PTO Reverse Safety

   / PTO Reverse Safety #1  

mrolson

Silver Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2000
Messages
101
Location
Will County,IL
Tractor
Kabota L3000DT, 1944 Farmall M, JD345
I am all for safety sensors. I know lots of guys who bypassed the operator presence safety (not a good idea in my book). However, my JD 345 will disengage the PTO whenever the tractor is reversed unless you lift the PTO engagement switch first. I learned to live with this while mowing, not much backing up required and it probably is not a good idea to mow in reverse. But snow blowing is a different story. This thing drives me nuts. Have anyone figured out how to bypass this ?
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #2  
Sounds to me like you might have some kind of problem with the switch or possibly a sensor. PTO shouldn't shut off when you back up, as that is a common manuver for a lot of folks when mowing. I have an older JD316 that has the electric PTO clutch and it has never shut off while backing up. Have you asked the dealer about the problem?

And I agree, need to keep safety first. The sensors and shut offs are there for a reason, but need to work correctly for you.

Bob Pence
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #3  
<font color=blue>Re: I have an older JD316 that has the electric PTO clutch and it has never shut off while backing up</font color=blue>

How old Bob? I don't know for sure, but when I bought my 1995 Cub Cadet lawn tractor, it had the sensor under the seat so if the rider fell off, the engine died, and the darned thing had that switch so if you shifted to reverse, the electric PTO shut off and you had to push the switch in and pull it back out to turn it on again. And the dealer told me it was federal law that those safety features be on the new ones and that the dealers could not disconnect them, but that he would show me where it was if I wanted to unplug it, and I promptly did. I frequently mow forward and backwards and that switch simply would not do. And since the engine tried to die if I just shifted position (shifted my weight around), I unplugged that one, too.

Bird
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety
  • Thread Starter
#4  
I wish it wasn't supposed to do that, but that's the design. They made it difficult to operate in reverse. Is has a three position PTO switch. Off, up once for engage and up further for reverse. once you move forward, you have to repeat the whole process again for reversing. Talked with my dealer and he said no one there has tried to bypass it. I guess I am ordering the service manual.

Mark
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #5  
Bird,
Like Bob, I've got a 316. Never had the PTO disengage backing up while either mowing or with the snowblower on. However it will kick off should you get up from the seat. My 316 is an '87. Perhaps its a new safety feature....

Russ
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #6  
mrolson,
Thats little odd that your pto shuts off when backing up,maybe its not wire right.
The only way to by pass would be to remover your censor and wire it derect and there goes your safety. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif
Have you check to see if a rod hitting the censor by mistake.

With a setup like that its got to be a real pain mowing. /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #7  
Yep, Russ, at least that's what the Cub Cadet dealer told me; that it was a new, required safety feature starting sometime in the 90s.

And Thomas, I doubt that it's wired improperly; I'm betting that's the way it's supposed to work, and I don't know how you defeat that feature on the Deere, but on the Cub Cadet, it was simply a matter of unplugging a connector, which was both simple and easy and also made putting it back easy if you ever changed your mind.

Bird
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #8  
Bird,
The more I think about about the censor,now I wonder if the wrong censor aka mirco swtich has been install.

If you should hear of a fix I would be most interested.

Thomas..NH /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #9  
Bird, my JD 316 was purchased in 1987. It has the safety interlock in the seat kind of like you described....pto, tractor, everything shuts off if the operator weight is taken off the seat. I just can't imagine the pto shutting off when you move to reverse. The JD 316 is hydrostatic drive and I believe the JD 345 is as well (same basic platform as the older 300's, just newer and cooler). The hydro lever has a starter interlock (have to be in neutral) to start and is somehow tied to the seat safety interlock so that the tractor can only be started when the operator is in the seat and the hydro in neutral. After more than 1,600 hours it's never shut the pto off when I go into reverse. Working around trees and other mowing obstructions with the tractor would be totally impractical if the pto kept shutting off every time it was put in reverse.

Like you, I finally disconnected the interlock this spring when I put a new non-JD seat on the little beast. JD wanted $95 for a replacement seat & the same seat (no interlock) in black was $45 at TSC (even the same manufacturer).

Just seems odd to me that the pto would shut off when shifting to reverse. Of course, who knows what the Feds can cook up in an effort to keep us "safe". This one just seems to be out in deep left field somewhere.

Bob Pence
 
   / PTO Reverse Safety #10  
Yep, I agree, Bob. I've used a friend's '86 or '87 Deere when he first bought it, and it didn't shut off when you shifted to reverse. That's why I was so surprised when I found that the '95 Cub Cadet did, and I told the dealer that just won't do and he said all brands had to have that switch (of course, I didn't go try to verify that, since I could just unplug it).

Bird
 
 
Top