BX2380 might be broke.

[Hoserman]

I sold my not so old BX2380 to my son and grandson. They bought a house in the town north of us. They had a big Martin bird house on a steel pipe. Last year a nasty windstorm blew it down snapping the pipe off about 2" above the ground. Well they forgot about it and today he was mowing and hit that pipe stalling the tractor completely. He took it out of PTO mode got it started and backed off the jam point. He tried to re-engage the mower and it would not go. I haven't looked into it yet and was wondering if there is a shear pin that might have taken the heat. Anyone else have this happen. I know where EVERY rock, stump, hole, or any other machine busting boogieman there is in my yard and work accordingly. Any ideas?

 

[RCW]

Could have damaged mower and/or the tractor.

I would check bottom of mower to see if there is obvious damage to the blades or spindles causing binding.

Turn them by hand. Will have to disconnect the mower's PTO shaft to turn it.

Probably best to pull mower out from under the tractor.

Check for any oil leaks, that could mean broken mower gearbox.

Check to see if there's any oil leaks around the mid-PTO location on the tractor. Then I'd check to see if the tractor PTO runs.

Good luck and best wishes.

 

[Russell King]

Assuming it is a mid mount mower…
No shear pin but the belts should slip to prevent too much damage.EXCEPT the center spindle that I believe is directly driven.

I would assume that one or more of the blades are seriously bent and may be hitting the ground significantly.

Jack up the front end and look underneath it, something is jammed.

And don’t try to use the mower until it is free to rotate again.

Assuming it is a rear mount mower there should be a shear pin or a slip clutch. But it doesn’t sound like either worked properly.

 

[Hoserman]

Yep, that is basically what I told him to do. Remover the deck and get it out from under the tractor and do a complete inspection both top and under. If something is damaged, I hope for his sake it's in the deck and not in the transfer case drive. Problem is he said it hit dead center to the deck, so that means the direct drive from the gearbox took the hit. I have a feeling this will be an expensive lesson for him to think on.

 

[Spam Bot]

I bet that it was the sudden stop that stalled the tractor. Most likely, the blade was bent, and possibly the gearbox. I doubt that the tractor itself is damaged. If it's the gearbox, check the Messicks website to see how many other mower decks use the same gearbox, and then look for a used deck on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace. If it is just the blade, replace all three blades and then spin them by hand to make sure that the deck isn't bent. If it is both the gearbox and deck that are damaged, then hunt down a used mower deck. It seems that there are quite a few used ones available.

 

[whitetiger]

Usually, the lip on the bottom of the deck is bent, and a blade is caught on it. It is a simple repair with a large adjustable wrench or pipe wrench.
It is almost unheard of to bend the blade on a RCK deck enough for it to contact anything.

 

[Hoserman]

An update on my sons 2380, all is good. No damage at all and the reason it wouldn't engage is when he hit the hidden pipe and it stalled the tractor, he reached down to disengage the mower and shoved the other lever for PTO or Mower to the PTO position. He put it back in mower mode and is back in business. Their built like a tank for sure.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

wow you all dodged a very expensive mistake!!! Best use a BFH and drive that pipe below grade!

 

[Spam Bot]

wow you all dodged a very expensive mistake!!! Best use a BFH and drive that pipe below grade!

Better off to pull it out because if he lives in an area that has freezing temperatures, the frost will push it up over the winter.

 

[Hoserman]

Yep, that boogieman is no more. He said he hooked onto it with a chain and pulled it out with the FEL. Pipe was incased in a foot long X 6" concrete pillar.

 

[Henro]

Better off to pull it out because if he lives in an area that has freezing temperatures, the frost will push it up over the winter.

Good suggestion...but...is this true if the bottom of the pipe is below the frost line in the area? No clue here, but I would expect not....

 

[Hoserman]

May happen in some more dense type of soils, but where he lives is a lot of sand so even in a really cold winter there is little heave.