I have a Land Pride RCR 1872 with about 50 hours of mowing grassy roadsides and woods openings. I noticed a vibration when mowing yesterday and could see the gearbox shaking. I stopped the mower and saw that all four bolts holding the gearbox to the deck were loose. I wouldn't think that should happen and that the bolts would have some kind of locking nut on them. It appears that it will be quite a chore to retighten them. Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions to keep this from happening again? Thanks for any input.
land pride mower gearbox loose at 50 hours
- Thread starter longleaf1
- Start date
Daren Todd
Well-known member
Lifetime Member
Equipment
Massey Ferguson 1825E, Kubota Z121S, Box blade, Rotary Cutter
I don't have an LP. I have a howse and experience with the bush hog rotary cutters. Easiest way I have found to tighten the bolts for the gear box is to tip it on it's side 
Make sure and do it safely. My dads five foot bush hog, we used the fel to lift it up and strapped it to a tree. My four footer is light enough for two people to tip it up by hand. Strapped that one too.
We ended up flattening a two foot piece of pipe over an end of a wrench to be able to get to the bolts. DON'T try to remove the stump jumper!!! That's opening a whole new can of worms With it on it's side, you can look behind the stump jumper to see the bolts. And can use gravity to get to them You'll need two people to tighten it up though. One to hold the wrench, the other on the opposite side to tighten the bolts.
We went a step further and welded the nuts to the deck after we tightened them up
Make sure and do it safely. My dads five foot bush hog, we used the fel to lift it up and strapped it to a tree. My four footer is light enough for two people to tip it up by hand. Strapped that one too.We ended up flattening a two foot piece of pipe over an end of a wrench to be able to get to the bolts. DON'T try to remove the stump jumper!!! That's opening a whole new can of worms
With it on it's side, you can look behind the stump jumper to see the bolts. And can use gravity to get to them You'll need two people to tighten it up though. One to hold the wrench, the other on the opposite side to tighten the bolts.We went a step further and welded the nuts to the deck after we tightened them up
coachgeo
Well-known member
Equipment
L225 w/woods Few Mowers & Back Blade, D722 in Motorcycle (Triumph Tiger), LMTV
I bought a used 3pt boom just for lifting the mower on its side or over to it's back for similar service.
Did you buy it new? I would contact your dealer, first. Perhaps they will take the responsibility upon themselves and do the work. Otherwise, you've gotten good advice. I would check the bolts for lock washers, or replace the nuts with locknuts, or a combination of both.
I had the exact same problem with my RCR1860. After I tightened them, they have not loosened since. They must come less tight from the factory.
Dont overlook the pto shaft when experiencing bolt loosening.
Is the pto shaft new and did it come with the mower?
Did you check it for length to ensure it is not bottoming out ( the telescoping feature) at some point in the lifting of the mower?
If you did any mods to the shaft did the u joints remain in sync?
The shaft can place a lot of stress on the back of the tractor and on the mower gear box.
What sort of angles are the u joints running at? i.e. is the tractor pto shaft the same elevation or close to it as the mower shaft?
Dave M7040
Is the pto shaft new and did it come with the mower?
Did you check it for length to ensure it is not bottoming out ( the telescoping feature) at some point in the lifting of the mower?
If you did any mods to the shaft did the u joints remain in sync?
The shaft can place a lot of stress on the back of the tractor and on the mower gear box.
What sort of angles are the u joints running at? i.e. is the tractor pto shaft the same elevation or close to it as the mower shaft?
Dave M7040
Just tightened these on my RCR 1872 with the help of a friend. All 4 bolts were loose (!)
Was able to get it done from under the deck, using a ~2' long torque wrench with a 2" extension. The wrench, extension and 15/16" socket slid right under the stump jumper and securing it on the bolts was pretty straightforward. Just needed to spin the blades a bit in order to see the nuts though the hole in the stump jumper. Friend tightened the bolts from the top. Hope this helps anyone who needs to do this procedure. When working under the deck remember to secure it with jack stands or something solid so you don't have to worry about it dropping on you.
Was able to get it done from under the deck, using a ~2' long torque wrench with a 2" extension. The wrench, extension and 15/16" socket slid right under the stump jumper and securing it on the bolts was pretty straightforward. Just needed to spin the blades a bit in order to see the nuts though the hole in the stump jumper. Friend tightened the bolts from the top. Hope this helps anyone who needs to do this procedure. When working under the deck remember to secure it with jack stands or something solid so you don't have to worry about it dropping on you.
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Best thing you could do is pull all the bolts out, clean the holes with B-12 Chemtool or something similar, then re-install with Locktight Thread Locker and torque to specification for the Grade bolt they are.