Mowing REAL newbie question-hooking up Maschio finish mower drive shaft

[Axeman]

I tried to connect the PTO driveshaft to my tractor today but didn't get it figured out. The manual that comes with the finsih mower was in a plastic tube that was connected to the mower and left outside for obviously a long time and they are in really bad shape. The instructions are translated from the Italian instructions and very hard to follow, plus, the figures that show the details of this are unreadable. There has to be something that secures the shaft to the pto and the mowers drive as well...pins or something, but I have no idea what this is. Otherwise, the sharft would just slip off, right? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.......

 

[firemanpat2910]

Wow its that time of year again. There are several different connectors on pto shafts. some are plain and simple, push in on a pin and slide on, release the pin, slide until pin snaps into the groove on the pto stub. Others have slip collars, twist and pull, push, push and twist, twist left, twist right, stand on your head, rub stomach in a clockwise while twirling a baton. Ok that might be extreme but some are very agrivating. Best advise I have is calmly, and comfortably look at the shaft you have and figure it out. Not in the 100 degree bright sun, 2' of snow, last 5 min of daylight after rushing home from work. One you figure out the trick its easy every time if you let it make you mad you will cuss it every single time.

 

[WSJ]

Yep, what Firemanpat said, more or less. There's going to be some spring loaded detent pin (I think that's the right phrase) that you have to release in order to slide the splined female part of the PTO driveshaft over the splined male PTO output on your tractor. If you look at the PTO shaft you'll see a groove (mabe 2) running round it at 90 degrees to the splines. The detent pin rides in that to keep the shaft from slipping off until you release it by pushing a button or release or spring/ring or whatever.

The implement side will be similar in that the drive shaft is female and mates to the male shaft on the mower. A key difference might be if you've got a slip clutch, which might use a threaded pin & nut or some such to ride in the groove. But the principle is the same - the drive shaft slides onto the input shaft of the implement until the groove aligns with the pin or bolt or whatever.

I'm sure there's someone here with correct terminology who can explain it better, but pretty much everything works on some variation of that bsic theme.

BTW It's always more fun when you do these things in the snow or dark or on a 90 degree day with clouds of mosquitoes about. Try to bump your head on something really hard, too. Good luck! -WSJ

 

[Axeman]

Well, it was pouring rain when I went out to take a look at how to hook the thing up. What I didn't do and probably should have is bring the shaft into the dry garage with the lights on so I could take a good look at it. I struggled with it for about two minutes then gave up and came inside to help my wife with Easter dinner. I was on the tractor forum later and just thought I would ask the question. I'm sure I can go home today and figure it out. Like I said, the manual is pretty messed up and what instructions I could read were very confusing with the english translation. Thanks guys, I'll go home and take a look at it.

 

[WSJ]

Whidbey Island is, if I recall, sort of a damp environment. You may want to wire brush everything clean of rust before doing much of anything, then check for burs on the splines and remove any you see or feel, and finally, use gobs of grease on the PTOS shafts and on the driveshaft where it slips together. -WSJ