AT what RPM do you engage your cutter?

[Mark Page]

1,200 rpm I'll disengage at any speed.

 

[MikeInEburg]

How your PTO is engaged probably makes a big difference. Those of us with a mechanical lever and clutch can engage at relatively low RPM without fear of stalling. Those with electronic engagement cannot feather so easily.

 

[mikehaugen]

I rev down to about 1000, if I try to do it faster the gears grind a lot when I engage, at this speed it kind of just drops in more easily. Not sure if there is something wrong with the tractor or if just wasn't meant to be engaged faster than that- probably no synchros for the pto I am guessing. Oh, and I have a clutch and a lever to engage.

 

[jlsmith]

Always idle your tractor to the lowest rpms without bogging down your tractor to engage the pto. Also idle down to turn off the pto because if you turn it off at a high rpm all your doing is ruining your pto brake.

 

[k0ua]

Always idle your tractor to the lowest rpms without bogging down your tractor to engage the pto. Also idle down to turn off the pto because if you turn it off at a high rpm all your doing is ruining your pto brake.

See that is what I was thinking, I have a PTO brake, and why not get it to idle first before disengaging so the brake has less rotating mass to spin down.. so I am going to continue what I have been doing.. starting as low of RPM as will not stall the tractor, with my puny little cutter that is idle speed, and disengaging at idle too.

James K0UA

 

[TripleR]

Before reading this post, I didn't pay too much attention to disengaging, now I idle down.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/.../177989-disengage-pto-before-idling-down.html

 

[mikehaugen]

I don't throttle down to disengage, I don't have a pto brake so I don't know that it matters.

 

[tennmogger]

I always idle down to make PTO shifts on gear type systems.

However, I learned a lesson with a Cub Cadet Tank. This mower has an electric clutch by Ogura. The Ogura clutch (and others?) operate by having 6 flexible steel bands to transfer the power. These bands must be kept in tension because if they are ever put in compression they bend and come off their pivot pins. I think I trashed the $400+ clutch by shifting at low rpm and having the engine falter and kick just a little. Now I let it rev at about 1500 to engage, then accelerate to operating speed.

 

[jlsmith]

You could also look at it like this. When you stop at high rpms and your pto shaft stops what kind of damage to you think that is doing to your u-joints, drive line, pto shaft and the gears in the gear box. I have changed enough of these in my shop to know to slow it down before turning it off. JMO

 

[TripleR]

You could also look at it like this. When you stop at high rpms and your pto shaft stops what kind of damage to you think that is doing to your u-joints, drive line, pto shaft and the gears in the gear box. I have changed enough of these in my shop to know to slow it down before turning it off. JMO

I've made it plain I am not even close to being a mechanic, but on our Case CX80, when we disengaged the independent PTO at speed, it just free wheeled and spooled down slowly and I am curious how this was harmful? We operated it that way as that is what we were told by the dealer.