How to remove PTO shaft from slip clutch on rotary cutter?

[Soldier415]

Soldier, the ring won't slide. It's snapped into a groove that's cut into the shaft, so you need to snap it out of the groove. First find the seam or gap in that ring. You'll need to pry one end out of the groove and work it around and out. Some snap rings have a hole in each end of the ring and are meant to be spread and removed with snap ring pliers. There's a snap ring in your picture, to the left of the one you're working on, inside the yoke. That ring is in the yoke (internal) rather than snapped on the shaft (external).

Okay. I'll head out with some needle nose pliers and see if I can pry it loose.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I'm not mechanically inclined. lol

 

[Gary Fowler]

Why are you looking for a new slip clutch. That one looks like it can be cleaned up and the tension springs re-adjusted. Just remove all the bolts and springs while noting the number of threads on the bolts (you will need to put them back in approximately the same tension), then wedge between the hubs to separate them if they are rusted together. After cleaning off the rust etc. put the bolts and springs back in and tighten back to approximately same as when you removed them.
It should then work fine. If the U-joints are frozen, then some working in both direction should free it up. Grease it up good prior to trying to free it up.

 

[Soldier415]

Why are you looking for a new slip clutch. That one looks like it can be cleaned up and the tension springs re-adjusted. Just remove all the bolts and springs while noting the number of threads on the bolts (you will need to put them back in approximately the same tension), then wedge between the hubs to separate them if they are rusted together. After cleaning off the rust etc. put the bolts and springs back in and tighten back to approximately same as when you removed them.
It should then work fine. If the U-joints are frozen, then some working in both direction should free it up. Grease it up good prior to trying to free it up.

Gary,

When looking for a new PTO shaft I saw that for $100 less than just the shaft at tractor supply I could snag a new shaft and slip clutch from agri supply. In the event this shaft turns out to be junk

 

[Soldier415]

Snap ring is off but the shaft still won't come off the slip clutch. Its hung up right at the end. Guess i'll have to drag it out farther where I can chain the cutter to the recovery hooks on the front of my truck then apply some tension with a chain to the drawbar

 

[TractorGuy]

Pull the shaft apart & clean it up & use it.

Chain the cutter to a tree or something solid & pull with tractor or truck.

Not long enough at current stuck length to connect to tractor PTO. Guess I could connect it to a clevis on the drawbar

You don't want to connect to the tractor PTO to pull on it. FIgure a way to hook a chain to the yoke and pull from the drawbar or something.

That's a funky design on that thing. Never seen a clutch AND shear bolt setup on the same shaft.

At any rate, now that you have the shaft pushed forward and the clip off you should be able to clean the end of the shaft with some emery paper and get it to slide right off. Then you still have to get the telescoping tubes to slide before you proceed. After all is sliding and connected you will have to loosen all the clutch bolts and get it to spin then tighten back to adjust.

 

[davrow]

That's a funky design on that thing. Never seen a clutch AND shear bolt setup on the same shaft.

Tractor Guy, I'm shopping for a light weight rotary cutter, and I have a TSC nearby. All their brush hogs are shear pin only. But they sell a slip clutch that goes on an existing PTO shaft, so that is exactly the setup I would be looking at. Replace grade 2 shear pin with grade 8 and rely only on the slip clutch.

For those of us who do not like shear pins.

 

[davrow]

The manual wasn't much help as there wasn't a section covering PTO shaft removal. Any help appreciated

TSC has a manual for their brush hogs available online, with pretty good pictures and instructions. Bring up one of the cutters, scroll down to "More Info", click the down arrow and there is the manual.

 

[Ford850]

Snap ring is off but the shaft still won't come off the slip clutch. Its hung up right at the end. Guess i'll have to drag it out farther where I can chain the cutter to the recovery hooks on the front of my truck then apply some tension with a chain to the drawbar

Progress! Good deal. That's not unusual to get hung up on the end since that tip was exposed and has more rust, dings and dents. You might have created a burr on there when pounding that yoke and ring. Push the yoke back on and see if you can clean the end of shaft a bit with a wire brush and/or fine sand paper/emory cloth or even a file.

