Finally did it !!!!!!!!! Been dreading it for months.

[pharmvet]

After much confusion I figured out that the drive line on my Bush Hog 406 was too long and was bottoming out. I don't know how, but I ran it just a little last year for about an hour. I must have hooked it up at just the right angle to allow me to attach the driveline to the PTO output shaft. Anyway, when I went to hook it up this year I realized the drive line needed to be shortened. To be honest, I kinda thought this was one of those things that you hear about doing, but that nobody really ever needed to do. I kinda figured the Manufactures had it all figured out and that todays tractors and implements would match up without any "adjustments". But such was not the case. It took some doing, mostly I have been dreading the chore and have had a hard time finding time. With a little help from my 12 and 5 year old and some good old fashioned elbow grease, I got it done. I am so happy now that next time I make it to the farm I can just start shreading without worring about the dreaded task of shortening the shafts. I cut 4 inches off of both male and female shafts as well as each guard. Here are some pics. Enjoy.

 

[murphy1244]

Good job!

 

[pharmvet]

And for the second half of the day, I completed another chore I have been putting off for a couple of months. A large pine fell on one of my deer feeders. I have been looking at it for some time thinking "when I get time, I need to cut that tree off my feeder. Well, this afternoon I made time. Glad its done. Im gonna sleep well tonight!!!

 

[Don87]

What I'm wondering, is how in the world did you keep from damaging your tractor or brush hog with a driveshaft that was 4 inches too long? You are one lucky fella!

Most of the time it tears out the PTO on the tractor(snaps the case), or sometimes it breaks the gearbox on the attachment.

 

[npalen]

Seeing the little one sitting on the fender reminds me of an accident here where a teen aged boy was driving a tractor with his young brother sitting on the fender. Somehow the youngster slid off the front of the fender and was killed when the tire ran over him. Not saying you would let the little ones ride with you, the picture just reminded me of the tragedy. The little boy was in our daughter's class at school.
Another similar incident involved my uncle driving an IH 560 with his young son (about 5-6 years of age) riding. My cousin fell off and was run over the stomach area by the tire of the 560 but miraculously survived with only bruises.

Edit: Your boys working with their Dad is priceless--building memories.

 

[pharmvet]

What I'm wondering, is how in the world did you keep from damaging your tractor or brush hog with a driveshaft that was 4 inches too long? You are one lucky fella!

Most of the time it tears out the PTO on the tractor(snaps the case), or sometimes it breaks the gearbox on the attachment.

The only thing I can think of that prevented that: I was incorrectly using the upper most top link attachment on the Shredder. If you look at the last picture, you can see that I now have it correctly in the middle (intended for Cat II) The way I finally decided I needed to shorten the drive line was that I hooked it up a while back (with the top link positioned correctly) and could not get the lift arm extension to collapse back into place as long as the shaft was attached to the PTO output.

I really don't think it was actually 4" too long, but I figured 4" would give me plenty of slack and make attaching it easier in July with sweat running down my forehead into my eyes. LOL The operators manual states that a minimum of 6" overlap is required and I certainly have more than that.

 

[SanDucerro]

I have not had to do this yet, but suspect the time is coming with all the new implements I'm currently buying. Like you I've dreaded the thought of doing this - until I saw your photos. The overlap photo is what did the trick.

I can now "see" exactly what it is that would need to be done. Thanks for posting!

 

[dave1949]

I've had to do a couple. Used the 4" angle grinder for cutting, those shafts are thick.

A good way to fit your new pto shafts is to connect the equipment to the tractor as normal, except the pto shaft should be connected on the implement end only. Then raise and lower the implement through its full range. At the lowest, center and highest position, you should have to extend the tractor end of the pto driveshaft for it to reach the tractor's pto shaft. If you don't have to extend it, it is too long.

 

[jmc]

The hardest part for me was getting the danged plastic covers off.

 

[nybirdman]

Good job and timely.I had a friend rip the pto case out of his NH using a post hole digger that the shaft was too short.
Gets expensive fast.His tractor was brand new and the dealer sold him the PHD.