4310 Mid PTO Switch-On Procedure - Damage?

[TMcD_in_MI]

Does anyone know of a case where there was damage caused by switching the mid PTO on while the rear PTO was already engaged? The owner's manual clearly says that to avoid damage, the rear PTO should be off when engaging or disengaging the mid PTO.

The reason I am interested, is that my son-in-law, who doesn't use the tractor much, thought the procedure was just the opposite, and was trying to switch the mid PTO on while the rear PTO was already going. He said he heard a gear-grinding noise once, but mostly the mid PTO just didn't engage. I went out to see what he was having trouble with, and when we engaged the PTOs in the right order, the front snow blower took right off and has been working fine since.

I know that this horse is already out of the barn, but I'd feel a lot more at ease if nobody had ever heard of actual damage from doing this.

So, does anyone know anything about this?

Tom

 

[Havoctec]

If it is still working when engaging in the correct order, I don't think you have to worry about damage. My guess is that if there was damage, the mid pto will not work any more or would be making some serious noise.

 

[Lil43]

When I bought my 4300 new and the moroooon that was showing me how to operate my NEW TRACTOR did the exact same thing!!.I bit my lip and just tryed to get him off the tractor as soon as I could.Seven years later hasn,t caused a problem yet.

 

[RalphVa]

All of us driving manual transmissions have ground gears at times, due to mistiming use of the clutch, etc. Have driven many miles and done it lots of time (am I a klutz?) with no damage.

I always leave my 4010 with the lever in the "front" PTO position, because it makes it easier to engage the rear PTO by being able to hand rotate the PTO to match up with the splines of the implement. Made the mistake of trying to move the lever to the rear position after pulling up the PTO button once. Had some grinding gears. No damage. Ended up pushing the button in and then moving the lever.

My Gravely ground the PTO gears all the time. To minimize this, one slowed the engine to idle before engagement.

Ralph

 

[TMcD_in_MI]

Thank you, gentlemen, for your replies. I'm happy that you agree that there isn't likely to be damage, and even happier that no one wrote to say that they knew of a case of PTO disintegration or something. I guess if there was a big chance of instant wreckage if you engaged things in the wrong order, JD would have provided some sort of interlock to keep that from happening.