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Well I made it harder than it had to be. Used a 6" c clamp for the side blades and a breaker bar. Then the fun began with that middle blade. The pulley turns with the nut and I couldn't get it blocked correctly. So, I borrow a 3/8 drive impact wrench and it wouldn't budge. Then went to a 1/2 heavy duty and the nut zipped right off :laughing: Anyway my question is what impact to buy, 3/8 or 1/2, brand, Craftsman ok or chitty like most of their tools. Is 75 ft lbs the correct torque ? Thanks in advance.

Myself if I only had one impact it would be a 1/2in. The 3/8 is nice for light duty engine work. I find I don't use my 3/8 impact very much. If you do buy a impact wrench just make sure you buy the impact sockets to go along with it. Just a cheap set of impact sockets from HF will last a long time.

Yes 75ft/lbs is what the owners manual recommends for your blades.

Build a blade blocker that will work on all three blades. Lay it on a blade open side down and it stays there. A clamp is a pain in the ****.

If you are going to buy an impact wrench then get a good one.
I think the one I use is an Remington has 3 times the impact energy and usus 1/2 the air of my previous ( now back up ) one which came in the air kit I got with the first compressor.
Just watch the length of the shaft a lot of the better ones have long shafts which makes getting under decks a bit difficult.

I made a heavy gauge sheetmetal tool to be a third hand and hold the 1/2 drive socket & breaker bar underneth the deck as I loosen the top nut. I also use the blade buddy to lock up the blade from turning.
I have a 1/2 drive impact gun as my back up but I never needed it so far. When I remount the blade I torque them to 75 LBS.

SeniorCitizen said:

Build a blade blocker that will work on all three blades. Lay it on a blade open side down and it stays there. A clamp is a pain in the ****.

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Looks like a good idea. I think I will be making one this coming spring. How did you fasten the sides on glue?

rfc said:

Well I made it harder than it had to be. Used a 6" c clamp for the side blades and a breaker bar. Then the fun began with that middle blade. The pulley turns with the nut and I couldn't get it blocked correctly. So, I borrow a 3/8 drive impact wrench and it wouldn't budge. Then went to a 1/2 heavy duty and the nut zipped right off :laughing: Anyway my question is what impact to buy, 3/8 or 1/2, brand, Craftsman ok or chitty like most of their tools. Is 75 ft lbs the correct torque ? Thanks in advance.

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We normally change blades daily on my Tiger Cat. We use a Craftsman 1/2" 19 volt cordless impact. It works great. We pull the mower up on a sidewalk or driveway and stick a small floor jack under the deck in the very front and raise the mower that way.

A couple of times we have had a blade that the impact would not break loose. What we did in that case was wedge the bottom bolt with a combination wrench and then tool a long breaker bar in top and take it loose.

If it is possible we always try to change the blades early in the AM when everything is cold.

reynoldston said:

Looks like a good idea. I think I will be making one this coming spring. How did you fasten the sides on glue?

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Yes glue, Elmer's

SeniorCitizen said:

Build a blade blocker that will work on all three blades. Lay it on a blade open side down and it stays there. A clamp is a pain in the ****.

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If I understand you correctly you slide that jewel on the end of the blade with the ears hanging down? I tried wedging a short section of 2x4 to no avail and finally acquired a longer breakover bar that would hit on the rear wheels. Your hootus looks a whole lot handier and works on the center blade. I'm just too stupid to see how it works.

Please explain it to me.

Scag sells a blade blocker called the Blade Buddy that works quite well, my dealer tossed one in with my turf tiger purchase.

As for impacts, Ingersoll Rand is the way to go, not cheap but well worth the price. The TiMax line is extremely light and powerful, I've got one of all 3 sizes but if I was just buying one, it'd be the the 1/2" drive 2135TiMax, or if noise is a issue for you, the 2135QTiMax, same impact with a muffler essentially.

clay45 said:

If I understand you correctly you slide that jewel on the end of the blade with the ears hanging down? I tried wedging a short section of 2x4 to no avail and finally acquired a longer breakover bar that would hit on the rear wheels. Your hootus looks a whole lot handier and works on the center blade. I'm just too stupid to see how it works.

Please explain it to me.

