New Holland 462 Disc Mower

[WillowFarm]

Hi all,

We have a New Holland 462 disc mower. Towards the end of second cut last year, we spun off two of the five "turtles" when the mower bar got stuck on an incline. We managed to finish the rest of the second cut using the remaining three discs. There was no damage to the internal works, we just need the broken discs replaced.

We called the place that normally services our equipment and they gave us an estimate of $2000 - $4000 to replace the two discs. This seems awfully high to just replace the discs. Like I said, there was no internal damage to the bar as the other three discs still work fine.

Does this seem abnormally high to anyone who has had to have this done before ?

Thanks,

Ted

 

[ironpeddler]

If the mounting heads turn all you need is the disc that the blades mount on. They cost about $50 each. If the mounting heads do not turn you will have to separate the Kuhn oil-bath cutterbar and make the repairs. You may be able to remove the cutting units from the top of the bed without disassembling the cutter bar. That would be a mistake, if there is internal damage. All the broken pieces are still in the oil bath and should be cleaned out. Proper repairs to the mower bed in oil bath cutterbars are labor intensive. How do you know there was no internal damage did you look?

You could purchase a complete new bed for less than $4000. If the cost of repairs are $2,000- 4,000 a new bed would be a better choice because everything would be new.

 

[WillowFarm]

How do you know there was no internal damage did you look?

You could purchase a complete new bed for less than $4000. If the cost of repairs are $2,000- 4,000 a new bed would be a better choice because everything would be new.

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. After the two heads spun off, the mower still continued to operate on the remaining three heads with no problems for the remainder of the second cut. We haven't taken it apart, but since it still runs normally we "assume" there is no internal damage. Are we wrong to assume that ? Should it be checked anyway ?

Thanks again,

Ted

 

[ironpeddler]

Those disc travel about 180 MPH. When disc mowers come to an abrupt stop from that speed something will be broken because of the energy the disc carries. Just because the first 3 operated does not mean you do not have problems down in the bed. You have not given us enough information to even make an educated guess.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

If you don't start learning how to repair your own equipment, you will go broke might quick in the cattle or hay business.

Rebuilding a engine or tranny might be beyond the average guy's skill level but repairing a disc mower isn't very hard. It's just parts replacement.

 

[WillowFarm]

Those disc travel about 180 MPH. When disc mowers come to an abrupt stop from that speed something will be broken because of the energy the disc carries. Just because the first 3 operated does not mean you do not have problems down in the bed. You have not given us enough information to even make an educated guess.

The only information I can offer is that the mower is working normally on the remaining 3 disks. Whether there is damage inside the bar, I don't know. There is no grinding, and the mower is operating smoothly. I guess the only way to find out is to actually go inside to see. I guess that is what we will have to do.

johndeerefarmer: We are not in the cattle and hay business. We are a small family operation with 10 head of whiteface herfords. We do about 40 acres of hay that primarily feeds our herd through the winter. Our labor is family members that all have "regular" 40+ hour per week jobs. All of the farm stuff is done in our "free" time, what there is of it. We can deal with small repairs but have never come across something like this. I guess it's just a matter of it being a first time for everything.

 

[Scout]

I can't remember if this model separates by sections on the cutter bar, or if you have to take the whole thing apart to look inside it. If it's made like a NH 1411 discbine, you'll be able to take the 'turtleshells' off (sounds like they're gone already) and then unbolt section by section- on the discbine I'm familiar with, each section had its own gears, then a little rod with splines on it fitted between each gearbox thingy.

I'd say you're looking at some gear damage at the least. Just to let you know, a neighbor borrowed the aforementioned discbine once, ran some high-tensile wire through it and a metal fencepost. And said it was only a cedar sapling.

I was able to fix everything with the help of a huge-a$$ cheater bar- I needed the dealership's help for about $40 worth of time- to press a couple of bearings, as best as I can remember.

Take your time, and you can fix it yourself. Be glad that it's not 100 degrees outside and you've got hay ready to be cut two days ago.

 

[WillowFarm]

I can't remember if this model separates by sections on the cutter bar, or if you have to take the whole thing apart to look inside it. If it's made like a NH 1411 discbine, you'll be able to take the 'turtleshells' off (sounds like they're gone already) and then unbolt section by section- on the discbine I'm familiar with, each section had its own gears, then a little rod with splines on it fitted between each gearbox thingy.

I'd say you're looking at some gear damage at the least. Just to let you know, a neighbor borrowed the aforementioned discbine once, ran some high-tensile wire through it and a metal fencepost. And said it was only a cedar sapling.

I was able to fix everything with the help of a huge-a$$ cheater bar- I needed the dealership's help for about $40 worth of time- to press a couple of bearings, as best as I can remember.

Take your time, and you can fix it yourself. Be glad that it's not 100 degrees outside and you've got hay ready to be cut two days ago.

Hi Scout,

Thanks for the advice. At this point, it looks like the whole bar has to come apart. But, I'm not 100% sure yet. Hopefully, it's section by section. And yes, the "turtles" are off. They were sheared off at the time and took off like frisbies, luckily missing the operator. We were able to recover them. The broken rod still spins in the gear box, so that's at least some good news. Like I said, it still worked well enough last year to finish up the second cut on the remaining disks. I know what you mean by being glad it's not 100 degrees with hay to cut. That's why we're trying to get an early start on it now. I found an assembly manual and parts manual for this mower on ebay. The owners manual I have isn't much help. So we'll study that when it comes in and dive into it.

Thanks for the reply,

Ted

 

[simcross]

what exactly is broken?
The disc ?
Or are the spleen's on the stub shaft striped?

Lossen the nut on top of disc pull disc off if stub shaft turn's ok and the spleen;s are ok there should be no internal damage.

I have a 462 to bar is all one piece bolts go aroun entire edge of bar also has studs in center of bar.