2210/2305 Rear PTO broke.

[B8FISH]

Ouch!! Oh and BTW you can have a shear bolt and slip clutch on the LX's. I keep a piece of oak trimmed to the slip clutch setting so that I can check it. But--I think that it is more important to actually loosen and slip it, than to just check and make sure it is adjusted to the right specs. Depending on what you are cutting--you can even leave it a little loose.

 

[myersjc]

My plan is that I will loosen it everytime it has sat for more then a week. As far as adjusting it I plan on leaving it on the loose Side. I would much rather replace a friction disk once in awhile instead of tearing up the transmission.

 

[Dutch445]

Heads up for 2210/2305 owners. If you run a brush hog or any other attachment that may shock load the PTO make sure the slip clutch is functioning or shear bolt is the correct softnness. I have a LX4 that found a rock hidden in the grass. it broke the bearing bore in the main housing of the transmission. I wound up having to replace the main transmission housing, rear cover and several gears. All said and done the bill was almost $2000 for parts and I did all the work.
John Deere recommends loosening the clutch on the LX4 and allowing it to slip several times after an extended storage period. I didn't do that this spring and I think that allowed it to freeze up since the rock completely stalled the engine as well as breaking the housing. Needless to say I will do it religiously from now on as well as running it looser.

I hate to do this, and by no means am I pointing a definitave finger,
but...
Is there a chance that this damage was caused by your PTO shaft
being too long,, and while lifting your cutter the PTO shaft was
pushing against that transmission housing?
If there has been pressure put on the case while lifting the implements,
then that impact could have been the trigger, not the cause of the
failure.

If not, then what was the explanation given by your dealer
techs on the failure? Did they ever seen anything like
this before? (we have not)

sorry to play devil's advocate, but, somebody has to!

 

[johndeere_2210]

I hate to do this, and by no means am I pointing a definitave finger,
but...
Is there a chance that this damage was caused by your PTO shaft
being too long,, and while lifting your cutter the PTO shaft was
pushing against that transmission housing?
If there has been pressure put on the case while lifting the implements,
then that impact could have been the trigger, not the cause of the
failure.

If not, then what was the explanation given by your dealer
techs on the failure? Did they ever seen anything like
this before? (we have not)

sorry to play devil's advocate, but, somebody has to!

Dutch445, I believe myersjc is out right now and I asked this same question (and like yourself not trying to be harsh), because we have seen a number of these by the shaft being too long. I know the LX4 requires the shaft to be shorten on these units, unless the imatch is used. The thing I see when as described of hitting something too hard is the 540 shaft is just snapped.

 

[johndeere_2210]

The DTAC number is 57386 for shorten the shaft on the LX4 cutter.

 

[Dutch445]

Looking at the failure, it's hard to think that an impact
at the implement would cause that housing to break,
the only other way I see it happening was maybe if
a tooth broke off a gear, then the piece ran itself
between those 2 gears, forcing that shaft outward,
and the case gave before anything else did.
It looks like the shaft that runs in that bearing
is an idler?
upon further review, it didn't look like it was the
shaft that the PTO comes thru the back of the
case,
but still, undue pressure on the back of the case
would cause something to break...and maybe
that casting area was the weakest. (not designed
for lateral forces)

 

[myersjc]

dutch445,
If you look at the picture here img_2571.jpg you will see the PTO shaft is only a stub shaft. The piece of the main housing that broke off is from the bearing bore of the inside bearing of the rear shaft. I do believe the failure was from a piece of the bearing being forced between the rotating gears causing the PTO shaft and the one below it to be forced apart.

When I pulled the rear shaft out by hand the bearing just fell apart as you can see in the attachment. I have all the pieces except one which I believe is the one that went through the gears. Not only is the piece missing but it was also the same size as the impressions in the gears.

I do not think the shaft length had a factor in this failure. One reason is the impact with the rock was hard enough to completely stall the tractor. When I restarted it the PTO was very noisy so I shut it off and found the shaft loose. Another reason is the ground was flat and the rock was only far enough above ground to catch the blades, so I don't really believe the mower would have been high enoigh to compress the shaft.

I do appreciate the comments though and will be checking mine as soon as spring rolls around. Without you guys posting the questions I would have never even known it could be an issue.

 

[Dutch445]

well good luck in the future,,


i wasn't implying that at the time of the failure
there was pressure from the shaft being
too long, but if it was too long, and you hadn't noticed it,
and had been lifting to full height during transport
or whatever... there could be a lot of force put
on the transmission when the shaft bottomed out.

but, we may never really know.

 

[ducati996]

and this wouldnt be considered a warranty issue? if indeed the warranty didnt expire?

 

[Dutch445]

and this wouldnt be considered a warranty issue? if indeed the warranty didnt expire?

I guess it would come down to who setup the machine,
if the dealer setup the machine and didn't cut the
shaft to length, then, I guess they couldn't make
the customer pay.

As far as warranty goes, with the service bulletins out there
about the shaft length etc.... I would bet they are tightening
up on paying that claim, figuring it's a user or setup problem,
not a defect in the tractor.