Lawn Care Forum banner

Broke bedknife and reel of my JD 220c

4133 Views 22 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  TonyC
To make a long story short, was mowing yesterday. Was doing a turn and hit the corner of the damn sidewalk.

It bent up the bedknife and that's all I thought. But after closer inspection it busted a weld on the damn reel as well. This makes the reel out of round. It wasn't even that hard of hit IMO. But at this point it is what it is.

So I'm getting a new reel and bedknife.

The question I have is...

1) Any tips for getting the damn 13 bedknife screws screws out? They are rusted and won't budge. At this point I've used wd40, liquid wrench, hammer, chisel, etc. The ones I've gotten out so far, I've drilled out and used an extractor to break them loose. Total. Pain. In. The. ***. This should have taken all of 10 minutes. It's taken me over 5 hours for 5 screws. I'm ordering new screws with the bedknife so I'm not worried about drilling them out, but this is a total pain.

I'm at wits end on the other 7 or so.

2) I got a new OEM 11 blade reel. Is there anything special I need to do with it before putting it back on? Will I have to get the reel and the bedknife sharpened together for them to mate properly? I've read somewhere that you have to sharpen something together, not sure what part it is though.
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
I used a manual impact driver that you strike with a hammer. Also, not sure what the JD screws look like, but Toro has a special socket tool designed to fit their bedknife screws.

Corrosion is no doubt the biggest enemy I've encountered on these used greens mowers.
Ware said:
I used a manual impact driver that you strike with a hammer. Also, not sure what the JD screws look like, but Toro has a special socket tool designed to fit their bedknife screws.

Corrosion is no doubt the biggest enemy I've encountered on these used greens mowers.
Thanks. The toro screws look pretty much identical to the JD ones. 5/16 Bed Knife Screw / Toro/57-4910 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006RYVUNO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_zScPzbE96X965

Not sure if they are same exact size though.

The issue is the flathead part is rather large. No normal bit from like an impact driver kit is wide enough to take advantage of the super wide slot.

Thanks for the link to the manual impact driver.

Do you know what the toro tool is called for extracting the screws?
I can't remember what size it was I think it was the 3/8" S2? It came with my impact screwdriver kit like Ware posted and it fit my 220B perfectly.
kur1j said:
...The issue is the flathead part is rather large. No normal bit from like an impact driver kit is wide enough to take advantage of the super wide slot...

...Do you know what the toro tool is called for extracting the screws?
Right, you definitely want a bit that fits the slot. This is the Toro tool.
1/2" too wide?
https://www.amazon.com/8-Piece-Impact-70013-Philips-Slotted/dp/B01JKB1IRS/ref=sr_1_20?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1503932904&sr=1-20&keywords=Impact+Screwdriver
thanks. I just ordered the kit you linked. Hopefully this works. The first 5 were miserable.
Ridgerunner said:
1/2" too wide?
https://www.amazon.com/8-Piece-Impact-70013-Philips-Slotted/dp/B01JKB1IRS/ref=sr_1_20?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1503932904&sr=1-20&keywords=Impact+Screwdriver
I actually ordered that as well to go along with it in hopes that it will be wider than what is included and will work better. Should be here tomorrow.
Good luck to you.
BTW: Ive found this product far superior to other penetrating oils:
https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-16-PB-Penetrating-Catalyst-11-Ounces/dp/B000I2079E
Ridgerunner said:
Good luck to you.
BTW: Ive found this product far superior to other penetrating oils:
https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-16-PB-Penetrating-Catalyst-11-Ounces/dp/B000I2079E
I've been spraying that stuff on it for half a day now haha.
Some great penetrating oil and impact driver should do. BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY will be using the correct size bit, has to fit real snug. I've changed 2 bedknifes now with no issues. GOOD LUCK!!!!
The impact driver and PB Blaster were staples in my tool box when I was turning wrenches. Needed them every time you had to change rotors on Hondas, since they use a Phillips head screw to hold the rotor to the hub. Get a good dead blow hammer that will have enough @ss to cause it to move when you strike it. These are my tools. There are many like them, but these are mine.

