3 pt and pto attachment issues

[WorkPorter]

I'm a newbie with a jd 2305 and a 4' frontier rear mower and have been wrestling over the difficulty of getting the two attached. Eventual success has depended on using 2 variations from standard operating procedure which I've not found discussed in this forum.

#1- Attaching the PTO before the 3 pt. The manual and everyone here (with 1 exception and he drew no replies) says to do the 3 pt hook up first. My problem with this is that hooking up the 3 pt first seems to not leave enough distance for the fully retracted pto drive to line up. In other words the swivel head must be at least slightly tilted away from the tractor's splines when I try to line the two up. To be honest, I've seen a guy from the dealership succeed in making the connection, but it seems he had to do it by coming at it from an angle rather than straight on and I haven't been able to duplicate that magic. I want to know if there's any harm done by my pushing the mower slightly further back (a few inches) from the tractor, attaching the pto, then pushing the mower closer again to hook up the 3 pt connections.

#2- The guy from the dealership warned me of a tight fit in connecting the draft links to the mower. The difficulty here comes from these stabilizer pins. I'm not sure the one pointed to is the exact size I have, but the key feature of these pins I'm referring to are their "usable space". The usable space has to accommodate the draft link, some thickness of steel from the tractor as well as the thickness from the mower. Try as I might to get everything perfectly lined up on both sides there was never quite enough space (off by about 1/8'' on each side) to then insert the lynch pins. So I bought some pins with about 1/4" more usable space and tried to fill in the slack with washers. The washers don't fully take up all the slack. How important is that? The center link I've noticed has a lot of slack built into it with the original parts, but with all the weight of the mower being pulled around would I risk damaging something by not having an absolutely snug tight fit?

Hope my descriptions make enough sense to attract a comment or two.
Thanks for reading this far,
Bob

 

[OtterBrookStables]

I'm a newbie with a jd 2305 and a 4' frontier rear mower and have been wrestling over the difficulty of getting the two attached. Eventual success has depended on using 2 variations from standard operating procedure which I've not found discussed in this forum.

#1- Attaching the PTO before the 3 pt. The manual and everyone here (with 1 exception and he drew no replies) says to do the 3 pt hook up first. My problem with this is that hooking up the 3 pt first seems to not leave enough distance for the fully retracted pto drive to line up. In other words the swivel head must be at least slightly tilted away from the tractor's splines when I try to line the two up. To be honest, I've seen a guy from the dealership succeed in making the connection, but it seems he had to do it by coming at it from an angle rather than straight on and I haven't been able to duplicate that magic. I want to know if there's any harm done by my pushing the mower slightly further back (a few inches) from the tractor, attaching the pto, then pushing the mower closer again to hook up the 3 pt connections.

#2- The guy from the dealership warned me of a tight fit in connecting the draft links to the mower. The difficulty here comes from these stabilizer pins. I'm not sure the one pointed to is the exact size I have, but the key feature of these pins I'm referring to are their "usable space". The usable space has to accommodate the draft link, some thickness of steel from the tractor as well as the thickness from the mower. Try as I might to get everything perfectly lined up on both sides there was never quite enough space (off by about 1/8'' on each side) to then insert the lynch pins. So I bought some pins with about 1/4" more usable space and tried to fill in the slack with washers. The washers don't fully take up all the slack. How important is that? The center link I've noticed has a lot of slack built into it with the original parts, but with all the weight of the mower being pulled around would I risk damaging something by not having an absolutely snug tight fit?

Hope my descriptions make enough sense to attract a comment or two.
Thanks for reading this far,
Bob

Hi Bob - welcome aboard. There's a wealth of knowledge here. Sounds like your drive shaft may be a bit too long - may not have been cut properly. You might consider an iMatch hitch - it would make attachment a snap and it sounds like your driveshaft is long enough to allow one. At any rate, if you attach the PTO first then attach the 3 pt, it should be just fine. As far as the slop in the pins - from what you describe a little play won't hurt a thing.

