Hooking up PTO w/ Engine Running

[canoetrpr]

Margin of error what it is all about. Give yourself the largest margin of error IMHO and then when an error occurs - human, electrical, mechanical, you have the best likelyhood of being safe.

I have been hooking up the PTO with the engine running all this time only to read a thread about someone maimed by a PTO shaft which made me recall that two years ago I bypassed the seat safety switch as a 'quick fix' one day. What a fool idea that was. A year later, because I have been in the habit of not shutting off my tractor engine before mucking with the shaft, I have NO margin of error.

I won't be hooking up the PTO with the engine running and the switch would have been fixed except I am trading in my tractor next week and I have informed the dealer about the fault so that he can get it addressed.

 

[grsthegreat]

Yep...I was 15 once...

Pretty soon youll be 15 again, .. then 8... then 4

 

[Runner]

I hook up the PTO with engine running. I suppose there is some possible way that the PTO could be engaged without my help, but I just feel the odds are too small. Also, I'm never in a position that anything could get caught in the shaft/joint, so I don't see the hazard. This is just my personal practice, but I would not recommend it to anyone else.

 

[grsthegreat]

On my tractor 2 separate relays would have to fail for it to engage. Also, while the 3 point is lifted the pto is electronically dis-engaged anyways. Also, i guess the same could be said about cars and trucks. How many of us leave the engine running while hanging over under the hood. not too safe, but everyone does it.

 

[North West Farmer]

GRSthegreat,

Your tractor sounds like it is very safe relative to attaching and/or working around the PTO. My comments as a past emergency responder (technical rescue member) were only to inform forum participants relative to my experiences and what the outcomes of being involved with PTO's can be.

Hopefully, my comments will be helpfull in adjusting the thinking of forum members and guests so we will be as safe as possible and avoid extra exposure to catastrophic injuries when having fun working with and around or tractors.

I have made, possibly more poor decisions, when working with our farm equipment than many of us on this forum, but I continue to try to improve in these safety areas. My past exposure has made it very clear to me that PTO's are potentially extremely dangerous, thus I continue to promote safety in dealing with them and many other things we do when using our stuff.

We all have our own sense of what is and is not safe practice and we go about our days on that basis. I will finish by saying be very careful when working with our equipment and specially those nasty old PTO's.

Nick, North West Farmer

 

[knudj]

Forum contributors,

I am a retired fireman with 35 years of service in a large department, with much of that time being a member of the departments Technical Rescue Team.

Unfortunately, over that time I responded to a number of P.T.O. or power shaft emergencies. These were some of the most horrific emergencies dealt with. All it takes is to have a small portion of clothing, hair, anything that is attached to you to contact the turning shaft. If the shaft makes one revolution the person may be dead or maimed in a matter of seconds.

Slow turning shafts can be just as problematic as high speed shafts. I have arrived on scenes where you see only a bundle of clothing wrapped around a shaft. The clothing would be so tightly wound on the shaft it may not be possible to physically unwind the clothing material. You find it necessary to cut the bundle from the shaft and after a few moments you realize that was not just a bundle of clothing, there was a person or an extremity in that clothing.

A very high percentage of these accidents are fatal, but some people do survive, usually facing a very long hospital stay and many surgeries to repair and/or graft back lost skin or body parts. If the patient survives they usually face an entirely different life with artificial limbs, or possibly extremely disfiguring injuries.

When a person is in a hurry, or tired we are inclined to take short cuts and take chances that we know is not good practice. After thinking back about some of my experiences, it is very important that I recommend shutting off P.T.O. shafts and better yet, turning off the engine or a machines power source prior to hooking up or working around these dangerous shafts that look safe and not likely to be an object that can change you or your loved ones life forever.

Nick, North West Farmer

Nick, I E-Mailed your quote to everyone that helps me or live in my household including my kids as a good reminder to take PTO stuff serious, its not only the operator, the people helping or hanging around your machinery may just get in harms way, or stick a hand in where it don't belong
I hope that's Ok I shared it, real well written, thanks.

Knud, Midwestern United States hobby Farmer

 

[rd_macgregor]

Re: kids do the darndest things, I remember seeing this article last year
(Globe journalist’s son crashes $180,000 Porsche - The Globe and Mail)

In a followup article, he tries to re-create what happened. In his opinion, it boils down to the switch from a generation that was/is comfortable with stick shift and a generation that only knows automatic shift.

