Harsh PTO engagement on new XG 3140H

[air8]

The PTO seems to engage very harsh with that electric PTO switch on the dash. This is the first tractor I've ever had an electric PTO on. I'm used to letting out a clutch to spin up an implement. But I sure feel like something will break eventually.

Is there a soft start method with these electric PTO engage switches??

 

[ehinson]

I have a 3025H and don't like the PTO either, I go to idle and turn it on with a quick turn on the off the on.

 

[ptsg]

The PTO on these newer tractors is engaged by a clutch pack. When the PTO is On, a diverter valve sends the oil to the clutch pack and a piston will press the clutch discs together. When it's in the Off position, the oil is diverted directly to the tank, however, there's a spring in the clutch pack that will press one of the discs to a brake pad which will cause slight brake action on the PTO shaft, this brake action is not really noticeable with implements that can have high momentum. With a tiller it's really noticeable.

Having a soft start would mean that the clutch discs would have to slip causing extra wear and tear on the clutch material. Same applies for the quick turn on and off on the switch, but this will also cause wear in the brake pad since it will try to stop the PTO when the switch is in the Off position.

On my tractor, I have a Neutral position on the PTO lever between the 540 and 540E. When turning the PTO off I usually just slow the RPMs down then push the lever into Neutral and just let it coast to a stop. While it's coasting I turn the switch off thus saving the brake pads.

 

[papachaz]

my owners manual says to start the PTO at idle, then bring the RPM up to 2510 (what it takes on my XG3025 to get the PTO to 540) slowly....you sure don't want to get the engine up to PTO numbers and THEN engage it, just asking to break a sheer bolt or something else

 

[air8]

I feel engaging the PTO at idle is the only choice. If it were to engage above that....something has to give somewhere.

ptsg - a PTO Nuetral would be nice. Thanks for the informative post. Enjoyed reading that.

I'll just have to get implements that have slip clutches on them. In my mind a shear pin only has about 5 "occurences" in it before letting go. That just my opinion.

 

[ptsg]

Engaging the PTO at idle is the best thing to do whenever it's possible. Wood chippers usually won't let you do that as it will stall the engine.

Even though this clutch pack system makes the PTO engagement really friendly user, the harsh engagement is definitely a major con.

Regarding the shear bolts, I find shear bolts to be very random.

I have a PTO shaft with a M8 shear bolt on my brush mower. I usually mow really high and dense stuff. Sometimes I go really hard on the brush just to see what the tractor can hold or if the shear bolt will break and it will hold just fine. Other times I go slower and it just breaks really easily without any apparent reason.

At first I was also skeptical about shear bolts but I've found out since that it can hold way more than I thought.

 

[rbtjr]

We have the electronic PTO engagement switch on our Kubota MX5800. We had problems with engaging the PTO resulting in a violent start of our 6' rotary mower--all manner of shaking, sometimes resulting in the tractor shutting down. The short story is that we fixed the problem with a longer PTO shaft and engaging the PTO with the tractor RPMs at 950 or 1000 instead of the idling RPMs of 800. Our tractor is sensitive to sudden PTO loads engaged at idle and would tend to shut down when we engaged the PTO at 800 RPMs with the mower on. Just a small increase in the RPMs has resulted in a much smoother PTO engagement in our case.

 

[Avenger]

I put slip clutches on everything that has/had a sheer bolt. I got tired of changing them out everytime I turned on the PTO, even at idle. Amazon has the slip clutch for about $80. Life is grand now with the electronic PTO switch.

 

[air8]

Do you still have harsh engagement? But now you don't have to worry about breaking parts?

 

[Avenger]

Correct. The harsh engagement will never go away. The very first time I fired up the PTO on my rotary mower, it sheered the pin. After I installed the slip clutch, I idle down as I always do, engage the PTO, the tractor briefly bangs and shutters as the PTO starts up, I idle up to 540 and do whatever I need to do. It is just the process now.

Growing up on the farm with equipment made in the 60's, the PTO engagement was on a lever. You could feather that lever and engage the PTO more smoothly, even at high RPM. In all the years of using PTO implements, I rarely broke a sheer pin. Sometimes I wish these new tractors had engagements like that. But that is no longer the world I live in. I live in a world where everything is computer controlled, fly-by-wire, electronic PTO engagements. So I adapted. It was certainly not a reason to NOT get the tractor. It could be better, but I am not complaining.