3-Point Hitch Broke my PTO Differential Gear Case. Bearings shattered!

[captronr]

In the days of old (before compact tractors), the 3PH arms were longer and the mower/phd/whatever gearbox was further back, so there was less need for precise PTO shaft lengths.

My dealer cut my pto shafts on the tiller I bought with the tractor. I later added Pat's quick hitch, and then the PTO would come apart with the tiller full down. I had to but a new inner shaft and redo it.

Ron

 

[Farmer495]

Thanks for sharing this if it means others will take checking PTO shaft length seriously before hitch up.

I've cut shafts on two brand new 3pt PTO machines, checked and double checked before machine was ever put in gear. Yes it's a pain taking the shields all off and lining everything up but this is why.

Good luck on getting it put back together.

 

[coldsteelva]

The Everything Attachments video on PTO measuring and cutting is a good watch.

How to Measure and Cut a Tractor PTO Shaft - YouTube

 

[CobyRupert]

The problem was the OP knew the shaft was too long, so the "solution" was to rototill with the extendable 3 point hitch arms in the loose extension position (allowing the slightly longer pto shaft to "fit".
The problem came when he raised the 3pth and the extendable 3pth arms slide back and clicked in their proper shortened operational position. Then he lowered the 3 pth with the too long PTO shaft...

 

[Ford850]

The problem was the OP knew the shaft was too long, so the "solution" was to rototill with the extendable 3 point hitch arms in the loose extension position (allowing the slightly longer pto shaft to "fit".
The problem came when he raised the 3pth and the extendable 3pth arms slide back and clicked in their proper shortened operational position. Then he lowered the 3 pth with the too long PTO shaft...

A "famous" quote from Cleveland's mayor Frank Jackson sums this up:
"The problem is we have a problem. It's not that we don't know what the problems are; we've known those for years. It's not that we don't know what the solutions are; we've known those for years. The problem is we haven't done anything about it."

 

[downslope]

In the days of old (before compact tractors), the 3PH arms were longer and the mower/phd/whatever gearbox was further back, so there was less need for precise PTO shaft lengths.

My dealer cut my pto shafts on the tiller I bought with the tractor. I later added Pat's quick hitch, and then the PTO would come apart with the tiller full down. I had to but a new inner shaft and redo it.

Ron

Is it OK to just make the inner shaft longer without increasing the length of the outer? It seems if you do that there would no longer be maximum possible overlap of the shafts and less surface area to transmit loads and resist flexing and twisting.

I'm not saying it's wrong to do, just trying to understand if there's some other reason(s) to maintain the ratio of the shaft lengths or if it doesn't make a difference.

 

[Ford850]

Is it OK to just make the inner shaft longer without increasing the length of the outer? It seems if you do that there would no longer be maximum possible overlap of the shafts and less surface area to transmit loads and resist flexing and twisting.

I'm not saying it's wrong to do, just trying to understand if there's some other reason(s) to maintain the ratio of the shaft lengths or if it doesn't make a difference.

You'll end up with less min-max variance. If you cut one short and leave the other long, that long side becomes the minimum. If you cut them both equal, you still have the same max length and a shorter minimum length. More range.
3 + 7 = 10 (minimum is length of the longest side, 7 in this case. range 7 - 10)
5 + 5 = 10 (min length is 5. range 5 - 10)

 

[oosik]

downslope - I don't know about your ratio question. In the literature I have - showing how to measure & cut a PTO shaft - they recommend a 10" overlap as a minimum. This comes out of the OP manual for my BX62S Wallenstein pto chipper.

 

[Gator6x4]

This is a real bum deal. Right on mikester - cross our toes for his tranny case & bearings. I saw this exact same thing loooooooong ago. So when I measured my pto shaft for my Wally chipper - I set it all up - lined it all up - took measurements - cut a piece of quarter round wood molding to the total overall length - then cut this length to what each half shaft would be - held it in place while the wife raised/lowered the 3-point. Shut everything down. Came back the following day and went thru the exact procedure - got the exact same cut length measurements and cut half what was necessary off both sections. I ended up with 12" of shaft overlap and they are 3" from touching at the closest.

I mean - how often does a guy really get any experience dealing with pto shaft measurements and cutting. For me - the pto shaft for the chipper was a one time deal and I probably will never have to do a pto shaft again.

File this away for the next time. How To Measure And Cut A PTO Shaft

 

[downslope]

You'll end up with less min-max variance. If you cut one short and leave the other long, that long side becomes the minimum. If you cut them both equal, you still have the same max length and a shorter minimum length. More range.
3 + 7 = 10 (minimum is length of the longest side, 7 in this case. range 7 - 10)
5 + 5 = 10 (min length is 5. range 5 - 10)

What I was questioning was that captronr said his dealer had shortened the tiller shaft when he made the purchase. Then at a later date he installed the Pat's hitch and found it necessary to lenghten the shaft. He did that by just replacing the inner shaft but not the outer. Assuming the dealer cut both sides equal like you're supposed to, then by just replacing only the inner part later on you would end up with a greater length of inner shaft that was not being overlapped.

I was just wondering if that would be OK? Someone said his chipper called for minimum 10 inch overlap. So maybe it's OK to not have both halves equal, as long as sufficient overlap, but you would lose some range at maximum extension