Decided to change out the blades on my rotary mower yesterday. Had a set of blades sitting around meaning to do that long before now....and since it was only a balmy 98° F yesterday afternoon, why not?
Found my 1-11/16" socket (who the hell engineered that nut size) and got my 3' long 3/4" drive breaker bar out. Raised the mower, got it supported on jack stands (safety first) and addressed the first nut. Wouldn't budge. Rotated the PTO shaft, around comes the second nut, same thing...not gonna move.
Found a short piece of pipe that would fit over the breaker bar alright but not long enough to give me much of an advantage. So figured I might as well get out the impact wrench. Ran the compressor for a bit...dragged out the hose and impact. I had my 'Mac' impact already out on the workbench since I use it remove the blades on my Scag Zero Turn. Its pretty powerful....but the nuts on the rotary mower just laughed at it.
After rat-a-tat-tatting on it for awhile and now sweating profusely, it was time to dig out the AirCat.
Probably should have expected to need it right from the start. It zipped the nuts off easily and allowed me to proceed with the blade replacement. I 'hand' tightened the nuts upon reassembly using just the breaker bar and some thread locker.
Put up my tools, went back in the house where it is cool and that was that. Next time the mower needs any service it will just have to wait for cooler weather.