 

[airbiscuit]

I put a nylon strap through the PTO yoke so it pulled straight, chained a comelong onto that and applied tension. Soaked the heck out of it with PB Blaster. Did TAP Tap Tap on the side of the PTO shaft. Not real hard hits, just enough to dislodge it. Repeat if necessary. Softer touch did better than brute force.

 

[Soldier415]

SUCCESS!

Used an axle strap through top link to pick up front of cutter and drag it into yard where I could get my truck behind it. Ran a chain from recovery hook to the cutter, then another chain from front of pto shaft to clevis on draw bar on tractor.

One tug popped it off.

Re-positioned and ran chains from each end of PTO shaft to truck and tractor.

Didn't want to go first pull, so put RPM up to 2,300 and did a full send. Popped apart.

Tomorrow going to hit it with brake cleaner to clean it up then grease and re-assemble. Hopefully it is the right length.

Still need to unbolt and clean slip clutch then re-assemble and adjust.

Thanks for all the advice gents!

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Good job. I had to pull my PHD shaft apart once. Chained other end to a white pine near the barn and yanked it apart using the tractor. The next yr the pine tree died, i think because of the jolt. It needed to go, so wasnt upset.

I now keep all pto shafts inside or covered.

 

[airbiscuit]

If the PTO shaft is square, be sure you have it "timed" correctly when you slide it back together. (see 2:00)

 

[Beeenvenue]

You don't want to connect to the tractor PTO to pull on it. FIgure a way to hook a chain to the yoke and pull from the drawbar or something.

That's a funky design on that thing. Never seen a clutch AND shear bolt setup on the same shaft.

I have an Ag-Meier Mohawk Brave 5 cutter. I bought the slip clutch option. The only difference between the slip clutch and shear bolt versions is the presence of the slip clutch - both have a hole drilled for the bolt, but the bolt version specs a 3/8 Grade 2 and the clutch specs a 3/8 grade 8.

They do not double nut the bolt so mine came off, and the snap ring did nothing - I heard a horrible racket and saw my pto bouncing around the mower deck. I only had a 5/16 zinc (prob grade 2) but it worked for about 1/2 acre until I hit a 3” mesquite limb. Undersized bolt sheared, racket occurred, and I was down until I could go get the correct bolt. This time I made sure it was double nutted. I did not replace the slip ring and do not intend to - anyone see why I should?

And yes I did slip the clutch on first use back in May. I am a newbie but I read a lot on this forum plus YouTube videos to try to learn more about my equipment than the manuals show.

 

[WranglerX]

Be sure to clean all the galling and scrapes and burrs caused by disassembly methods before attempt to reassemble...

Dale

 

[Soldier415]

So went to grampa's house and borrowed a PT shaft to use to test. Hoisted cuter in the air so I could get some oil to the bolts holding blades only to find one of the blades is bent bad and would impact the ground.

Ugh

 

[WranglerX]

So went to grampa's house and borrowed a PT shaft to use to test. Hoisted cuter in the air so I could get some oil to the bolts holding blades only to find one of the blades is bent bad and would impact the ground.

Ugh

Probably why shear bolt broke....

Dale

 

[countrybumpkin]

Probably why shear bolt broke....

Dale

He never broke any bolt, he’s never used it He removed the bolt trying to get the yoke off.

 

[WranglerX]

He never broke any bolt, he’s never used it He removed the bolt trying to get the yoke off.

Guess that slipped my mind, don't always re-read whole diatribes when responding...

Dale

 

[countrybumpkin]

Someone else had posted about a broken shear bolt a few posts ago, so I’m sure that’s were you got that from. Sometimes it’s hard to remember who is the original poster on some of the software, I’m using Tapatalk and next to the original posters name it has a large green square stating OP other wise I’d end up doing the same thing.

 

[WranglerX]

Someone else had posted about a broken shear bolt a few posts ago, so I’m sure that’s were you got that from. Sometimes it’s hard to remember who is the original poster on some of the software, I’m using Tapatalk and next to the original posters name it has a large green square stating OP other wise I’d end up doing the same thing.

Don't have cell phone so Tapatalk does not work for me... I use one of them their old PC thingies....

Dale