# Vermeer 40 series disc mower problems



## dngranch (Aug 29, 2016)

I have a Vermeer 7040 Disc mower that binds up on me after cutting an hour or so. It is 3yrs and 2months old and Vermeer said they will not stand behind there product and pay for repair. I just got it from the Dealer who charged me over $1,200 to repair it and it is doing the same thing. Was told the Pulley on the gearbox came apart and wallered out the keyway. So the shaft and pulley needed to be replaced. Has anyone else had any problems with this series of mowers?


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## LukeS (Feb 24, 2015)

dngranch said:


> I have a Vermeer 7040 Disc mower that binds up on me after cutting an hour or so. It is 3yrs and 2months old and Vermeer said they will not stand behind there product and pay for repair. I just got it from the Dealer who charged me over $1,200 to repair it and it is doing the same thing. Was told the Pulley on the gearbox came apart and wallered out the keyway. So the shaft and pulley needed to be replaced. Has anyone else had any problems with this series of mowers?


Well it is out warranty and so vermeer should not have to pay, as for it it coming apart if it was just recently fixed then the dealer should warranty it.


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## dngranch (Aug 29, 2016)

I only cut about 200 to 300 acres a year with this machine. I am only on the third set of knives. Surely a $10,000 mower should last longer than that. The pulley didn't come apart again, but it is still binding after an hour of use. I believe a bearing is getting hot. I measured the temp on all turtles and they were around 110-115 degrees. Gear box was 158-160 degrees after hour of mowing. Not going to buy anymore Vermeer cutters.


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## Tx Jim (Jun 30, 2014)

Sounds as if dealer that repaired it failed to repair it correctly & needs to correctly repair it. Back when I owned a Vermeer M7030 I replaced the brgs & gears in main gearbox,filled with oil & had no more problems. Seal had failed in bottom of gearbox causing the failed gears.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

This is going to sound strange, but did you try the mower on a different tractor. Been out on more than one case where a customer thoufght the machine was pulling too hard and the customer was thinking something on the machie was locking up but in reality the tractor was loosing power.

What exactly happens when this happens. Does the tractor pull down, or the belt slips.


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## dngranch (Aug 29, 2016)

Doesn't sound strange at all if I had more hay to cut right now I would try behind other tractor.I don't know if the belt is slipping. I will look for belt dust in cover. It takes about 1-1.5 hour to start pulling down. sure hope its not the tractor its a Kubota 7060 bought new for Christmas. If I keep the cutter and not trade it that's what I will do. That's why I checked the temperature of each turtle and the gear box hoping someone would chime in and say whether the gearbox was too hot or not. Not sure what temperature gear box should be. I have cut several times with this tractor with no problems. Thanks for the suggestions. Oh it has oil in upper and lower so no seal failure.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

The temperature of you gearboxes is in the normal range. A gearbox with a belt attached seems to have a higher temperature. I run new machines for a half hour and the modules are usually in the 80 to 90 range and the bevel gearbox with the belt will be around 150 ti 160. I can not remember what the range is for normal operation. It seems like it was around 30 to 40 degrees above ambient temperature but the bevel gearboxes run around 50 to 60 degrees above ambient temperature. This on discbines where you have one input and two output shafts with one shaft driving the belt pulley.

If it was a bearing it would have locked up solid not just pull down after extended use. Your belt may be too loose or just worn out. I can not get the customers around here to keep their discmower belts tighten properly,. The spring and gauge is right in front of them, but as long as there is no problems they will run not realizing they can be damaging other components in the drive system from the drive pulley bouncing around.


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## dngranch (Aug 29, 2016)

Thank you that makes a lot of sense. All of you have been very helpful. I think I'm going to check the belt and try it behind another tractor. The only question I have now is why would it take and hour or so to start slipping? You guys are great. Thanks again.


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## mike10 (May 29, 2011)

If it is the tractor, the oil continues to heat up as the day goes along and any internal leakage increases because the oil gets thinner.

Same with the belt. The belt may be slipping as you are mowing but reaches the point the belt can not drive effectively any more. Make sure the belt is not running against the bottom of the pulley grooves. The belt must pull on the sides.

If the tractor engine is not pulling down when this occurs, something is slipping and there are only two possibilites, belt or tractor.

If it was a sheared key, the mower would not mow for an hour before the issue starts.


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## dvcochran (Oct 1, 2017)

dngranch said:


> I only cut about 200 to 300 acres a year with this machine. I am only on the third set of knives. Surely a $10,000 mower should last longer than that. The pulley didn't come apart again, but it is still binding after an hour of use. I believe a bearing is getting hot. I measured the temp on all turtles and they were around 110-115 degrees. Gear box was 158-160 degrees after hour of mowing. Not going to buy anymore Vermeer cutters.


It the belts are slipping a lot of heat is going to be generated. If the connection between output puller and gearbox is damage that could also cause some heat rise. I agree with @Mike10; the gearbox need to come off and be "rebuilt" while correcting the damage to output shaft and pulley.

My company tagline is "Do it right or do it again". This sounds like where you are at. It is not the mower brand, it is the repairs that were/were not made correctly.

There a lots of other factors. 200-300/year is not a lot of hay but if it is on mountain goat hills or super rough that is a huge factor. Operation/ maintenance play a major factor as well.

With your measured temperatures it sounds like you are on the right track but I am not sure I understand your symptoms. Can you better describe "binds up"? Do the belts start slipping, etc....?


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## dngranch (Aug 29, 2016)

When I cut this time I took the cover off and turned the pully by hand to see how hard it was. Then when it started to pull or bog down I went back and checked how hard it was to turn pully. It was no harder. So hooked up the same Kubota tractor 7060 with only 100 hr. on her, to my 12ft. batwing mower and guess what. After about 20 min she started to bog down. Long story short took it to dealer and they have a problem with certain serial numbers doing this. Dealer has kept my tractor for over a month and don't know what to do to fix. So answer was tractor. Just a coincidence that pully was bad on Vermeer cutter also. Thank you all for your help.


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