Stuck PTO shaft. My way to fix the problem

old

Well-known Member
So a few months back I had a guy give me a 3 sided PTO shaft that was stuck tight. A few days ago some one was asking how to get one freed up so I figured what the heck I would free this one up just for fun.
#1 poured ATF on to and into for a few days.
#2 Cut the safety shield off ya some will say not good but there there for the guy who does things the wrong way.
#3 took a 4 ton port-a-power and chained it to the shaft in such a way it would push out on it and used a torch to heat it being careful not to heat up the port-a-power cylinder.
Well that is all it took to free it up. It is laying on my shop floor right now in 2 pieces so I will clean it up lube it up and put it back in service
 
GOOD job!

And, thankfully, a new plastic safety shield kit should be readily available, and somewhat reasonably priced!
 
did you check the ends to see if it was put together right? My 3-sided shaft has 2 sharp corners & one flat corner. They must go together matching up the corners but they can be jammed in wrong & that's when they get stuck.
 
As I said a friend gave it to me that way so I do not know if it was right or wrong but it was stuck
 
I'll not replace the shield many things of say 50 years ago did not have them and to me they are only made to make a stupid person safe
 
I have one of those 3 sided shafts on a post hole digger. I ended up hooking the digger on one tractor and hooking a chain on the end of the pto shaft with another tractor to get it apart.
Now every time I park it I pull the shaft apart until I use it again.
 
When I got my old post hole digger, Greenline EM5000,
It had been setting in an open tool shed for a number of years. The pto shaft was frozen up and the auger was frozen to the output shaft on the digger gearbox.

I took the pto shaft off and turned it upside down so the opening was to the top, I poured a 50/50% mixture of automatic transmission fluid and acetone down into the shaft. After a few days of treatments, I hooked one end with a chain to a tree, the other end I pulled gently with my tractor.
I was able to move the shaft and soon had it apart, cleaned it good and apply anti seize to keep it lubed.
Then I took the attachment bolts out of the auger, had applied the 50/50% mixture of automatic transmission fluid and acetone down the shaft. Took the digger out to the garden and started digging holes, dug about three hole and all of a sudden the auger started turning on the shaft.
Took it off, cleaned the shaft good and applied a abundant amount of anti seize to the shaft.
Old digger works fine now and I could get it apart, if it wanted to.
a165841.jpg
 

Don't they say that 90% of the people who got injured by PTO shafts knew that they were stupid and went ahead and worked on the equipment anyway? Or is it that smart common sense people just get in a rush once or twice in their lives? Of course there is always the stray grand kid who you thought was still in the house, but who wants them around anyway?
 
I do not run machines when kids are around that is just flat out a NO NO and one should know if they are out there any how. Way to easy to have a rock get thrown out from under a brush hog and kill some one if they are out in the area your cutting so again goes back to common sense and knowing who what and where and knowing one should NEVER get off a tractor with the PTO spinning
 
Yeah, $50. I priced one for my NH 404 hay crimper, not for safety, but because it was picking up the cuttings and wrapping them around the shaft. The safety shield can be anchored in place and prevented from turning.

But did you know that you are supposed to grease the interface where the locking nylon ring on the shaft meets the shield.

I am afraid of shafts and do not have anyone around when working. It only took a couple of cartoons of accidents that can happen to convince me that you do not come near a rotating shaft...........period!.....same thing in clearing a clog in a round baler. Shut the tractor off. Only takes a second and only takes a second for you to be in some other land.

Mark
 
We leave shafts on stuff that runs when stationary like post hole
digger.

Who is going to get around something like a tedder pto shaft while
running? The teeth are right there spinning ready to take your legs
off.
 

I hope that there is no one running one of those big old NH balers with thrower that is not familiar with the scalping danger.
 
It fits a brush hog which is one piece of equipment NO ONE should even get of of a tractor with the PTO engaged. But either way guards are made for those who do stupid things
 

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Back
Top