Farm/tractor folks....PTO clutch pack?

[Jason280]

I have a Land Pride 6' bush hog, and have been having issues with it breaking shear pins, despite having a clutch pack on the output yoke on the gear box. I *thought* it was maybe rusted/seized together, but I suspect the tension springs have simply been compressed too much. I pulled the clutch pack off, but I am not sure what the surfaces should look like. I do know the tension springs look like they have seen better days, and don't have a lot of "spring" left in them.

How should I proceed? I'm going to clean up everything, but I am not sure if I should try and roughen up the mating surfaces on the clutch pack or not...at the very least, I do believe the springs should be replaced.

Oddly enough, the biggest PITA so far was removing the plastic PTO shield.

Springs and parts...

Clutch pack....

 

[JimRB]

Last time I had one apart that much I hit the surfaces with sandpaper until it looked kind of like a brake rotor. Kind of hard for the braking material to slip if the steel sliding surfaces look like mountains. Not sure my little metal lathe could chuck the sliding surfaces. That said I am sure the clutch on my brush cutter is just as bad and does not slip when bogged down. Those springs are stiff by design and perfectly good.

 

[Hay Dude]

I’d get new parts from maugansville AG in maugansville, MD. These people are experts and will ship the parts you need to you fast.

 

[Jerry/MT]

I have a Land Pride 6' bush hog, and have been having issues with it breaking shear pins, despite having a clutch pack on the output yoke on the gear box. I *thought* it was maybe rusted/seized together, but I suspect the tension springs have simply been compressed too much. I pulled the clutch pack off, but I am not sure what the surfaces should look like. I do know the tension springs look like they have seen better days, and don't have a lot of "spring" left in them.

How should I proceed? I'm going to clean up everything, but I am not sure if I should try and roughen up the mating surfaces on the clutch pack or not...at the very least, I do believe the springs should be replaced.

Oddly enough, the biggest PITA so far was removing the plastic PTO shield.

Springs and parts...

Clutch pack....

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[ericm979]

That's pretty rusty. I'd clean up the clutch surfaces at a minimum.

You're supposed to loosen and slip the clutch once a year to ensure that it's working. There should be a spec for the spring length when the nuts are tightened down. I found with my rotary cutter that the spec had it too tight- it didn't slip when I pulled a big rock out of the ground and bashed it for a while before I got the mower lifted up. But I don't have thick grass to deal with.

I don't think the slip clutch is supposed to slip on start up. There's not a huge amount of intertia in a rotary cutter. If the clutch was loose enough to slip on startup it'd likely slip in use. You are engaging the PTO with the engine at idle right?

The springs don't look particularly compressed compared to the Bondioli clutch on my rotary. Yours looks similar and since you have a Eurocardan shaft, might be a Bondioli.

Normally there is either a slip clutch or a shear bolt on a pto shaft, but not both. They both serve the same purpose.

 

[Jason280]

Wow, those import PTO clutch shafts are cheap!

I checked the springs in a vise, and they don't have much compression travel at all...then again, the replacement ones I've found on line don't look like they have a lot of travel, either.

 

[ericm979]

They don't need any significant travel. There's no pressure plate being lifted, just pressure being applied.

If your springs are sacked, the clutch would slip more readily, not less. But those rusted plates are not going to slip easily.

Its probably easier to buy a new clutch than to refurbish yours. You can get just the clutch and not the entire shaft plus clutch if you can figure out who made the clutch or what it's interface with the shaft is. Agri-supply is one source of shafts and parts.