L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position

   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position #1  

SouthernSky

Gold Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2005
Messages
330
Location
Deville, LA
Tractor
2013 Kubota L3200DT
If I hook up my bushhog and engage it, it takes very little load for the handle/lever under the steering wheel to disengage itself on its own. If I have no implements hooked up to the PTO and just move the lever to 840 RPM (low), it will spin properly. It is only under a load it pops out of being engaged.

Please offer your suggestions and guidance. My grass is too high for a lawn mower. :)
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position #2  
It sounds like the pto gearbox is not fully engaging. First thing to check is the linkage. If a rod is bent it can limit the travel.
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Which rod would I be looking for? I'm not sure where to check that. And thanks!
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position #4  
On your tractor the pto shifter (under the dash) turns a shaft that goes down into the transmission. At the bottom of that shaft is a lever that moves a long shift rod forward and back to shift the pto gears into high or low or neutral. The first thing I'd do is try using a bungee cord to hold the lever over while using the pto. If a bungee isn't enough use a chain.

The next level of attack might be to remove the slotted guide plate under the dash and see if the lever will actually move further than the guide plate allows. If it does, leave the guide plate off and rig up a way to block the lever all the way over when using the pto. My neighbor has a L3450 (nearly identical chassis with larger engine). His needed a blocker plate to keep the high/low lever from popping out of gear. Maybe your pto linkage needs something similar.
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position
  • Thread Starter
#5  
The next level of attack might be to remove the slotted guide plate under the dash and see if the lever will actually move further than the guide plate allows.

I took off the plate and I find that the lever moves much farter to the right (striking the metal wall) in the 540 position, but only moves 1/2 as much when moving to the left (1000 rpm) position.

Also, when I step on the clutch, I hear a hissing/shushing noise, not really a squeal though. Could it be related?

One other thing, RB. I do have a bent rod underneath but it is the brake pedal rod. There is no connection between PTO engaing and that brake rod, is there? I would think not.
 
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   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position #6  
With the lever moved over and blocked does it still pop out of gear? I hope that cures it because on the L2650 most of the pto shift linkage is inside the transmission - may need to split the machine for access.

The hissing/shushing noise might be normal - could be a little rust on the iron faces. It may lessen with pto clutch use. I agree the bent brake rod is unrelated.
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position
  • Thread Starter
#7  
With the lever moved over and blocked does it still pop out of gear?

If I force it, it will stay over but you can hear a hard internal knocking and probably damage happening. Is it possible at all it could be an issue with the shaft that goes from the PTO spline to the implement? I mean, it has u-joints and seems to spin freely.

I'm grasping for straws here. I just can't figure out what would make it want to pop out of the engaged position, at either 540 or 1000 rpm.
 
   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position #8  
"If I force it, it will stay over but you can hear a hard internal knocking and probably damage happening."

How far over does the knocking begin? Only at the extreme? Or does it knock all the time under load?

With everything in proper condition there should be three definite spring-detent positions for the pto shift handle - low - neutral and high. What I'm suggesting is once the lever feels like it is in either the low or high speed notch, and the guide plate is not influencing its position, find a way to hold the lever there so it can't move. Then try the implement and see if it stays in gear. If under those conditions you hear knocking then you likely have broken pto gears in there.

One possible cause of popping out of gear is pto gears that are worn enough that they tend to push themselves apart along the axis. As gears wear the teeth can become slightly sloped - especially if they have run partially engaged for a long time. If it isn't too severe, the disengaging force can be overcome with a positive restraint on the shift linkage. It's possible to run fine for many more years that way.
 
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   / L2650 - PTO lever under steering wheel pops out of engaged position
  • Thread Starter
#9  
" If under those conditions you hear knocking then you likely have broken pto gears in there.

Boy, you're just full of good news, aren't you! :)

Okay, I just tested that. I held the lever and it immediately broke the shear bolt where it connects to the bushhog at the end of the shaft. It tried to jerk itself out of being engaged and the shaft kept spinning over the end of the bushhog because it was still connected to the PTO. Even without the bolt, there was enough force to slowly spin the bushhog. There was no knocking or the lever jumping out of place. Everything felt very smooth, but again, with just the shaft spinning that would be a minimal load.

I looked under the bushhog and all looks normal. So I put in another shear bolt and this time tried the 1000 RPM side (what the heck, right?) because I was thinking that if there was a gear issue, it would likely only affect one of the speeds, correct?

It immediately sheared the bolt, but again no knocking. Just a spinning PTO shaft and spline.

Logically I would think that maybe the implement is being overworked with enough drag to shear the shear bolt. Unfortunately, I don't have another PTO implement to test for applied load.
 
 
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