# Need help rebuilding cutterbar on Krone disc mower



## 69zfarmer (Jun 17, 2012)

I have a 283s that has some bad spur gears in cutterbar. I have had alot of these Krone's and i always thought the right side had a end plate. To take off and slide gears out but i could not understand why the parts manual did not show a end plate. Now i am finding out all the gears have to come out of the bottom round hole under the cutterbar gearbox.

So first you pull big round plug under gearbox? Then you take spur gear off of gearbox shaft and that lets you slide the rest of the gears out right? Or do i have to remove the cutterbar from the gearbox to slide gears out? Please tell me no because it will be easier to just leave disc mower hooked to tractor and rebuild it that way.

Please Help!


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

The EC series mowers have a plate on the end. The AM series has a plate on the inboard end that the gears come out of. The outboard plate is nice, but with a gear failure, I always take the bar apart and clean it well and inspect all of the gears anyway. With a good air wrench it takes no time at all to strip an AM bar down.

Leave the mower on the tractor

Fold up and LOCK the cutterbar

Remove the lower socket head bolt and drain the lube

Remove the plate.

The screws have loctite on them- chances are slim they will come out unless you heat them. A propane torch works fine.

Remove the snap ring that holds the drive gear on.

Remove the gear, paying attention to the washer placement.

It is a straight, interference fit key way drive setup, but a puller makes is easier to get off.

Unfold the cutter bar on blocks

Remove the bolts the hold the cutterbar in place

Lift the mower frame away from the cutterbar

Leave the mower frame attached to the tractor and leave it suspended, block it if your tractor leaks down.

Set the cutterbar on saw horses.

Less than an hour to do all of this

Post when you get to this point and I will take you through the rest to get it repaired correctly.

Good Luck


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Nice directions Krone1, just glad it isn't me doing the implementation.


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## 69zfarmer (Jun 17, 2012)

Thanks krone1 for the help. I pulled the bottom round plate today and the drive spur gear on gearbow shaft looks good. When I turn the spur gears there is a couple of real hard places that are hard to get by. I have not found out what is causing that problem yet.


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## HAYcorey (Jul 22, 2018)

It's really not that hard. Just listen to Krone1 and take your time. He guided me through it last year. Never owned any other equipment where you could actually talk to a company rep that could guide you through a major repair. Made a Krone believer out of me!

Also, all of the manuals are available on the Krone website. Why can't other manufacturer's do this?

Thanks again Krone1!!


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## TJ Hendren (May 12, 2017)

HAYcorey said:


> It's really not that hard. Just listen to Krone1 and take your time. He guided me through it last year. Never owned any other equipment where you could actually talk to a company rep that could guide you through a major repair. Made a Krone believer out of me!
> 
> Also, all of the manuals are available on the Krone website. Why can't other manufacturer's do this?
> 
> Thanks again Krone1!!


Because they want to sell them to you all over again at $30-50 a pop.


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## 69zfarmer (Jun 17, 2012)

Ok i got started, I pulled all of the 7 bearing housings/pinions, plate off under gearbox on bottom of cutterbar, spur gear on gearbox. Flushed out metal chunks. I can see bad spots on some of the teeth on the first 4 spur gears. Bad left bearing housing, the teeth on the 2 pinions on the bad gears are chipped also of course. I felt the bad spots on spur gears with my finger. I then and took a small die grinder and smoothed them out.

When i put a good pinion in any of the 7 spots and turn the all of the spur gears it has 2 hard spots per turn. One of the hard spots is minor but the other spot is very hard.

What could be causing this? I am not sure i am going any futher on this project i may just junk it. If i do how do i get the bolts out that goes through cutter bar that holds each spur gear. Are they loctited? Will i have to heat the nuts? How do you hold the bolts to get nuts off? The bolt looks like a carriage bolt that may have a square shoulder if so how easy are they to strip out and start turning? What do you use to flush out cutterbar? Sorry for all the questions but i may have more.


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

The idler gear bolts have a 2 flat sides on the bottom for a wrench. If they are worn down too much for a wrench to grab, sometimes a pair of vise grips will hold. A really hot impact often times will spin the nuts off. They are not loctited, it they spin just tack a nut on the head of the bolt. If they are worn that badly they should be replaced anyway. You run the risk of damaging the cutterbar housing if you try to cut them out.

To clean, tilt and pressure wash with lots of detergent. After it's dry. I blow it out with compressed air. Then I remove the vent plug from the outboard end and fish a wire down to the access plate and pull a tight fitting towel back through the length of the housing with the wire. (not wife's towel. HA) The inside of the bar is painted. With it fully stripped it is easy to clean.

if there are any damaged or broken studs, this is a good time to replace them.

If the mower is in good condition otherwise, probably worth repairing vs. scrapping depending on how many parts you need.


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## 69zfarmer (Jun 17, 2012)

I got everything a part. Pretty big job. I see why it could cost 3-4000$ to repair. I found some used spur gears. The spur gears are almost non serviceable. I did finally press out one of the old bearings. Don't press them without taking a ziz wheel and cut them as close to the gear as you can get. The bearings are NSK 6208N. I have yet to find any new bearings with wire rings. They have a grove cut in them and wire retaining ring that you can't see when installed. Looks like you will have to use a piston ring compressor to install bearings in spur gears.


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## Soulshine (Jul 19, 2020)

Had anyone put the C clip ring back on bearings when reinstalling bearing? Or can the just be installed without them?


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

9303260 Bearing- MSRP- $15.44

1442363 Ring- MSRP- $.45

The bearing is typically a tight fit without the snap ring, but I wouldn't risk it.