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clay- I'm sorry I'm late replying to your question. Without e-mail notification I feel that's a frequent scenario.

On my 42 inch cut 2 blade JD tractor I begin on the discharge side allowing the tail end to protrude from the deck discharge chute opening. With the longer sides facing down straddling the blade it stays in place without holding it. After the right blade is removed and still working from the discharge chute advance to the left blade. Let the blocker extend off the blade tip several inches. The block usually wedges against the deck but possibly against the shaft of the right hand blade. It doesn't matter as long as it stops movement.

On my son in-laws 3 blade JD it works the same from the discharge chute although after loosening the far left blade I work from the left side to remove blade and re-torque. Then back to the chute side to install center and right blade. His would be easier if he would clean the deck of chunk build up.

chevy_cowboy said:

Scag sells a blade blocker called the Blade Buddy that works quite well, my dealer tossed one in with my turf tiger purchase. As for impacts, Ingersoll Rand is the way to go, not cheap but well worth the price. The TiMax line is extremely light and powerful, I've got one of all 3 sizes but if I was just buying one, it'd be the the 1/2" drive 2135TiMax, or if noise is a issue for you, the 2135QTiMax, same impact with a muffler essentially.

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We have a 19 volt Craftsman cordless that we change blades on two Tiger Cats with daily. It does an excellent job.

Really don't need a blade blocker for a Scag Tiger Cat as the blade bolt is 9 1/2" long, comes up from the underside of the deck, up thru the spindle and held with a nut up top.
I use an impact tool to remove the blade nuts and a long breaker bar with 15/16' socket to hold the bolt head and torque wrench @75 FTLBs also with a 15/16" socket to tighten the nut.
Some folks just use an impact tool to retighten the nut after a blade change, their choice!
Blade replacement on some machines is all done underneath and a blade lock tool is a handy item to have. I have one for my Hustler X-ONE as all blade stuff is done underneath the deck.
Mad Mackie in CT:smile::biggrin::laughing:

Mad Mackie said:

Really don't need a blade blocker for a Scag Tiger Cat as the blade bolt is 9 1/2" long, comes up from the underside of the deck, up thru the spindle and held with a nut up top. I use an impact tool to remove the blade nuts and a long breaker bar with 15/16' socket to hold the bolt head and torque wrench @75 FTLBs also with a 15/16" socket to tighten the nut. Some folks just use an impact tool to retighten the nut after a blade change, their choice! Blade replacement on some machines is all done underneath and a blade lock tool is a handy item to have. I have one for my Hustler X-ONE as all blade stuff is done underneath the deck. Mad Mackie in CT:smile::biggrin::laughing:

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We use a wrench and a breaker bar every once and a while. Not sure why but every so often we will have a blade that will be incredibly hard to break the nut loose on. Normally though we just raise the Tiger Cat with a small floor jack under the deck. Take a cordless impact and drop all three. Then change the blades on the bolts and stick them back through and start a nut. Then retighten them with the impact. Our oldest Tiger Cat is less than a year old with 300 hours on it. I think if memory serves me correctly we bought it in July of last year.

I had a problem with one blade nut, had to drill and split it to remove it. I now use a thin flat washer under each nut and haven't had any blade removal problems since. The washers that I use are aircraft type that have a smaller OD.

Mad Mackie said:

I had a problem with one blade nut, had to drill and split it to remove it. I now use a thin flat washer under each nut and haven't had any blade removal problems since. The washers that I use are aircraft type that have a smaller OD.

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We see that sometimes. One nut is very hard. We normally can take a breaker bar and put on it with a combination wrench on the bolt head on the bottom fooled against either the deck or a back tire and can break it loose. So far we have never had to cut a nut off.

Collection system on my Tiger Cub, R/H spindle nut, the collection drive spindle, is the one that gets over tight. 500 FTLB air impact tool wouldn't move it one time.

I have a 3 year old Turf Tiger and used to have the problem of one bolt being really hard to remove. I also used a breaker bar.

About 18 months ago, I started using anti-seize compound on them and have never had a hard to remove bolt since.

Anti-Seize is OK but creates a wet torque situation. If you torque the blade nuts to 75 ft/lbs the end result is way over torqued.