Does this look "finished"

[Jhossack1]

You know what? I think its (1), the small splines and (2) the "Lands" are not chamferred to allow easy starting of the female. I may just let the dealership "deal" with it. I've reached out to a land pride dealer too - just to see if maybe it is a common different spline arrangement - not answer back just yet.
Jhoss

 

[Jhossack1]

To BigBoy, i will check - I've seen is spin - just didnt take note on which direction - but point taken.

 

[The Toolman]

Whats the Verdict?

 

[Jhossack1]

Hey Ronnie - I'm glad you pinged me on this. The Kubota dealer I bought it from says he believes my premise that the shaft is unfinished. He took my photos and he is going to take this week to get with Kubota about support on this near 20 yr. old tractor. But he did give me the impression that it can be fixed - not too big of deal to extract the original and insert a good one. Maybe you guys can weigh in on this process if you've ever brushed up against this scenario before. I expect some cost will come my way, but my dealer is very good - has been great to work with over the years so I will follow his lead. If it gets too pricey I can always sell the rototiller and go another direction. Hate to do it but just war-gaming out the worst scenario.
Jim

 

[The Toolman]

Keep us up on it, you have my attention now.....

 

[bcp]

Sometimes a splined shaft will have a small ridge or groove to allow assembly in only one position. And a driveshaft without the corresponding ridge or groove will not go on at all, even if the spline dimensions are the same.

Bruce

 

[sixdogs]

A grinder will fix it. Not for the purist or faint of heart but I have done it and it worked.
OK to just change the PTO shaft as well.

 

[My Hoe]

I think the problem could be those "mini-lands," within the groves.

Is it possible that "gray market" PTO shaft was mistakenly installed in an American-market tractor?

It occurs to me that you might try googling for images of Japanese female-PTO shafts (or male, for that matter) and see if you can find examples of the shafts that would accommodate those "mini-Lance," within the groves. Then, at least, you might know that you are dealing with the gray market part, if in fact that's the case. Just my .02.

And as was suggested, the direction of the rotation shaft may really shed a lot of light here.

But luck and let us know--I too am interested.

My Hoe

 

[Baby Grand]

Does the PTO lock on the implement's shaft (the female "guzzinta" end) work properly?
I have had them lock up on newer equipment from grime, debris, lack of grease, etc.
Can't get the guzzinta onto the male, tractor spline when that happens.

 

[Gary Fowler]

You for sure arent going to get your female coupling on to that shaft with those ridges in the lower part of the splines. I've never seen one like that before so it could be a speciality shaft for the Japanese equipment that somehow got onto your tractor. I think I would grind them out at least to the locking groove and see it the shaft goes on then. The splines look like the standard 6 spline shaft but it may not be. If it goes on after finishing the first inch or so, then finish it out all the way and then it should work unless you have a backward rotation.

 

[savageactor7]

We have a 20 yo Kubota and it doesn't have those little nipples in spline.

 

[Fred Barbour]

I owned a B7100 for years. My lawn mower pto shaft would only slide on in one position on the B7100. I placed the lawn mower shaft up against the tractor PTO and slowly rotated the tractor shaft until it slid in. I'm sure this will be the case for you as well.

The picture you provided looks the same as mine did.

Fred

 

[Baby Grand]

Those raised ridges between the teeth are artifacts of the manufacturing process.
Depending on weather the splines were broached, ground, shaper cut or milled, and the cutting tool or grinding wheel used, you may or may not have get those ridges in the finished part. They are a normal feature resulting from the manufacturing method used to cut the teeth and shouldn't interfere with the implement spline, provided they are compatible sizes (1 3/8" six tooth). Here's a picture of a stub spline from Surplus Center's catalog:

In this photo you can clearly see similar ridges between the teeth. If you were to measure the diameter of those ridges, across the tops, using a caliper or mic, and compare it to the ID dimension across the teeth of the implement spline, there should be clearance. If so, then something else is preventing assembly.

 

[Gary Fowler]

One can see a bottom groove in your photo but the groove is flat at the bottom whereas the OP has a inverted V shape that is not the same. He will have to change his shaft on the tractor or the tiller to match assuming he can find a female coupling to fit. Or just possibly using a grinder to remove the ridges might work and would be easy enough to do with a 1/8" thick grinder blade, just have to be carefull not to grind off the splines sides too much. A little touch with the grinder blade here and there wont hurt but careful grinding should accomplish the lower ridge removal without incident. Then, just have to make sure the rest of the splines match to a standard 6 spline. I would try grinding the ridge off, you wont loose anything in doing that since it wont fit anything made in the USA or to the SAE requirements.

 

[BotaBigot]

Early Botas, even legitimate ones, had backwards PTO rotation (had one)...but splines were correct for this market...based on pic, my money's on gray market...having said that, I'd go die grinder route as others have suggested...initially removing just far enough back to verify yoke fits major splines...

 

[Deano]

In this photo you can clearly see similar ridges between the teeth. If you were to measure the diameter of those ridges, across the tops, using a caliper or mic, and compare it to the ID dimension across the teeth of the implement spline, there should be clearance. If so, then something else is preventing assembly.

Read the above statement...right on the money...don't grind...a set of vernier calipers and a little time is all you need to see why it's not fitting!!

 

[Baby Grand]

I went back and looked at the pictures the OP posted and the ridges look to have flat tops to me. I suspect they are fine. The spline would be expensive to replace and replacement may not solve the problem. The OP needs to determine root cause of the problem before he can fix it.

Here's my list of what I think are likely suspects:

1) In he 2nd or 3rd post describing the problem, he stated that he has never used the rear PTO on this tractor, so I wonder if he has released the locking feature on the implement's spline before trying to engage it with the tractor's spline. The first time I tried to hook up a PTO shaft it took me many failed attempts before I figured out how it worked. Every new PTO implement that I aquired had a different style lock, requiring that I relearn the procedure. Our b5100, little brother to the b7100, has a PTO guard that is very tight around the stub spline and I have great difficult getting my big mitts in there to attach & remove the PTO shaft, especially on our Secma tiller, which has a ring you must pull towards you at the same time you push the shaft away from you to engage the teeth.

2) I often can't engage my tiller PTO shaft (both the Sicma and the KKII) on either the B5100 or the L3240 if the tiller is resting on the tines. This is because I can't rotate the implement spline enough to engage the teeth. To do this I have to lift the implement on the 3pt hitch, then I can spin the tiller tines enough to engage the spline teeth. I have the same issue, to a lesser extent, with our brush hog. Hvae to spine the blades to engage the spline.

As long as the OP is focussed on the "defective" tractor spline, he will not examine the implement spline & locking mechanism with enough attention to discover if that is the problem. He may not be aware how closely the splines must be angularly alligned before they will slide together.

I see this all the time in failure investigations - someone gets fixated on one possible cause and misses some of the clues from the actual problem, prolonging the investigation. I have been guilty of falling into this same thought trap, so it's not meant as a slap, just something to consider.