New pto safe design connectors

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member
Didn?t want to derail the post below about the broken pto pin spring and how to get it apart. So I have started a new post/rant about the tractor end connectors on pto shafts. I hate them ! You have to haul back on a stupid little collar on the yoke, at the same time as you are trying to shove the dang thing forward. Ok maybe it?s not too bad on smaller equipment with a light shaft, and warmer temperatures. But even with warm temperatures of summer with the shaft sliding freely, the sheer weight of holding up the shaft on the pto of my round baler, let alone shoving the shaft forward, while pulling the collar back is madding. And probably more than a older man or a gal can manage. And these collars are equally annoying when temperatures drop and the grease on the shaft doesn?t want to allow the shaft to slid, like when hooking up the snow blower. Rant over.
 
Safety improvements, by there very nature, never seem to be convenient, do they?
 
I agree with you 100 %. I had too replace one and asked if they could put on one with the old style push button and said they could, was so much easier to use.
 
I think on our brush cutter I can start it on the splines, and then pull the collar back, but it's still not easy. Probably different yolks are a little different.
 
My hay tedder has a cool collar that turns to allow the shaft to be installed or removed. My grinder, now, has the old push button, but due to the fine splines and hidden mouse nest, it was nearly impossible to stretch out.
 
But yet on JD lawnmowers they have one where the collar stays slid back and latches when you slide it on the stub.
 
the shaft on my Alamo mower is such a pain to install,it usually takes about 45 minutes of wiggling that shaft til' it finally slides on.and I frequently grease the yoke.

Rock
 
I feel exactly the same! I hate the darn thing on the manure spreader.....shaft is long and heavy enough you need to shove with both hands.


Ben
 
I have the same pto hookup design on my combine heads and got so disgusted that I built my own little horse shoe shaped keeper to hold the ring back for me till I have the shaft slid on then pull the keeper out. Even added a little handle to the horse shoe to pull on. Absolutely works wonderfully.
 
If you can't get the PTO yoke to slide back off the splines unhook the implement from the tractor and drive ahead till the PTO shaft pulls apart. When the half of the shaft still attached to the tractor comes apart and falls down hitting the drawbar it will sometimes loosen up enough to get it pulled off the PTO. You can either slide the PTO shaft back together at that time or wait till later when your temper has cooled down.
 
My feed grinder use to give me fits until I did like the guy bellow did. Made a little piece to slide in on the backside of the pin to hold the release open while I slide it on after a good dose of wd40. I have also used vise grips to hold the pin back. The older I get the more I learn to improvise.
 
336 JD baler has a ring you pull back and twist and at a certain spot it'll latch and stay back, slide PTO shaft on and it'll click and release. Worked well for 20 years, now it won't latch. Need at least three arms to attach it now. Have a 12 ft Bush Hog mower, big heavy shaft and it has TWO buttons that need held in while you slide the shaft on. Kind of need four hands for that one.
 
on the dairy we had one piece of equipment that you pushed the collar forward to hook the shaft up might have been hagadorn manure spreader but I really can?t remember I know what ever it was we didn?t hook that much because it usually stayed on one tractor but it was always a relief when you went to hook on
 
I keep different blocks of wood 1 x4,2x4, 4x4 near by to put under the shaft and hold the weight while I fight pushing/pulling the head. If you put too much, it will put the shaft in a bind.
 
The driveshaft on kubota mowers is a pain but at least there not heavy. I remember when I was a kid the button was broke on our grinder so we used a 1/4 inch bolt that went thru a hole in the middle of the pto shaft
 
Our 1020 CIH bean head has PTO shafts that have the collar type lock but instead of pulling back you push them forward. Takes almost no effort. They are super slick. Not sure if that's factory or an add on.
 
I have no experience with anything other than the "old system". Am trying to picture what you describe. Is it like one of these two examples?

971-1013506_LNW.jpg


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Amen my round baler has the same type of pull back collar and all the while trying to line up the splines and then push forward with a heavy shaft. I can tend to loose a little religion hooking PTO up.
 
the jack azz that made the blasted thing should be made to stand in 2 inches of rain and big mud hole for 24 hours while hooking up to a tractor.
as you can tell I was plenty hot trying hook up my hay tedder. lucky for pto shield on John Deere's come off easy
yes I put them back on my dad almost got killed using a tractor without shield. it ended with him not farming any longer as limited use of his arm
 
Neighbor lady has a 200 + HP John Deere ...pto driving a huge HAYBINE....cuts,conditions,windrows...

She required assistance to attach the machines PTO Coupling to Tractor PTO....

Weight of implement drive shaft is not for the weak of back bone....then try to pull back on safety ring....then push coupling onto tractor PTO......&^$%^^&*...

Bob...
cvphoto6017.jpg


cvphoto6018.jpg
 
I have a JD 375 round baler with that !@#$%^&*()_+ type coupler and the CV joint (and it's weight) is right there. Total piece of !@#$%^&*()_+! Another of Mother Deere's great inventions! I work alone so I have to do it alone. I made several modifications to support the weight of the shaft while trying to manipulate the !@#$%^&*()_ coupling but halffast at best. Can't imagine having to get that thing (type of thing) coupled in cold weather.
 