We could save $6.30 per machine by not using the snap ring and choose to use it... just saying


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

I see you are in Alabama. If you need to get going today I have 5 of the OEM bearings and rings if you want to come get them. I am 2 hours ish from Huntsville in middle Tennessee.


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## Soulshine (Jul 19, 2020)

Thanks Krone1,

I'm two hours away from Huntsville. I'm replacing all bearing on my Am 243S. I have two new spur gears already so I'd need 9 rings. Spent 1000 dollars on parts and wasn't told about the bearing rings when I ordered the bearing.

Soulshine


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## [email protected] (Aug 22, 2020)

krone.1 said:


> The EC series mowers have a plate on the end. The AM series has a plate on the inboard end that the gears come out of. The outboard plate is nice, but with a gear failure, I always take the bar apart and clean it well and inspect all of the gears anyway. With a good air wrench it takes no time at all to strip an AM bar down.
> 
> Leave the mower on the tractor
> 
> ...


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

Do you have a 3 series AM mower? Am243, Am283, etc


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## NZ- Matt (Dec 5, 2020)

Krone AM 323

Inside drive cog on first module (closest to tractor) has failed. Upon inspection, module fine, drive cog on left (looking at mower from front) has movement in it. Allows module to slip. Brass and fine bits of metal in bottom of mower bed oil. Worn out idler has been suggested as cause. To do this requires strip down. Oil dropped out, access plate on inside taken off and then removing drive out of mower bed. Are we on the right track? Seems likely to be a days work in it maybe more. Intend to replace anything we find in there that has any sign of wear. Anyone have an opinion on this?


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## NZ- Matt (Dec 5, 2020)

Dealer replaced this with a Kuhn GMD 800. He admitted the reputation of Krone mowers with a few years on them is not so good. Mine was the 2nd to fail on him this season.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

NZ- Matt said:


> Dealer replaced this with a Kuhn GMD 800. He admitted the reputation of Krone mowers with a few years on them is not so good. Mine was the 2nd to fail on him this season.


welcome to Haytalk NZ Matt...
I beg to differ with your dealer.......the Kuhn is a good machine, I've seen some old ones, but I've seen some ancient Krone mowers still cutting grass. I have one with 2k hours, I'm sure to be rebuilding it soon.....but until then!


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

somedevildawg said:


> I have one with 2k hours, I'm sure to be rebuilding it soon.....but until then!


Dang Dawg

I didn't realize Krone offered an hour meter as an option??? 

All joking aside I know of some local Krone disc cutters with many hours of use.


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## r82230 (Mar 1, 2016)

Tx Jim said:


> Dang Dawg
> 
> I didn't realize Krone offered an hour meter as an option???


Jim, that option might be only available to the 'Big Dawgs', all the pups need to stay on the porch.  :lol: Plus I think Big Dawg is running a SP, which very well could have an engine hour meter. 

Larry


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

SP windrower ownership requires discussion forum handle change to ""Mr Big Dawg""!!!!  :lol:


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## NZ- Matt (Dec 5, 2020)

Well, took the GMD out for a run, certainly not as nimble as the AM. Felt like I was pulling an extra ton or 2 around the paddock. Did the job, no breakdowns didn’t even lose a blade. Kuhn cuts higher than the Krone when bar is in level state so more forgiving on that front.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

I do like the Big M......

But, and one wouldn't know that....( lessen' they wuz the Big Dawg  or perhaps just as stupid as a Dawg ), {you should know Paul Harvey once said: "next time you call your dog stupid, just think about who is working to feed who" } the Big M actually has individual hour meters for the cutterbars in the display console..... 

But in all fairness, they've been maintained very well so I'm sure theys' been some $ spent on them to get to that hour. I know I've bought three of the top hats and two regular discs...when I do a complete rebuild, I'll probably take them all down and rebuild at the same time.


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## NZ- Matt (Dec 5, 2020)

Thinking might buy the AM back as a repair project, nimble around the paddock plus the cutting width is 3.1 verses 2.4 of the GMD 800.


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## timbe (Jul 5, 2021)

krone.1 said:


> The EC series mowers have a plate on the end. The AM series has a plate on the inboard end that the gears come out of. The outboard plate is nice, but with a gear failure, I always take the bar apart and clean it well and inspect all of the gears anyway. With a good air wrench it takes no time at all to strip an AM bar down.
> 
> Leave the mower on the tractor
> 
> ...


Hi,
Thanks Krone.1, such good advice. I have Krone AM243CV with some gear teething issues. I have it almost in pieces, but wondering how to push back the drive gear axle to make room for removing the rest of gears. Would you happen to have any good advice on this?


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

Once you remove the drive gear separate the cutterbar housing from the gearbox.


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## Blackjack06 (Sep 2, 2021)

krone.1 said:


> I see you are in Alabama. If you need to get going today I have 5 of the OEM bearings and rings if you want to come get them. I am 2 hours ish from Huntsville in middle Tennessee.


I’m currently rebuilding an am 243 s my question right now is when putting new spur gear in there is a washer 144 238 4 (40x54x4.5) how do you slide gear and washer down bar and into place?


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## krone.1 (Jul 28, 2013)

Best practice is to get a plastic spacer with the combined thickness of the washer and the gear. Use the spacer to capture both the gear and the washer and slide them in together. Once in place, remove the spacer.


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## Half of nothing (8 mo ago)

krone.1 said:


> 9303260 Bearing- MSRP- $15.44
> 
> 1442363 Ring- MSRP- $.45
> 
> ...


I appreciate all the information and help a fellow can get on this forum. Is there an “easiest” way to get the bearing race out and not damage the retaining ring and what is the fastest way to order the rings? Thanks


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