Foton 254: PTO popping out of gear

[D0TC0M]

I was blowing snow first time this year and twice it popped out of the 540RPM PTO gear under full load. I have the service manual but its so poorly translated that its unclear if I can remove the PTO gears and the fork from the rear of the tractor or do I have to jack up the cab and remove the hydraulic reservoir to get full access to them. Of course I'm not sure what the problem is but I'm looking at the worse case scenario.

 

[doxford jim]

How long were you blowing snow for ? Did it only pop out twice in a few hours ?
Would it be acceptable to put a bungee cord over the lever to keep it in position. It could very well be the "detent" needs attention (rusted steel ball, broken spring) - a pure guess on my part.
On my Jinma I occasionally get the 4x4 lever pop out of gear - I know it is the détente arrangement, just haven't got around to looking at it and it doesn't get any worse (so far). Is it worth getting too concerned just yet ?

 

[D0TC0M]

Well it happened once after blowing for about 10minutes. I thought maybe I didn't engage it correctly. It happened again about 30 minutes later. Seems to happen when I really load the engine. After that I was always checking it and I could feel that over time it was working its way out. I was thinking about just slapping a bungie cord on the lever for the rest of the winter if its going to be a big job but if the gears and shifting fork are fairly easy to get at I could take it apart and see what I need for parts and order them.

you might be right about the detent because if I put it in neutral you don't feel any spot where it the detent is. Even with the engine off you can put in in gear and out without any detent feeling. Just idling with the lever in neutral and it will work its way to where the gears are touching making a slight gear noise. Is the detent accessible with the cab on the tractor?

 

[D0TC0M]

I must add that I did tune up the engine by adjusting valves, timing and gave it a little more fuel on the injector pump. The engine seems quite a bit stronger this year so maybe the extra power why I'm seeing the PTO popping out. Last year I didn't have this issue.

Also despite checking the adjustment of the PTO clutch this past summer for proper clearance I still have to grind the gears to stop the PTO shaft from spinning. I now shut the engine off to switch gears, luckily I blow snow in 540RPM ratio 99% of the time so that isn't an issue. The only issue I have is a safety issue where the blower is always spinning. I'll pass the winter likely and plan on splitting the tractor to properly inspect the clutch and pressure plate this summer.