Top picture is pretty close but looks a lot more simplistic than what you have in your hand with the CV joint, and big brother's protective crap and the fact
that the PTO shaft doesn't turn, nor does the input shaft of the baler without a crowbar in one hand lining up the splines, (even with the pressure off the
belts to reduce the resistance to turning the shaft) with electronic Independent PTOs, key on or not.
 
My hesston round baler and d1000 new Holland both have the exact same setup . You can either have a heavy cv joint or regular unjoint setup that rattles when you turn I guess . Never really thought it was that bad to hook em up as long as you don?t mind getting greasy definitely not for the weak though
 
Don't laugh. I did! I have 5 tractors now that I use when haying, working alone. Each is hooked to the implement that suits the tractor and each gets used for it's intended purpose. Once I get the baler hooked to that dedicated tractor it stays hooked the whole season!
 
Spot on, those class 6/8 cv joints with the collars that rotate with all the guards on that rotate and the tractor guard on... nearly impossible to line up and get on.
 
The problem I see here, is like a lot of other designs. The person who designs something never has to work with what he designed. The design looks good sitting at a computer, but in the real world it just doesn't work well. Stan
 
Know exactly what you are talking about, and if the stub shaft on the tractor gets rusty or gummed up, the fight is on to couple one of these. It has to be wire brushed clean like new. You get someone running one of these, does not pay attention to this, becomes a real problem in short order, hired help at the other place lead me down this path one day when changing implements.
 
I am sure glad you posted this. I thought I was the only one wrestling with this mechanism. I once had to ask a neighbor to come over and help me hookup a baler (embarrassing). These systems are not for the old (like me), nor for people with weight lifting restrictions(like me).
 
I don't understand why they had to change it. I have a new idea brush hog that has the push button style coupler and ive never had it come off, and i certainly dont have trouble getting it on. Much simpler and easier.
 
That wire brush is a good idea. I need to get one.
What do you have? What do you recommend?
Something like a Dremel, with a small attachment to get inside?
Or just a wire brush attached to a cordless drill?
 
First thing I do is mount a cup holder on back of each tractor to carry a can of wd-40. That helps a little but now you have to go the rest of the day with that smell on your hands. Plus you will smear the screen on your smart phone. Some of those collar locks you have to hold back while pushing shaft on. You're absolutly right. Seams counter productive to have to pull and push on same piece at same time. I have another style that you push collar toward tractor to lock but it is not spring loaded so stays where you put it. Some better but an additional problem with that one is finding the sweet spot where it will allow the collar to slide forward to lock. If you have it slid on shaft 1/8" to far, or not enough it won't lock. Gaaahhh!!! I think it would work better if you had 2 or 3 people helping but that many cannot fit back there with the 3-point arms and hitting your head on the 3rd. link. And by time you round up 3 of your friends or neighbors to come over and help you hook the pto,,, it is raining on the hay.
 
I totally agree. Some manufacturer ought to invent something easier to hook on and off. My round baler has a heavy shaft with wide angle in both ends and it locks on the tractor spline shaft by means of 2 push pins. I have to use the same tractor for baling and wrapping and I like to not have too many bales baled before switching to wrapping them so hooking and unhooking the baler is critical.
On every tractor I have worked with that has had the PTO shaft greased the grease has gummed up and made it harder to slide. I clean them with a wire brush and then spray with WD40 or similar instead of greasing.
 
Right on!! I also had to ask neighbor to help me hook up batwing mower last summer. To heavy to lift, align and slide on. And I'm in reasonable shape for 71. May not be long until I have to resort to hiring work done just because I can't handle the pto hook up. Really distressing.
 
(quoted from post at 07:02:11 02/23/20) Don't laugh. I did! I have 5 tractors now that I use when haying, working alone. Each is hooked to the implement that suits the tractor and each gets used for it's intended purpose. Once I get the baler hooked to that dedicated tractor it stays hooked the whole season!
Thought I was the only one crazy enough to do this. Back when we had the dairy every implement had its own tractor in season. We had eight tractors, one dedicated to sh!t spreader year round. During haying each of the 4 hauling wagons even had its own tractor, as did the baler and rake. Saved a lot of time and eliminated a prime cause of accidents.
 
Considering the many many comments in agreement, you would think that some smart manufacturing organization would develop a new easy-on design, patent it and market heill out of it! That is what entrepeneurship is all about! Too bad I am too old.
 

My NH round baler has that heavy cv joint and pull back coupling with all of the shielding, major pain to hook up, and a finger masher if it slips off and catches you hand between the cv joint and drawbar.
My old Claas mower has a similar lock with two tabs you can get hold of, one time when mowing some grass wrapped around the back coupler and released it, before I could shut the pto off the shaft spun 90 degrees and blew the center out of that high dollar cv joint.
 
Most Ag equipment manufacturers don't make their own PTO shafts, they buy them from other manufacturers similar to the way they buy belts, bearings, roller chains and tires.

Until new farm equipment buyers actually ask for improved PTO couplers, or have dealers change out the couplers before they take delivery, this type of feedback won't get beck to manufacturers. There isn't much incentive to change to a higher cost component if manufacturers believe no one wants it or will pay the extra cost for it.

Once you find a PTO coupler that you like, it is possible to replace the front yoke of a U-joint or an entire CV shaft, but it seems few people are very willing to spend the time and the money to do that on used equipment.
 

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