Tumble weeds have been a major annoyance this year. A gg daughter helped me and we cleaned out the fence along the north side of my house and threw them out into the pasture. I then gave them a bush hog massage and this particular bunch won't tumble anywhere anymore. They just kind of disappeared after being run over by the hog.
Since the tractor was all warmed up I decided to hog some of the pasture down while I was fired up and proceeded to do so. I made a mistake though. I ran over a huge bear grass and thought I would clear it enough by raising the hog but it grabbed it. It ripped it right out of the ground but also knocked a blade out of alignment and that's it until I can align the blades again. The hog and the tractor shake like crazy when this happens. It's a major chore to do. I have to jack the deck up enough to get under it to work and it is easier to just use a high lift jack rather than to reset the lift to where the tractor can raise it and then re-level the deck again when done. First thing though is to loosen the nut on the blades which is no small chore as they are tightened to 350 FPT. My method is a breaker bar and a 10' cheater pipe. I tighten it the same way and yank on it until it won't move any more, to heck with a torque wrench. Any less and it will slip too easy. I learned that the hard way. It used to take me about an hour and a half to get everything lifted, blocked up, nuts loosened, the blades aligned and clamped where they can't move while tightening, and then put everything up. I haven't had to do this for three years and it may take a half day to do it this time or even more. I don't get up and down or crawl under stuff very well anymore. Maybe I can scare up a big, stout grandson to help tomorrow afternoon but I'm not counting on it.