One more piece of advice, when you spray the PB Blaster onto the fastener, give it a light tap a few times. This helps the liquid get into the threads. This stuff has saved my bacon more times than I can remember. I liked the design of the old cans, the new ones not so much.


Edit: words
See less See more
Kano kroil works great as a penetrating oil. Definitely use an impact driver and the correct bit/driver to remove the fastener.
Concur with Col K0rn on taping the item to work the oil into the threads.

The option of last resort is to apply heat to the fastener.
Movingshrub said:
Kano kroil works great as a penetrating oil. Definitely use an impact driver and the correct bit/driver to remove the fastener.
Concur with Col K0rn on taping the item to work the oil into the threads.

The option of last resort is to apply heat to the fastener.
Last resort of heat? pfft ;). I was past that last night and was drilling them out. I basically worked on it until i stripped it to hell and back and then at that point I would drill them out and move on to next one. But that was taking forever. I'm hoping this works better.
dfw_pilot said:
#brokeback_bedknife
Yup. I'm so irritated with myself for doing it to. Obviously didn't do it in purpose, but kicking myself for even having it happen.

I guess I can look on the bright side and this is going to teach me how to do more maintenance on my mower....downside is it's going to take time, be a PITA, cost me 150$ in parts and set me back on my yard :-(.

I hope that I can get it fixed in a week so I can keep up the mowing. Otherwise I have no idea what I'm going to do. At least i'm mowing at 1" so I'll be able to do that with a rotary from a friend.
kur1j said:
Movingshrub said:
Kano kroil works great as a penetrating oil. Definitely use an impact driver and the correct bit/driver to remove the fastener.
Concur with Col K0rn on taping the item to work the oil into the threads.

The option of last resort is to apply heat to the fastener.
Last resort of heat? pfft ;). I was past that last night and was drilling them out. I basically worked on it until i stripped it to hell and back and then at that point I would drill them out and move on to next one. But that was taking forever. I'm hoping this works better.
Understood! I've broken extractors and left-handed style drill bits when trying to remove stuck bolts so drilling is usually MY last resort. I'd rather use kroil + hammer + heat, before reaching for the drill bits.

Are you going to have to re-tap the threads for anything? If so, I've had good success with Time-serts. I had stripped the threads on a cylinder head and they worked great.
Movingshrub said:
kur1j said:
Movingshrub said:
Kano kroil works great as a penetrating oil. Definitely use an impact driver and the correct bit/driver to remove the fastener.
Concur with Col K0rn on taping the item to work the oil into the threads.

The option of last resort is to apply heat to the fastener.
Last resort of heat? pfft ;). I was past that last night and was drilling them out. I basically worked on it until i stripped it to hell and back and then at that point I would drill them out and move on to next one. But that was taking forever. I'm hoping this works better.
Understood! I've broken extractors and left-handed style drill bits when trying to remove stuck bolts so drilling is usually MY last resort. I'd rather use kroil + hammer + heat, before reaching for the drill bits.

Are you going to have to re-tap the threads for anything? If so, I've had good success with Time-serts. I had stripped the threads on a cylinder head and they worked great.
Welp! It's off! What a royal pain in the ***.

I ordered a new bedknife and new screws to go along with it. The bastards at turfaddict better hurry up with this stuff. I need it all so I can get back to mowing.

I think all of the threads are going to be okay. I ran one of the screws that's wasn't stripped to hell or completely drilled out and all except for maybe one and I think just running the tap through it to fix the threads up on that one. Or at least I hope. Didn't want to tighten it down because I couldn't get a good grip with the screw driver anymore.
dfw_pilot said:
#brokeback_bedknife
:lol:
More like #brokenwallet_bustedknuckles, amirite?
Had the problem with stripped frozen screw on my bedknife and my buddy who is smarter then me welded a nut to each screw. The heat broke the rust loose and was easy to turn with a wrench. Saved me from drilling the screws out. Impact wrench took out 4 but the rest were stubborn. This works do it instead of drilling
1 - 20 of 23 Posts
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top