May 19, 2014

Little Manatee River State Park

Wimauma, FL

I didn’t have any job tasked to me so I just hung around taking pictures of Monte and Chris, one of the rangers, working on the brush hog. 

 Last week, what should have been an easy job taking off the blades from the brush hog for sharpening turned into a major job because the pins holding the blades were frozen.

When Monte was finally able to get the blades off, he discovered the shop at the park didn’t have the size socket he would need to take off and reattach the disc that holds the blades. When Monte and Joey, one of the rangers, went to the hardware store they didn’t have the size needed but said they would order it and it would be in the next day. When Monte and Chris returned the next day he found out the store had ordered the wrong size. 

Chris said he knew of another hardware store not too far away so they went there and were pleasantly surprised to find the socket they needed.

The threads on the screws that held the stop plate were stripped. The shop had screws but they were too long so Monte had to cut approximately a quarter inch off so they would fit.

Next using a rotary wire brush he removed the rust and debris from the internal spline. 

And then lubricated it to assist with reassembly

and lubricated the output shaft as well.

Lubricating the holes on the disc.

Monte and Chris wheeled the disc to the brush hog.

They laid the disc down on a floor jack to assist with raising it to the level of the output shaft.

Once in position, because of the weight of the disc, they had to put a chain across it to secure it for safety purposes.

By rotating the power take off shaft, Monte was able to get the disc into position.

Once in position he tightened up the castle nut and then used a wire to secure the nut in place.

To prevent rust and corrosion, all the parts were lubricated with Anti-seize.

Anti-seize is graphite based and is kind of nasty to work with because it sticks to everything.

Finally, Monte and Chris attached the blades.

Once all that was accomplished and the brush hog was hitched to the tractor, Monte spent quite a bit of time adjusting the blade to the correct height. With over 15 miles of equestrian trails, it is going to take him a few days to get the trails cut.