What do they call a PTO shaft, anyway?

Is there another name for the shielded shaft that connects the tractor to the spreader or bush hog, or are the things extinct?

But if the device is called a PTO shaft, then why is the transmission component called by the same name?

I've read the warnings about pto shields posted everywhere on the Net. I'm particularly concerned about this application, as I am intending to run the thing with my Massey Harris 30, a rear-access tractor with a very high pto shaft. I can't see getting on and off beside the rotating shaft, shielded or not.

Back in the '70s when I ran a thickness planer off another 30, to avoid the belt I used to chock the wheels, then operate the pto/belt pulley gear by pulling on the clutch with my hand and engaging the pulley gear from the ground.

The current 30 has a very good parking brake, and it might be safer to start the pto in this manner than to risk climbing by it while it's running. Incidentally, the red metal pto shield is intact and even has the warning labels afixed.

It's hard to give specific places to go buy things, as the filters here on this web site tend to delete those messages. So, we try to be coy about it. I'll try: (Yup, something set off the robot, have to try editing....)

Do you have a T S C store near you? They stock all types of pto tubing & ends.

Any store with 'fleet' or 'farm' in their names, where farmer type hang around? They will have it too. Often it is stuck up or behind or in the middle of a shelf, hard to see, but go to the busy older clerk that all the farmer-types are perstering - he's the one that will understand.

Have you gone to the v a l u

b i

l t web site???? Take the spaces out, add a dotcom, and you will be there. If their web site doesn't list it, their paper catalog does.

There are several other mail order farm supply places, keep looking if you don't like the above one.

Do you have any farmer-type John Deere, New Holland, Case, or Agco dealers anywhere around you? They will have the same sticks of tubing & pto ends sitting around their shop somewhere too.

This stuff is easy to find, if you want a pto shaft end tube (NOTICE all the key words I'm giving you here for searching for Power Take Off shaft tubing parts, including the Spider or Knuckle, aka U Joint?). As someone said, the pain is trying to find the exact shape you need. It is out there, you just need to look & run across it.

I'd have exactly what you need, as I just bought a 516 or so spreader, the 1/2 is laying inside my spreader. Nope, not for sale of course. :)

--->Paul

At the sawmill today the old guy took me on a tour of his wrecked equipment yard for a quick lesson on pto shafts. Most of the ones I saw weren't adjustable for length, even though they were all New Holland. Some had an oval contour, some square. Some were so seized we couldn't tell what they were. I learned about bale loaders and forage wagons and even tub grinders. Turns out there's one working in the area.

After that a close examination of my existing half-shaft turned out to be a real eye-opener. Unlike the comparable shaft on my snowblower, it's female. It wants a male about 1" by 1 1/8, with a smooth, rectangular contour. The existing shaft is 19" from the centre line of the universal to the end. The reason the shaft is still there is that it won't come off. Where there should be a bolt there is a neat, 5/16" hole. Obviously someone tried to remove the shaft and gave up. He put the guard back carefully, though.

I did manage to machine the flooring for the bed today. Tomorrow I'll get my welder friend to put three new 3/16 X 2" cross pieces in, and then I'll use up a box of stove bolts fastening the flooring down.

Then comes repairs to the apron and most likely a trip to a farm supply for the components to complete the shaft and shield.

Thanks for the input so far.

Looking at the VB catalog (from my message, can't type out their name....), a #12 yoke & shaft (male part) 1 x 1 1/8" ~37 inches long is $51.09. The other 1/2 of the yoke with the tractor pto female coupler is $24-26 depending on style, and the cross & bearing kit will be $11.09. It is not so difficult, but _real_ time consuming to get those yokes put together properly. You need to press together the 4 little needle bearing caps, and those needles like to move & get lost.... ;)

You can find these parts at the local places I mentioned too. Sometimes the whole yoke will come pre-assembled for you. If you are so lucky to find....

--->Paul