Shaft that connects PTO with Brush Hog

- Drew

Drew, this pto shaft _must_ be free & loose & slide in & out freely. It should have gobbs of grease on it. This thing gives a tiny bit nearly every revolution, and just simply musy be free & easy to slide. It should (in most all aplications) pull completely apart into the 2 individual parts. Please work on it until it does, and brush off the rust particles, flush it with penetrating oil, & then oil it, then grease it, so it works freely.

When you hook this up, & it is tight together as you describe, and you pick up the mower, the shaft will first pull away from the tractor, and then push into the tractor (or vice versa, depending upon linkage setups).

When you do this, either the rust will give way, OR the shaft or mower housings will bend or break. That might sound bad, but there is one other possibility:

It will pull loose or cave in your tractor pto, seriously damaging your tractor. I mean seriously.

If the shaft slides, but is not well greased & loose, it will put a _lot_ of stress on yout tractor shaft, and wear it out quicker. There is only a small ring holding that shaft in your tractor, it is not meant to be pulled & pushed hard.

Woods can sell you a new pto shaft. Or any welding shop or farm supply store will carry various lengths to make one up for you, they are generally standard items, $50.

Also, the outer round tube is covering the actual square drive shaft inside it. That outer tube needs to spin freely. Pto shafts are dangerous - I've seen arms that were caught in them when a piece of clothing got caught - months of rehabilitation got the fingers working again on my classmate. I don't mean to talk down to you on this, but you sound like you aren't real familiar with farm equipment. Hey, welcome to the fun. :) Enjoy. :) But the one item you are talking about is something that can really, really be dangerous if you do not understand it & it's not in good shape.

Do you remember a few years ago that kid in North Dakota that had both his arms ripped off in a farm accident? It made the news for weeks, he was real brave, home alone, got in the house & dialed 911 with his mouth & a pencil. Then stood in the tub so he didn't shoot blood all over the livingroom...

That was a pto accident.

Understand them, & be sure they are safe.

--->Paul

First, inspect the outer pto tube for dents. A dent in the outer tube can bind the two tubes together and render the pto shaft junk. If you have a serious dent buy a new shaft. Even if you can get the two shafts apart you will never be able to achieve the degree of free slip needed for safe operation.

Assuming your shaft is in good order and your only problem is rust and crud you can try this as a last resort. Get two lengths of stout chain (not rope). 3/8s logging chain with slip loops on both ends is ideal. Loop one chain around a tree and one end of your pto shaft (around the casting that supports the universal - dont' run it through the universal). Loop the other chain around the other end of the pto shaft and connect to your tractor. Take up the slack and give it a gentle to firm jerk. It should come apart. Clean it up. Grease it up. Hook it up.

- Drew

Since you are new to tractors I suggest you click on the link "Article Archives" in the index on the left side of this page. The first catagory on the page that will come up is "General Tractor Information." Click on the last article in this category "Choosing, Mounting, and Using a Bush Hog Type Mower." Best information on this topic that I know about.

Work safe!

Steve

The two shafts do slide, one inside the other, and have to do it freely. You need to do what you can to separate these, clean them up and oil them so that they move easily and give you a variable length drive shaft. This will allow you to adjust the drive shaft length.

Since you pulled the hog out of the weeds, I take it it�s been there for a while. I would get the oil out of the transfer case (changes the drive from a horizontal input to vertical output). There�s little telling how old the oil is or how much water may be in it. I use 90w.

I would also grease the two u-joints, one on each end of the drive shaft, with a good lithium base, water-resistant grease. I would pump the grease in until the old grease is out and the new grease is starting to come out, then clean the joints up.

OK, we know the spline count is correct, but the ��bolt goes thru the part that connects to the PTO output shaft� is usually a spring loaded pin, that when pushed in allows the drive shaft to slide over the tractor�s PTO shaft and is in fail safe, locked position when released. This keeps the drive shaft from sliding off. Can a bolt be used? I don�t know. I�ve never seen one used, always the spring-loaded pin. I guess if you was in a bind you could, but I�d be afraid it might waller the hole out and make it hard to replace with the correct pin. You should be able to find a replacement pin at your local farm implement store.

The drive shaft is connected to the transfer case with a bolt. You should make sure this bolt is the good fit with out too much �slop� but don�t make the bolt a to high of a grade hardness, or it won�t shear in half if you should hit something. The bolt breaking is what protects you transfer case and PTO.

You can also pick up a plastic guard that covers the drive shaft and u-joints at the farm implement store and has the two bells to cover the u-joints. This may be the item you were talking about. This protects the shaft and u-joints (keeps dirt & junk out) and is used for safety. Mine clips to the u-joints on each end and the two sections slide when the drive shaft length changes.

Last but not least sharpen the blades. The easier it cuts, the less work the tractor engine has to do.

This is probably more than want you wanted, but you said you were new so I tried to cove all the bases.

Hope this helps. Have fun

• Oaktree

And be careful! PTO shafts kill people every year, keep the shield on and stay away from it when it's moving.

Gerald J.