[Elendil22]

OK, I've go the deck off and got my new blades ready to go. I just have one silly quesiton:

Are the threads on the nut that holds the blades on "backwards"(right to loosen)?

I've WD 40'd them to death and can't get them to loosen at all...........

 

[JMoe]

They're conventional right handed thread (Righty-tighty. Lefty-loosey). You'll need an impact gun or a chuck of wood between deck/blade and some muscle to break them loose.

Joel

 

[savageactor7]

Elendil22 they are regular threads...righty tighty lefty loosey...and welcome to MTF.

Impact gun will work but I use a breaker bar with a cheater pipe for leverage...and a block of wood braced against the blade.

I'd recommend spraying with PB blaster a couple of times then do something else and get back to it.

When you do get them off put some never seize on the threads and they will come off much easier next time.

 

[Elendil22]

Thanks for the replies. I hadn't put a ton of muscle into it so far, on the off chance the threads were reversed and I would be going tighter. If I can't get them with a cresent wrench, I'm gonna have to go buy a socket, as I don't have one that big on hand (1"??) I've had them soaking for about 4 hours now.....................

 

[Toolin]

If you've got a beater crescent wrench you don't care too much about you can make a poor man's impact wrench. Just put the crescent wrench on the nut and whack the wrench's handle with a hammer or mallet in the direction you want it to go.

I have an air impact wrench myself. I really don't use it for many jobs other than mower blades and tractor tires. But those 2 uses more than make it worth it. Wow, what a difference over the old knuckle scraper method. You can even get electric ones if you don't want to do the whole compressor and hose setup (although that comes in handy for other projects...).

 

[pfreiburger]

Do you have another socket & bar holding the bolt on the topside? On the 2550 deck the hole in the blade is round – no star or other serration – that locks the blade to the spindle bolt. The spindle bolt is just compressed by the big nut to keep it in place. You can block the blade in place and usually the bolt and nut will just spin around together.

An impact wrench may loosen it, but if not you will need to get a socket on the bolt head topside to keep it from turning around. And yes, the head is too big for the socket to fit through the holes in the outside spindle covers – they have to come off (I am thinking about putting bigger holes in mine to avoid doing this). No, the owners manual does not properly describe this, but there are a number of things described in the manual that are just wrong.

If you are holding the bolt head topside and it still won’t come off, you do have a problem. It may be time for the pipe on the breaker bar mentioned above and/or the flaming wrench! Good Luck!