Farmall Cub

I have a woods (I think) mower and the darn blades keep unscrewing and falling off....

The blades are turning in the correct direction (sharp side leading) and the bolts are right hand thread (lefty/tighty, right/loosey).
I put new lock washers on and they still fall off.
Should the blades be rotating clockwise or counter clockwise when viewed from the top looking down?

Any ideas?

Not sure which rotation your blades should be, but if they turn clockwise the bolts should turn counter-clockwise to tighten them.

Lefty loosey Righty Tighty for R/H

Something is wrong here. Woods makes mower decks that turn in either direction according to the application and machine they are on. And the blade mount bolts always tighten as the blade spins, either right handed threads or left handed threads according to the direction the mower turns. So it sounds to me like your deck is not turning in the right direction. Is your belt on correctly for the machine you have it mounted on? The Cubs turn opposite most other tractors. Did you swap it off another machine that turns the other way? If its on a Cub do you have the 3/4 turn twist in the belt on one side and a 1/4 turn twist in the belt on the other side and have the belts going to the correct direction around the pulleys?

1-your mower is rotating backwards. Woods made that mower with spindles for right hand or left hand rotation
2-either the wrong blades are on or they are on upside down if the are sharp edge leading and unscrewing
3- recomend installing proper blades and then crossing the belts to get proper blade rotation so that the bolts will tighten up
4- years ago used a Woods 59 from a Kubota on a Cub had to cross the belts and make up mounts. Cowboy has that mower now on a 100 and it turns proper without having the belt crossed.

Good luck
Ron

Can't quite get my mind around translating direction of bolt rotation to thread orientation, but I do remember this: As you tighten the bolt, the handle of the wrench should be moving in the same direction as the blades will be rotating. Don't tighten the bolts much past snug, or you will have difficulty loosening the bolts when you want to pull the blades to sharpen them. As the blades spin, the bolts will continue to tighten even more.

bythepond88 wrote:... As you tighten the bolt, the handle of the wrench should be moving in the same direction as the blades will be rotating. ...

No, to tighten the bolt turn it opposite the rotation of the blade. Others will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.

Bill

Bill Hudson wrote:

bythepond88 wrote:... As you tighten the bolt, the handle of the wrench should be moving in the same direction as the blades will be rotating. ...

No, to tighten the bolt turn it opposite the rotation of the blade. Others will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.

Bill

Bill, that is the way I understand it too.

Barnyard wrote:Not sure which rotation your blades should be, but if they turn clockwise the bolts should turn counter-clockwise to tighten them.

I'm thinking much the same thing.....two issues.
1. I have the wrong blades
2. They are spinning the wrong way.

Previous owner.....

Remember, the Cub PTO turns backwards compared to the rest of the world.

ricky racer wrote:Remember, the Cub PTO turns backwards compared to the rest of the world.

Boy, this is turning into the misinformation thread. The Cub PTO spins correctly, it's just the rest of the world that spins backwards.

Scrivet wrote:

ricky racer wrote:Remember, the Cub PTO turns backwards compared to the rest of the world.

Boy, this is turning into the misinformation thread. The Cub PTO spins correctly, it's just the rest of the world that spins backwards.

That's the way they do it ...

Way ta go Jeff

pickerandsinger wrote:Lefty loosey Righty Tighty for R/H

Gee whiz, some kinda confusion. I agree with Pickerandsinger. In my experience, right hand discharge has right hand threads and left hand discharge has left hand threads regardless of the brand or size of the machine. I have converted LH decks to RH using the original LH threads with no problems. ...sounds like problem solved, backward blades.

P.S. ...or maybe not. The drag or resistance of the blade cutting grass or hitting something like sticks would tend to tighten the nut (or bolt) regardless of whether the blades are upside down or the wrong ones, as long as the rotation is correct and the same as the threads on the spindle. Another thought, if the spindle doesn't have enough threads for the nut (or bolt) to sufficiently clamp the blade it will come loose too, maybe another spacer is needed.

Bill Hudson wrote:
No, to tighten the bolt turn it opposite the rotation of the blade. Others will be along to correct me if I'm wrong.


Bill

This means right hand discharge will have right hand threads.

vwfish wrote:Should the blades be rotating clockwise or counter clockwise when viewed from the top looking down?

A right hand discharge deck will spin clockwise as viewed from above. ...and a right hand nut or bolt turns clockwise to tighten as you stand in front of it.

vwfish wrote: the bolts are right hand thread (lefty/tighty, right/loosey).

It seems you have a left hand thread or counterclockwise spindle which means you should have a left hand discharge set up. I'm curious as to what you have, is your deck RH discharge or LH?

Well funny thing is both sides of the deck are open, so I guess it could be either side discharge at this point.
Now I know the blades are spinning clockwise as you look down and the bolts tighten the same way.

Do I need different blades and route the belt the opposite way so the blades spin the other direction?