How dangerous is YOUR PTO?

[ovrszd]

Then it probably takes you two minutes to get off the tractor..:laughing:

My old 4' bush hog had remnants of a PTO cover when I bought it. I stripped it bare and used it with care. I'm still new enough to tractors that I shut it off before I leave the seat - my size 14 feet tend to disturb levers as I mount/dismount. I prefer to avoid the indignity of being run over by my own tractor.

I'm not that bad yet. But I've gotten off the tractor and walked around to the brush cutter and the shaft is still idly spinning. Which means if you stick your toes under it you are probably going to need a pedicure at a minimum.

 

[ovrszd]

It makes me shiver just to think of my flannel shirt beginning to wrap around the PTO shaft.

I've told this story before. But it's worth retelling.

30 years ago I was still watching TV from an Antenna. Watching Des Moines Iowa evening news. Reported a 10 year old who had gotten both of his arms ripped off at the shoulders by a grain auger PTO shaft. Parents weren't home. He went in the house and sat in the bathtub until his parents came home. His biggest worry was that he had bled all over the house.

 

[AchingBack]

Your PTO will also be unsafe if you replace the shear pin with wire. Here's what happened to a friend of mine: She was driving a tractor with a shredder. Someone had replaced a broken shear pin with a piece of wire. The lady hit a solid object which caused the back end of the PTO to break loose from the gear box, allowing the still rotating shaft to fly up and hit her in the head and put her into a 6 week coma. This happened years ago but the brain damage lingers on. Worthy of note, the old tractor she was driving was before ROPS were standard equipment.

 

[wmonroe]

PTO shafts are very dangerous and require constant respect and attention. My newer attachments have functioning covers but my older stuff has nothing, I use the same rule for any pto shaft, if the pto is engaged stay out of arm/clothes/etc reach.

 

[GreenYellow]

I've told this story before. But it's worth retelling. 30 years ago I was still watching TV from an Antenna. Watching Des Moines Iowa evening news. Reported a 10 year old who had gotten both of his arms ripped off at the shoulders by a grain auger PTO shaft. Parents weren't home. He went in the house and sat in the bathtub until his parents came home. His biggest worry was that he had bled all over the house.

As terrible as that is, he's fortunate it wasn't worse. Obviously didn't wrap him up...

My wife's grandpa is missing his right arm at the shoulder from a hay baler accident. Back in the day, before the word safety was invented, he was shoulder deep removing a clog in the baler. Not sure of the details, but someone engaged the tractor before he was done. Hanging on with his left arm is the only thing that kept him from going all the way in.

 

[Kioti Lee]

My augur cover is perfect, always seems to be someone back there guiding it. Brush hog cover is in several pieces not much value, but no one ever near it. Never get off tractor with pto running . Frankly the thought of getting caught in it scares me badly. I am prone to push the limits most of the time, but not with pto.

 

[timbatrader]

Here is one for the safety police how many ways could you kill yourself with this?

 

[buickanddeere]

Ask the members of your your local rural fire department, rural cops and hospital ER staff how people are injured with pto shafts.

 

[GreenYellow]

Here is one for the safety police how many ways could you kill yourself with this? <img src="http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/files/owning-operating/431045-how-dangerous-your-pto-sam_0323-jpg"/>

But it has guards!

That thing is terrifying. Looks like it would kill you and laugh about it.

 

[tractchores]

All my shafts are covered. If one broke I'd replace it. It's one of those things where if you need the cover you basically get one chance, there's no minor "I got caught in the shaft" accidents. Unlike something like a seat switch it's a hugely dangerous mechanism and something as simple as tripping or having something fall into the shaft can have huge consequences. I lost my chains and use a bungy now to keep the plastic covers from spinning. They also double to hold up the shaft when the implement is off.