush frays the stub ends helping to avoid tire puncher next time around.

Joe

• Hobby farm

Yep- I had definitely thought about using a come-along or ratchet strap to stand the bush hog up against a tree. I'm sure that would be an easier and safer way to work.

I have an impact wrench, and the neighbor has a big compressor. I might just try to get them off that way first.

I think I'm most worried about the HUGE amounts of poison ivy that I've mowed through with those blades!

-S.