PTO Shaft Guard That is Easy to Deal With?

[Suburban Plowboy]

I posted a thread about my bush hog, and I complained about the PTO shaft being hard to remove and install. People said they were all like that. I went out and looked at it, and I realized my problem is the guard, not the shaft. I don't know a whole lot about PTO-driven implements because I only have one. The shaft itself is not that horrible to deal with.

My guard is a Eurocardan, and I had to use a screwdriver to pry it off. It's pretty beaten up after 20 years, so rather than fix it up, I would like to replace it with a guard that is easier to remove and install. Is there a good one out there?

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I see a brand called Bare-Co gets good reviews from some people. It has two levers you open to release the front cone so you can slide it back off the front of the shaft.

 

[ruffdog]

I'm thinking that most pto shaft guards are not interchangeable. I think you may have to buy the shaft too. Many of the instructions for the shafts say to trim the end guard cones to your application. With your old mower, I would just trim it.

 

[scootr]

The PTO guard on my Kubota was in my way. I removed it and welded a little 1/4" rod along each bottom end/edge so when I remounted it -it angled upwards more. This gives me clearance for the PTO easy connection adapter and still protects the driver.

 

[Suburban Plowboy]

I'm thinking that most pto shaft guards are not interchangeable. I think you may have to buy the shaft too. Many of the instructions for the shafts say to trim the end guard cones to your application. With your old mower, I would just trim it.

The manufacturers claim there are universal guards.

 

[CalG]

I cut the bell on the tractor end back about 2 inches to make things easy.
There is no exposure that isn't covered by the guard or the tractor metal shield.

It's just a bit easier....

 

[cathy liebchen]

EA sells a metal replacement cover. All Brown cutters come with an easily removed cover

 

[Smokeydog]

For me pull collars are harder than push button to work around pto guarding. Like the idea of trimming the bell back. Now often disconnect from implement, connect to tractor, then reconnect back to implement just because of space and guarding. I come from a time brushhogs didn’t have pto shaft guarding. We used 4” corrugated plastic drain pipe over the pto shafts to keep grass and kudzu from wrapping around the shaft.

 

[bdhsfz6]

For me, the PTO spline shield, which is bolted to the tractor, is more of a problem than the guard on the PTO shaft. I hate to admit it but I owned my first Kubota for several years before I discovered it could be tilted upward to allow more room to attach the PTO shaft.

As others have suggested, I trim the plastic shaft guards on some of my implements for better access.

 

[workinonit]

That tractor guard is one of the first things that gets removed on a new tractor for me. I can't deal with them. I have 3 brand new ones in my shop.