frozen pto linkage

[BOOMHAUER]

My PTO engagement lever has always worked like butter, throwing it in and out has never been a problem or thought. I have used my farmi winch this winter pulling out firewood. 2 weeks ago the lever started to get some resistance, I chaulked it up to sticky linkage that I needed to grease. Well, yesterday I go to pull out my last tree. I fired up the tractor let it warm up and drove up to the woodlot. The PTO lever was very stiff, it took considerable effort to get it to engage. Winched the tree out, then tried to disengage. Lever would not budge. I tellin' ya I bent the lever trying to get the PTO lever back to the off position. I knew at this point that if I turned the tractor off up in the woods, there would be no restarting. Drove it down to the barn, and used a pair of visegrips on the rod that enters the center transmission. This worked, albeit very stiff. Took the seat off, the levers apart, lubed everything, still stiff. The pics below show where the connecting rod enters the tractor center core. Whats up? Is there a clutch of some sort that engages/disengages?

 

[JC-jetro]

My PTO engagement lever has always worked like butter, throwing it in and out has never been a problem or thought. I have used my farmi winch this winter pulling out firewood. 2 weeks ago the lever started to get some resistance, I chaulked it up to sticky linkage that I needed to grease. Well, yesterday I go to pull out my last tree. I fired up the tractor let it warm up and drove up to the woodlot. The PTO lever was very stiff, it took considerable effort to get it to engage. Winched the tree out, then tried to disengage. Lever would not budge. I tellin' ya I bent the lever trying to get the PTO lever back to the off position. I knew at this point that if I turned the tractor off up in the woods, there would be no restarting. Drove it down to the barn, and used a pair of visegrips on the rod that enters the center transmission. This worked, albeit very stiff. Took the seat off, the levers apart, lubed everything, still stiff. The pics below show where the connecting rod enters the tractor center core. Whats up? Is there a clutch of some sort that engages/disengages?

Boomhauer,

You'll need to look at inside for the type of pto engagement you have. Most likely you have an sliding gear along with a fork setup for engagement of pto final shaft and pto drive shaft. There, for sure is some sort of detent mechanism(ball) to keep the shaft positively engaged. I reckon you got problem in that area. What is the model and make of your tractor and do you have IT manual for it or factory shop manual? NH site is great for that type of information, they have all the parts breakdown on the Ford and NH in thieor website. Give us more info and we take a stab at it. By the way , do you have live PTO (dual clutch)? and have you pushed the clutch all the way prior to PTO engagement.

good luck,

JC,

I'd be careful bending things up to get things moving. the torque your causing on the lever probably stressing something else... not a good thing.

 

[BOOMHAUER]

Hey JC, thanks for the reply. Tractor is a 2002 NH TC40d Hydro, so no clutch. I don't have a shop manual(yet) for this tractor. I'm pretty handy with most repairs. Opening up the tractor at this location, blind, does scare me. I don't have a problem with doing it, just want to know what I'm getting into. I will check out the NH site to see if they show a schematic for this.

Thanks, Paul

 

[BOOMHAUER]

Just returned from the NH website, attached are schematics for the PTO tranny and clutch. Don't know if its the PTO valve or the clutch thats binding up. With pliers it engages /disengages w/o grinding. The throw is just really stiff, moveable with pliers, now way with hand control.

 

[BOOMHAUER]

Here is the tranny schematic

 

[BOOMHAUER]

here is the tranny schematic, take 2

 

[JC-jetro]

here is the tranny schematic, take 2

Paul,

You need to look at the pic below, which is Rear transmission pto drive. You do have a hyd clutch for pto shaft engagement but what ties the pto shaft output from pto clutch to #13 pto shaft is by the action of,#7 sliding gear and #26 shift fork. If you look at #25 shift rod you see an indentation in the shaft that usually works with one or two detent ball and spring. That keeps the shaft #25 from sliding forward or backward when not intended. On my shifter there is a cover that I can remove the spring and the ball. if the ball is stuck , out of round or damaged making the shifting the fork almost impossible. I won't start taking things apart yet but will see if I have access to the detent mechanism from the outside.

Good luck,
JC,

 

[jinman]

here is the tranny schematic, take 2

Boomhauer, your PTO is completely hydraulic. That valve in front of the hairpin in the first photo is nothing more than a hydraulic valve that allows pressure to the PTO Clutch/Brake. The binding your are experiencing is probably completely in the first pivot point below the plastic cover on the left fender. Look down through the slot and you will see three levers pivot on a single shaft. You can easily remove the plastic cowling by removing bolts under the fender and lift off the cowling. Take the assembly apart and clean and lube it for smooth operation. It's nearly impossible to get lube inside without disassembly.

I'll bet if you pull the hairpin in the first photo, you will see that the linkage is still very stiff to operate. Normally, the shaft going into the hydraulic valve is very easy to turn once you disconnect the shaft.

Myself and several others have experienced the same symptoms, so don't feel like you are the first. The fix is pretty simple. Good luck!

JC: These new-fangled tractors have fancy types of PTO engagement that are great as long as they work. They just aren't as simple as the straight gear-type engagement of the past.

 

[JC-jetro]

Boomhauer,

JC: These new-fangled tractors have fancy types of PTO engagement that are great as long as they work. They just aren't as simple as the straight gear-type engagement of the past.

hey Jim,

The diagram above is from NH website for TC40d. I'l double check to see if I looked at dual stage clutch and simple PTO sliding gear assembly for the pto.

Jc,

 

[JC-jetro]

Jim,

I just looked at the CNH site and it appears to me hyd clutch pack turns the PTO counter shaft only. Final pto shaft is engaged or coupled to the counter shaft by the action of a lever, sliding gear and shifter fork. Do you see it differently?

Now I know on some tractor (newer models) PTO is activated by elctro-mechnical engagements, and a switch turns the pto clutch/pto shaft "on or off", and there is no mechanical lever. How about on yours, do you have a lever and a switch for the pto or switch only?

Jc,