Duh . . wonder why my PTO was turning slow . . . ?

I outdid myself today when it comes to making stupid mistakes.

Power has been out around here now for three days. No problem at my own home since I've got solar electric, battery banks, etc. But, my neighbor up the road asked for some help via my PTO generator. Well, I hadn't used it in years. And, all my wheel tractors are already hooked to something and I didn't feel like taking stuff off. So, I pulled out my little Cletrac HG dozer and hooked the Generac 17 KW PTO generator to it. I've used it this way before and it ran it just fine (many years ago).

Drove it up to my neighbors as-the-crow-flies though our fields. Hooked to his house, engaged the PTO - and nothing. Voltmeter read just about zero. I'm sittting there scratching my head, trying to think what could be wrong. Then got thinking the generator might have mechancial regulators that got stuck - so I started kicking it. That did not work. Then my neihbor asks if my PTO is turning slow. I looked closely and it seemed to be turn maybe 2 revs per second - i.e. 120 RPMs? Then, it dawned on me. I installed a 3 speed aux. trans in the Cletrac years ago, and kind of forgot about it. It works so nice in low range - it never gets shifted into anything else.
Well, I really felt like an idiot - especailly since I'm the one that built the swap-deal in the first place. So, put the aux. into third gear (1 to 1 ratio) and the generator worked perfect.
I have to admit, that even the stuff I've built myself confuses me when I haven't used it in awhile. Sun was just going down when we got things going.

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That last pic is just beautiful!!!!

Since you have already made mistakes be careful with the pto shaft. it has no sheild

Piece of 4in plastic drain tile will slip over shaft an u joints. Might save something imprtant!!!

How steady is the HZ on that contraption?

what a cool rig you have.sure makes a beautifull picture just really neat thanks for posting it. RICK

Ran my house once for three days on it and the clocks kept proper time - so the Hertz cycle must be pretty close to dead-on. Or better said, my choice of RPMs is dead-on. The generator has a voltmeter with a marker for proper Hertz and voltage zone - and seems it must still be accurate.

That shaft doesn't even belong on it - I had to use it in a pinch. Years ago - a friend came down with his tractor and wanted to borrow the generator to do some welding out in field. He did NOT use his fixed drawbar to hitch to. He used a three-point swinging drawbar instead. He then hooked up the driveshaft - and then, guess what? Raised the three-point hitch up and ripped the driveshaft right in two.

PTO shaft cover is one of the last things I'm going to worry about on that thing. If I had any kids near the equipment, I'd feel different.

Sorry but I'm not a seat-belt wearing, PTO guard sort of guy. I've worked around dangerous stuff my whole life and made it so far. If I get killed now, I figure I'm still ahead. One of my farmer friends down the road was a stickler for safety stuff. And last summer, at age 67, he got killed on his front lawn in a Deere garden tractor roll-over. All I can say is - stuff happens. No amount of safety equipment is as good as common sense.

But, like I said, with any kids around here, or even any hired help, all shafts would have guards. For me? I'll take my chances.

That Generac unit seems unusual. It appears to be a pair of generators in tandem?

I understand & not meaning to get on the soapbox, but - you did say you were loaning this out to the neighbor, not using it on your place. So, it's a real issue - neighbor could own your place if he got caught in it & lived through it. Just something to consider is all. Looks like the plug ins aren't too far from the pto.

As someone else said, that is unusual looking with the 2 seperate windings. Don't know I ever saw something like that.

Thanks for the pics, they are cool.

--->Paul

Get a magic marker out and put the gear pattern and a note about pto speed up on the back of the gas tank before you forget it again. LOL

That's a handy little outfit to have around!

Funny you mention that. It is all marked with a Sharpie "Magic Marker." I did a professional job on the mechanical aspects of the coversion, and a cob-job one the cosmetics.

Yes, I've never seen another like it. But, it's factory made by Generac. Bought it years ago at a farm auction for $150. Looks like they took two 7500 watt units and tied them together. It's all internal, gear drive.

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I should follow you around to the farm auction sale deals. I've never had the good fortune to see working pto generator around here go for less than $100 per KW.