3000 PTO In/Out Play

NCMichael · Apr 24, 2018

The PTO on my 3000 has about 1/8" to 1/4" play in and out. That is, I can push / pull the PTO by hand that far into and out of the back of the tractor. It doesn't currently leak in that area but I am wondering if that amount of play is normal or do I need to replace the bearings to snug it up? Normally I wouldn't worry with this since there is no leak but I currently have the rear oil drained for some other work so it would be a good time to fix if that is a leak waiting to happen. But I don't want to take on an extra project if I don't have too. What is considered a normal amount of play? Thanks.

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 24, 2018

Had that with my 2000, too. There is a small sleeve that is shrink fit on the shaft that holds the bearing in place and doubles as a seal surface. You said you have a manual, not hard to fix. Get a new sleeve and seal and check that the big snap ring is in place and the housing isn't cracked. Just make sure you heat the sleeve enough so it slides all the way to the bearing and hold it down till it cools some. Heat till it just starts to yellow and drop it on quick. What probably happened is some PTO implement had a shaft that was a little too long and pushed the shaft in and moved the sleeve. Sometimes it will break the housing (expensive) or just the snap ring. Happened to me with a snow blower when it swung side to side.

souNdguy · Apr 25, 2018

1/8" I would not worry about. 1/4" is just at the threshold I'd worry about as it will start walking the pto out of engagement
and eventually chew some teeth.

engage the pto before you pull the shaft.

if you are lucky, the wear ring is good and just drifted, and you can drift back with angle iron and mallet, otherwise check snap
rings and bearing.. replace the seal int he bearing carrier while you have it apart.

once you have the rings off, tap the pto shaft stub down on a board and the bearing carrier falls off. clean.. R&R seal, ring n
pto shaft up.. gasket and screw and go.

NCMichael · Apr 25, 2018

Thanks Mike & souNdguy for the pointers on the repairs. I will go ahead and investigate/repair this while I have the hydraulic oil drained.

Mike I think you hit the nail on the head with the issue resulting from a PTO shaft being too long. After I added a slip clutch to my bush hog, mine is just slightly too long unless I keep the top link adjusted a certain way. I was hoping to avoid cutting it shorter as there is a grease fitting at the very end of one of the pieces. But I also don't want to be making this repair every year either so I will work on that too once I finish with the tractor.

NCMichael · Jun 2, 2018

You all hit the nail on the head. My sleeve had moved about 1/4" allowing the play. I would have just tapped it back into place since there were no other broken parts but the bearing seemed a little suspect. So I went ahead and replaced all the parts on the PTO shaft while I had everything apart. Now everything is nice and tight and there is no play.

Thanks again guys.

3000 PTO In/Out Play

NCMichael

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Mike(NEOhio)

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souNdguy

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NCMichael

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NCMichael

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