Snow I broke my new snowblower!

[wildwillie]

Sorry about your blower but I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one that has bizarre stuff happen . Funny thing about snow it's real good at hiding all the ugliness I've left around.

 

[149owner]

I sent the pictures of the uncovered PTO shaft to Pronovost and told them the two halfs of the shaft are 11" long. With the snowblower in the full up position there is 1/2" of freeplay and fully lowered there is 3.5" of freeplay. Their response was "That looks good to us. You have just enough overlap, and as long as you don't bottom out when in the lifted position, you're ok."

"The correct test is to lift the blower so the shaft is the shortest and then connect it. If you are able to connect it to the PTO then it is not too long. Otherwise cut it. There is no need to take safety covers off to check the lenght."
If I had cut the shafts so I could connect it in the fully raised position then there wouldn't have been enough overlap in the down position.

"Rule #1 of snowblowing - know exactly what is below the snow where you are snowblowing"
Exactly why I put a driveway marker showing where the tarp "was"! The wind must moved it over a few inches during the storm. I put heaver rocks on it now to hold it in place. I'll also run the plow along the edge of the driveway next time to be sure the tarp hasn't moved!

I replaced all of the shear bolts and when I removed the one from the front of the PTO shaft, it was slightly bent. The two halfs of the joint were also stuck together like the one on the jack shaft. I freed it up and put some anti-sieze between them.

"Sounds like this may be the real issue. Shear bolt joints and slip clutches need to serviced and kept free."
Now I know that at the start of the season to disassemble these joints and make sure they aren't stuck together.

 

[Gator6x4]

"If I had cut the shafts so I could connect it in the fully raised position then there wouldn't have been enough overlap in the down position."

I personally do not want to operate any PTO driven implement on one of my tractors if the PTO shaft is to long to allow it to be connected with the implement fully raised. The three point lift is raised by hydraulic pressure. Hydraulic pressure exerts a terrific amount of force. This force must have a outlet. Damage will/could occur on the tractor or implement. This time it was the implement, next time it could be the tractor.

 

[yelbike]

"If I had cut the shafts so I could connect it in the fully raised position then there wouldn't have been enough overlap in the down position."

I personally do not want to operate any PTO driven implement on one of my tractors if the PTO shaft is to long to allow it to be connected with the implement fully raised. The three point lift is raised by hydraulic pressure. Hydraulic pressure exerts a terrific amount of force. This force must have a outlet. Damage will/could occur on the tractor or implement. This time it was the implement, next time it could be the tractor.

I totally agree. Plus the OP may feel 1/2" clearance is enough but its not really. If you bump into a snowbank with blower fully raised, the blower may ride up a little more and break something. Hopefully its the implement again because thats the cheap side of the equation. I broke the other end once and that was enough(10k fix).

 

[rambler]

With the snowblower in the full up position there is 1/2" of freeplay and fully lowered there is 3.5" of freeplay.


The wind must moved it over a few inches during the storm. I put heaver rocks on it now to hold it in place.

1. Many here talk about the pto all the way up, or all the way down. What matters is typically when the pto is as close to level as possible - which is often when the 3pt is somewhere in the middle, not all the way up or all the way down. I'd watch the pto as you move it up and down, and look when it is at the closest point, not just at either extreme. This is more a general comment, not aimed at you?


2. Well, hopefully the rocks will provide a good shock load to bust the shear pins now rather than hitting the tarp first......




Been down that path too many times to count, you 'think' you know where you left stuff, but stuff keeps moving. Good luck with it all.

--->Paul

 

[149owner]

1. Many here talk about the pto all the way up, or all the way down. What matters is typically when the pto is as close to level as possible - which is often when the 3pt is somewhere in the middle, not all the way up or all the way down. I'd watch the pto as you move it up and down, and look when it is at the closest point, not just at either extreme. This is more a general comment, not aimed at you?
2. Well, hopefully the rocks will provide a good shock load to bust the shear pins now rather than hitting the tarp first......

On the BX2200 the shortest length of the PTO shaft is at the full up position. The reason I took the shields off was to see where the closest point was. The plow will find the rocks before the snowblower!

With the smaller tractors you have to compromise between the amount of overlap of the two halves of the shaft and how much freeplay you have at the closest point of contact. If you recall in my last post, the Pronovost rep told me "You have just enough overlap". Those of you that keep saying you wouldn't install the PTO shaft unless you could do it in the point of it's shortest length either have a different snowblower or probably have larger tractors that would have longer PTO shafts to begin with so you would still have enough overlap in the extended position. If I could cut more off, I would but it isn't possible without chancing damage due to not having enough overlap.

"This time it was the implement, next time it could be the tractor."
The problem I had wasn't the result of the PTO shaft being too long.

 

[yelbike]

Just out of curiuosity how much overlap do you have?

I had a pto shaft too short and came apart during operation. Made a racket but I was lucky almost no damage.

A year later I had the opposite thing happen, shaft too long. 10k in repairs(cracked case).:ashamed:

I'm learning! But it can be an expensive education.

Remember a wise man learns from his mistakes. A wiser man learns from someone else's mistakes.

 

[rambler]

I've played with ptos on my brother in laws tiny little B7100 15hp tractor, and my big 150 hp tractor with the 1000rpm pto, and the 6 tractors of sizes between that I also own.

Yup, I've had a tiller shaft get a little too short when I took it from my brother's B7100 to my NH 1720, The pto never fell apart, but was only a couple inches overlap, I twisted it.

And yup, hooking any pto onto that little B7100, it doesn't have a very long shaft so their isn't room to allow a lot of slack. Everything short and 'right there'.

Have to use the quick hitch with my brush hog mower and 1720, the pto shaft would be a tad long without it in there.

Never saw anything where the geometry worked out so all the way up is the shortest the pto shaft goes. I'm not doubting you at all your tractor must have an interesting raise arc compared to where the pto shaft comes out. For most folks with most tractor/ 3pt implements, the pto will bottom out somewhere in the middle, you just need to watch it as you slowly raise a new implement and see that it clears in the full range of motion.

--->Paul

 

[149owner]

Just out of curiuosity how much overlap do you have?

Each shaft is 11" so with 3.5" of freeplay the overlap is 4".