 

[Runner]

I agree with Otterbrookstables on both counts. I use a rear mower and the iMatch makes hooking it up easy. One trick I learned about lining up the splines on the drive shaft is to shift the PTO lever into the "front" position. This frees up the pto shaft so you can turn it with your fingers to line it up with the mower drive shaft.

Not sure what brand of mower you have, but Frontier has a kit to make their finish mowers iMatch compatible.

 

[9973720wb19]

What an excellent tip..."One trick I learned about lining up the splines on the drive shaft is to shift the PTO lever into the "front" position. This frees up the pto shaft so you can turn it with your fingers to line it up with the mower drive shaft." I have about 60 hours on my 3720 and this is a question I've been too shy to ask. I'd bet I've lost 35 pounds sweating trying to change out the rear PTO attachments...thank a lot! this is one great network.

 

[chipsndust]

What an excellent tip..."One trick I learned about lining up the splines on the drive shaft is to shift the PTO lever into the "front" position. This frees up the pto shaft so you can turn it with your fingers to line it up with the mower drive shaft." I have about 60 hours on my 3720 and this is a question I've been too shy to ask. I'd bet I've lost 35 pounds sweating trying to change out the rear PTO attachments...thank a lot! this is one great network.

Might be obvious, but worth mentioning, the same is true for front attachments, put the PTO selector in the rear position for hook-up.

 

[kennyd]

What an excellent tip..."One trick I learned about lining up the splines on the drive shaft is to shift the PTO lever into the "front" position. This frees up the pto shaft so you can turn it with your fingers to line it up with the mower drive shaft." I have about 60 hours on my 3720 and this is a question I've been too shy to ask. I'd bet I've lost 35 pounds sweating trying to change out the rear PTO attachments...thank a lot! this is one great network.

It is a great tip, but I don't think that will work the the 3x20 series...the mid-PTO is directly driven from the rear I think-you cannot select just the front. I know the 4x00 and 4x20 series are like this.

 

[kennyd]

I also think Otterbrook hit the nail on the head...sounds like your PTO shaft is to long, and that could cause sever damage to your machine if it is...and the iMatch will make life easier hooking up your mower and anything else.

 

[RoyJackson]

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting WorkPorter's post correctly...but I'll toss in my two cents...
Rig the mower to the lower (draft) links first. If you want, move the tractor forward a touch to get the mower directly behind the tractor (after the lower links are hooked up).
Then hook up the implement PTO shaft. Use Runner's suggestion to free the PTO shaft...hope it works for you.
Then rig the upper link.
If that works for you...great. Just report back any success or failure.

Also, before you trim that PTO shaft, you might want to consider buying Pat's Easy Change. That really helps getting the lower links rigged up (and, if you think a rear mower with it's 4 wheels is tough, wait until you try hooking up a rotary cutter!). Pat's Easy Change extends the hook up points (for the lower links) about 4" or so further aft of the tractor (which is why you don't want to trim the shaft yet). With Pat's, you back up to the implement (with the 3PH lowered), then raise the 3ph. The implement pins lock into place. I've used Pat's system for 5 years or more...makes life a lot easier and a lot less cursing when I rig my cutter (or any other implement that doesn't have 4 wheels).

 

[Runner]

Contrary to my intuition, simply shifting the PTO lever to neutral did not free up the PTO shaft, I had to shift to front...


A thought about the drive shaft length:

If you do decide to get the iMatch, it will increase the spacing between the 3 point arms and the mower, so that may be enough to take care of the driveshaft length problem.

In other words, if you decide to get an iMatch, don't cut the drive shaft off first, or it may wind up being too short....

 

[OtterBrookStables]

Contrary to my intuition, simply shifting the PTO lever to neutral did not free up the PTO shaft, I had to shift to front...


A thought about the drive shaft length:

If you do decide to get the iMatch, it will increase the spacing between the 3 point arms and the mower, so that may be enough to take care of the driveshaft length problem.

In other words, if you decide to get an iMatch, don't cut the drive shaft off first, or it may wind up being too short....

Right on the money! :thumbsup: Same for the Pat's system.