Chains PTO CHAINS/ LINK PINS/ BREAK IN

[ODEED]

I am back to tractors after many years. The old MF was not new and the attachments were all home made. The new beast has new attachments to go with it and I have managed to put 15 hrs on it without damaging it or myself ... can't say the same for the innocent lawn chair though
I have a couple of really basic questions:
a) the little chain thingy's that are attached to the PTO shaft shields ... the only point seems to be keeping the hood from spinning around ... do I care? I tried out the new cutter tonight and the chain on either end of the PTO shaft ended up broken at one end and distorted on the other end.
b) link pins .... I have managed to lose 3 on the RMM guide wheels, 1 on the RC PTO shield box and 1 of the 3PH arms ... how many spare pins do I stock up on and is there a simple technique for keeping them attached to the equipment that I have not figured out
c) break in time ... is it better to keep engine revs up to PTO speed for the hydraulics or notch it down a bit (say 2K RPM) for the engine for the initial period?
thanks for any/all responses ... this is the first post but have been lurking for many months building up to the new purchase. I thought I would get a full night's sleep after getting the new machine in my shed but ...no ... now I go to sleep contemplating the next thing I can do with it ... will it ever end
later
tl

 

[woodchuckie]

I've noticed more noise and damage to the shield which I believe is there to protect the parts of the shaft and to keep things from wraping around it such as pant legs or shoe laces.

I've had to replace several different pins with other types. On some I drill the hole bigger to accept a different pin. I can find a big selection at Lowes.

No it will never end, thank goodness.

 

[Soundguy]

Ditto on the shaft.. a non spinning outter guard is less likely to entangle anything.. plus with it not spinning.. you know it isn't siexed to the pto shaft.

Pins.. of you loose lynch pins.. find a pin of the same size with no wire bail but with a hole drilled inthe end, and then put a keychain ring thru it....

That's why lynch pins are 5 / $1.00 at tractor supply.

Soundguy

 

[Dieselmh]

My pto shield chains broke right off the bat too. I just left them off and let the shield spin. If you're losing lynch pins, maybe try getting the heavy duty ones at Tractor supply. They're black, and the wire bail seems to "snap" tighter, at least as far as I can tell, they're tighter than the ones that came with my tractor. I think they're about 30 cents each, or something like that. I keep about a dozen in a tool bag on the tractor, since they seem to jump out when you're out in a field or somewhere, working. As for the break in time, I'd read the manual. Mine said to keep it at a little lower RPM for a while to break in the engine, but I think I only followed that for the first few hours. I'm impatient.