I picked up this bush hog for$500 when we first bought the land. At the time I had a 1950 Case 300B that ran well, until the rod bearing let go again. It has a bad journal on the crank and so it sits. Then I welded a car axle to it and connected the pto to the diff. I added a tow hitch and pulled it with my grand cherokee. It worked well until the gearbox came loose.
Here we are 10 years later with a Junk John Deere 2010 that has been a constant P.I.T.A. I got it running and pulled the neighbors bush hog to prove that I can. It did fairly well albeit 1st gear full throttle. Not cool for a 46 HP tractor. Now it's starting to overheat and I'm hoping it just need the thermostat put back in.
So here is my cob job repair. This gear box has oval mounting holes. The previous owner installed helicoils that couldn't withstand the constant vibration and heavy torque loads. No way for me to easily drill and tap them and I couldn't get the hub off to install a new gearbox.
I decided to box the gearbox in 2"x 1/4" wall angle. I used two bolts from the front of the pto input housing. The rest is heavily "squished" by a boxed frame. I made four rounds of the pasture and it held fine so far.
Seriously considering an investment in a new tractor. I found a 1965 international b414 with front end loader, bush hog, and new tires for $5000. Hmmm.......



Here you can see the old pipes that were welded directly to the car axle. They actuall grip the arms so it lifts off the ground without the top link. I think I'll cut the pipes off and add a top link mount eventually. I will put a brace on the angle uprights as well even though they are crazy rigid and strong as is. It's a heavy duty mower.
