Odd newbie question

[jmt1271]

I have a friend with a 4' tiller(older unknown make), the PTO shaft is messed up. The half of the shaft connected to the tiller is intact. The other half is not there. My question is this: Can I use half of my shaft, connected to the half on his tiller? Will this work? If not, what do I need to do? Thanks.

[schmism]

if the shafts slide together well... and the lenght works out (not to long or short)

then id say so..

[jmt1271]

Thats kind of what I was thinking, just wasnt sure if it was that simple.

[gordon21]

It will work as long as the the shaft is not too long when the 3PT is up high. If the compressed shaft length is too long, you will smash your drive spline back into the tranny and have a huge repair bill.

When you raise the 3PT all the way, lets say the minimum distance is 32" from the tractor to the tiller. But if your compressed shaft is 32.5", you are in trouble.

It doesn't matter when the tiller is down low. The shaft is extending automatically to the correct length back and forth as long as it is long enough. Of course if the longest length is too short, the shaft will come apart. If that happens, you have no repair bill. you merely need to buy a longer shaft.

[AndyMA]

Of course if the longest length is too short, the shaft will come apart. If that happens, you have no repair bill. you merely need to buy a longer shaft.

Not always. One half of a PTO shaft spinning can cause a lot of damage as it flails around and hits things.

Andy

[gordon21]

So right you are. I meant that the shaft length should be checked with the PTO off, of course. Having the shaft come apart under load would be a bad thing (read expensive and dangerous). The top half would be flailing around at 540 RPM. I have no desire to be hit with a 15# piece of steel flying at 60MPH in a big circle whacking me 9 times every second.

[Neophyte]

I recently did the same thing with my tiller. The driveline on my tiller was not long enough for use with my iMatch. So I used the tractor side of the driveline off of my RFM with the existing implement half on the tiller. It gave me the extra couple of inches that I needed and it worked fine.

You also need to be concerned about the profile of the tubes and their Category rating. Are they the same profile? Some older tubes can be square. Are they the same category? If they are the same Category, then you will be fine. If one is Category 3 and one is Category 4, then you should still be OK. If one is Category 4 and one is Category 5, then they will not be compatible.

[jmt1271]

I am going to go try it today. Will let you know. Thanks for the replies.

[jmt1271]

It worked fine. I mated the "tractor half" of my shaft to the implement side of his PTO shaft and all is well. That is a cutting little tiller. Did a great job. Tilled up about half an acre in under 3 hrs. I have got to find a good used tiller for myself. I am thinking a 5 footer for the 3520. Does this sound about right for 31 PTO HP?