I think this might be relevant to tractors, too, given how many different technological differences there are in engines, transmissions and PTOs between different machines.

BOB

 

[Soundguy]

I'll admit to hooking up a pto shaft to a running tractor.. but never with a running pto..

for safety sake.. I wouldn't advise someone else to do it.. just stating I have done it before.. yada, yada, yada...( insert standard disclaimer here...)

soundguy

 

[Rockgod]

After the 3PH is set I turn the tractor off. It only takes a second to turn it back on.

 

[JDgreen227]

I'll admit to hooking up a pto shaft to a running tractor.. but never with a running pto..

for safety sake.. I wouldn't advise someone else to do it.. just stating I have done it before.. yada, yada, yada...( insert standard disclaimer here...)

soundguy

Remember, unless you provide pics or a video as proof, it didn't happen.....

 

[Soundguy]

Remember, unless you provide pics or a video as proof, it didn't happen.....

pics? why?

what's so special about an engine running, but a pto disengaged, standing behind the tractor, sliding a telescoping driveshaft out, and slipping it on to the not moving tractor pto stub?


maybee I'm missing something?

seems pretty mundane...

soundguy

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I think he was jokin soundguy, although it would have helped to add a:laughing:

 

[North West Farmer]

Knud,

If you feel my rant on people versus PTO shafts can reduce injuries and/or deaths in any way, please feel free to utilize my comments.

As a retired emergency responder, quite possibly, my primary opportunity to serve my fellow man is via reporting my experiences so someone else might not repeat an act that results in catastrophic out comes.

Nick, North West Farmer

 

[Elkins45]

I usually leave my tractor running when I'm hooking up the links, but that depends on the attachment. I can usually scoot the bushhog around enough to li e everything up, but i find that I frequently need to jiggle the lift arms around to get my tiller lined up. I've honestly not given much thought to not leaving it running when hooking up the PTO coupler, but maybe that's because the PTO engagement lever is positioned horizontally on the top of the transmission of my Kubota. I can't even begin to imagine how it could accidentally engage.

If I had an electrical PTO switch then I wouldn't get within five feet of it with the tractor running. I can easily see how an electrical fault could turn it on in an instant.

 

[Chilly807]

I usually leave mine running too, although I'd never teach anyone else to do it that way. Mine is a mechanical engagement type PTO like Elkins45's, I very much doubt I'd try it with an electrically controlled PTO. It's possible that the PTO on mine could engage by itself, but it's not likely.

The way I do it isn't entirely safe, and I'm surprised, as others have been, at how many of us do it like this.

With familiarity comes complacency, occasionally followed at some point in the future by catastrophe. Funny thing, all three words (familiarity, complacency, and catastrophe) have 11 letters.

Sean

 

[Soundguy]

ditto that.. most of mine are mechanical dog clutches.. or hyd independent clutch pack. they could engage.. but then.. the tractor could back over me too.. or the engine blow upa nd kill me.. all remote possibilities..

and I might win the lotter too..

 

[grsthegreat]

ditto that.. most of mine are mechanical dog clutches.. or hyd independent clutch pack. they could engage.. but then.. the tractor could back over me too.. or the engine blow upa nd kill me.. all remote possibilities..

and I might win the lotter too..

Ive won the lottery several times... once in Uganda and again somewheres in Europe. I only have to send them $1,000 to verify who i am and they will send me my millions. Now where is my checkbook.

 

[5030]

Ive won the lottery several times... once in Uganda and again somewheres in Europe. I only have to send them $1,000 to verify who i am and they will send me my millions. Now where is my checkbook.

Oddly, I have too. Must be a lot of winners in those offshore contests.....:laughing:

 

[Pete Judd]

I always used to shut of the tractor when dealing with the PTO, but haven't been doing so lately, know the risk, but unless a dog jumps on the lever, won't happen.

I also have won lots of lotterys, and had all kinds of relatives die in plane crashes that I never new and would have to go to Nigeria, to collect the cash.

 

[5030]

The only problem I see with going to Nigeria or Uganda to collect your winnings is, you might not live long enough to spend any........

I think your chances of having your PTO self engage are better.:laughing: