345 PTO Replacement

[MarkCoburn]

I replaced my 13-year-old PTO due to nosy bearings and thought I'd show how I convinced the old one to come out.

This tool, a hammer, an impact driver, and PB Blaster were my primary tools.


My plan was to remove the bolt, stick the tool above the PTO, and pry off of this point:


I first tried a breaker bar on the bolt, but I could not figure out how to keep the PTO from just spinning,so I used an impact drill after some PB Blaster and that worked great.


Once I loosened the bolt, I put the pry bar in place, but no matter how hard I tried, i could not get it to budge. However, I noticed the PTO move down about an 8th of an inch when I hammered that pry-bar into place.


I put the bolt back in and tightened it so the PTO would move back up that 1/8th inch. I repeated thais up-down 1/8th with PB Blaster applications until the 1/8th turned into a 1/4th and eventually it came out.


When I put the new one in, I had the best luck by leaving the key slid down so I could engage it before the shaft,


You don't have to look very hard to see that I need a new drive belt, but that is for a different thread.

Clicking the picture below will link you to a video comparing the sound of the old and new PTOs.

 

[beenthere]

Very good report on the change out. Should be very helpful to others that need to change theirs out.
Good luck with the belt. It does look to be suffering some hardship.

 

[Retired Iron Peddler]

My 345 PTO clutch has been making a slight noise for two years. The JD dealer tech told me two years ago to wait until it locks up before replacing it. He said it might last three months or three years, and when it does go, I won't hurt anything other than being unable to stop the mower from running. I'm following his advice.

Bill

 

[MarkCoburn]

My 345 PTO clutch has been making a slight noise for two years. The JD dealer tech told me two years ago to wait until it locks up before replacing it. He said it might last three months or three years, and when it does go, I won't hurt anything other than being unable to stop the mower from running. I'm following his advice.

Bill

My noise wasn't slight. I knew before I even bought the 345 that I would need to find the source of the noise and replace it. I was hoping it was just an idler and not the more expensive PTO. I'm very glad that I replaced it. The part was about $150 and the sound is night and day.

If it was a slight noise, I'd probably leave it alone too.

 

[l2350ken]

My noise wasn't slight. I knew before I even bought the 345 that I would need to find the source of the noise and replace it. I was hoping it was just an idler and not the more expensive PTO. I'm very glad that I replaced it. The part was about $150 and the sound is night and day.

If it was a slight noise, I'd probably leave it alone too.

I too had a pto whine.I split apart the pto and replaced the bearing on the bolt end for 28.00 dollars.While I had fenders off and other sheet meat I replaced the idler pulleys.I was unable to remove coil end of the pto otherwise would have replaced top bearing of pto.