Rototiller causuality....

[TerryinMD]

Need some triage for my Landpride rototiller.

I was just about to finish rototilling my garden when my rototiller locked up. The tiller was boggin down a little and I made adjustments either by slowing the ground speed or increasing the throttle. Every once in a while I would here a bang and thought that I was hitting rock. NOT!! When the tiller locked up, the slip clutch was smoking a little with that unpleasant burning clutch smell. I turn off the PTO, raised the tiller, and tried to see if the tiller would turn. It wouldn't.

Tried it a couple more times with low PTO speed to no avail. Removed the tiller and tried the PTO and it spun freely. Needless to say, parked the tractor for the evening and looked over my Landpride Tiller manual. No real information.

Before I left for work this morning, I was able to spin the tiller tines with my foot and the PTO shaft turned freely with no noises.

What should be the next step? Remove the slip clutch and examine? Check the tine drive chain?

Terry

 

[Egon]

Use it again and after several minutes feel all the bearings for heat. If there is a hot spot you probably have the problem located.Also check where it was sitting and see if there was a rock or some such foreign article laying there. They will sometimes jam up in the tines and tiller body.
Egon

 

[scruffy]

Egon, I would say you are suggesting a more prudent method than I would use. If it locked up, and the next morning was free, it tells me right off that a bearing seized up on it, and when it cooled and contracted in size, freed up again. I would have it down, and replacing bearings with no further ado about it.

P.S. - whether or not it is actually prudent would depend upon if you get away without causing further damage. A little caution here is well advised.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by scruffy on 10/01/01 11:26 AM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[StanInCalif]

Terry-
Sounds like the chain broke. I would remove the chain cover and have a look.

<font color=green>stan</font color=green>

 

[JRP]

I agree with the troubleshooting idea. Run it for a little while, stop it, and check for hot spots.

Because friction turns to heat, many mechanical problems result in hot parts. In fact, I check my trailer hubs when I stop, and occasionally check my FWD hubs and shreader gearbox for hot spots.

One hp is 746 watts of power, so a 30 hp pto slip clutch that is being locked up is transferring 22,000 watts of power before it locked up, and 22,000 watts of heat energy power into your pto or slip clutch pack after it has locked up. You might find two hot areas. The clutch, heated after the clutch slipps, and the mechanical problem, which if the real problem. Run your hand along every bearing, chain, and geaarbox area (with the tractor not running, for obvious safety reasons) and try to find the hot spot.

At work we have an infra-red thermography video camera. We can look in a room full of gearboxes and a "hot box" will stick out almost like "glow in the dark" yellow compared to the other boxes.

Always wondered if you could use that camera to pick out which women are hot.

Good luck

JRPoux

 

[TerryinMD]

Thank you for all of the responses.

I also talked to my dealer. No real help (I did never did work on no rototiller with a slip-clutch thinggy...) Heavy sigh..... /w3tcompact/icons/tongue.gif

Did some basic maintenance. Checked for leaks. None. Check for broken parts. None. Check the PTO gear box. A little low. Fill it up.

So I hooked the tiller to the JD and fired her up. The tractor began to stall.

Egads, no load on the tiller and the tractor is stalling. Small sweat beads begin to form....

Oh scatology... the PTO is shot. Whoops. Forgot to pull up on the safety switch under the seat.

Wipe my brow.... Engage the PTO and run the tiller under load for about ten minutes. No problems. Not heat build up at any of the bearings. No unusual noises. Hmmmm....

Let's do some backtracking. I look around the garden area. Especially in the spots where I stopped and cried .... errr looked over the situation and found what I believe the source of my problem is/was. Here is the evidence. Stupid rock and small to boot with a chunk missing. Go figure.

Now this is how to fix a problem.

Terry

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by TerryinMD on 10/02/01 08:27 PM (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[JRP]

Good job Terry, you found the root (this case, rock) cause of the problem.

It's good to know your slip clutch did it's job and rpotected the pto. Shows how a slip clutch is not a maintenance headach, but is a repair preventer.