I hate hooking up my bushhog!

[LabLuvR]

I have a JD MX6 and too hook up to the pto is a nightmare. It is of the pull push type and I do lube the splines. Still sometime it can be a bear. Does anyone make a locking collar that I can replace the factory one with? Thanks!

 

[pennwalk]

Have you checked with the John Deere Dealer? They might have a different type of PTO shaft end. The ends of PTO shafts can be taken apart and exchanged. Here in Lancaster there is a Hardware store that has a PTO counter where you can buy all the different parts for a pto shaft. Maybe there is something like that in your area.

Chris

 

[LabLuvR]

I'm working on the replacement angle now. It is just too much of a pain with the current design.

 

[cityfarma]

I used to hate connecting up my implements as it was dificult to line up the 3ph. It took a lot of effort and grunting to get the pins in. No Longer! I made trollies to mount them on. This allowed me to move them into alignment easily.

My slasher now takes only minutes to fit. I did find that it is a lot easier to pick up and put down if the trolly has a support to allow the implement rear end to be higher than the front. This allows the implement to be connected at the correct angle for the height.

An added bonus is that I can now use my garage much more efficiently as I can now move them arround rather than having to position them so they can be picked up on the 3ph.

Cityfarma

 

[Willis Fecon Bushhogging]

I used to hate connecting up my implements as it was dificult to line up the 3ph. It took a lot of effort and grunting to get the pins in. No Longer! I made trollies to mount them on. This allowed me to move them into alignment easily.

My slasher now takes only minutes to fit. I did find that it is a lot easier to pick up and put down if the trolly has a support to allow the implement rear end to be higher than the front. This allows the implement to be connected at the correct angle for the height.

An added bonus is that I can now use my garage much more efficiently as I can now move them arround rather than having to position them so they can be picked up on the 3ph.

Cityfarma

I have to agree, I have a MX7 and its kind of a pain especially by yourself. A few pointers I learned was
make sure its level when you un hook it, I have a certain place I put it and a certain numbers of blocks. When Im by myself, hooking up, I have a stick/broom handle so when I back up, I can hold the arms in the right position, side to side.
Now a little story about the PTO shaft, When I took possesion of the new JD 5103, in 2003. The salesman brought it too me, with the bushhog attached. I had never disconnected that particular coupling before. I asked the salesman, to unhook it, he messed with it about an hour, after several calls to the dealership, we got it off. I have no idea why it didnt come off, but when it was ready, I guess it came off. Shortly after that, the locking collar came off the end, leaving the spring loaded locking pin. After this happened, I never had any problem. It seems if you push it pass the locking groove, its more of a pain to disconnect.
Good Luck

 

[Barneyhunts]

I used to hate connecting up my implements as it was dificult to line up the 3ph. It took a lot of effort and grunting to get the pins in. No Longer! I made trollies to mount them on. This allowed me to move them into alignment easily.

My slasher now takes only minutes to fit. I did find that it is a lot easier to pick up and put down if the trolly has a support to allow the implement rear end to be higher than the front. This allows the implement to be connected at the correct angle for the height.

An added bonus is that I can now use my garage much more efficiently as I can now move them arround rather than having to position them so they can be picked up on the 3ph.

Cityfarma

This sounds like a real good idea. Do you have any photos you could post?
Thanks,
Barney

 

[Turkeyman]

Here is what I do and I lack the coordination to pull the coller back and push the shaft forward so this helps me.

Hook on the bottom lift arms to your implement raising it 2-3 inches off the ground so the balde can swing when you turn the shaft by hand. Get a bungee cords 24 in long and a landscape rake tine. Cost for both is less then 5$. Use the bungee to hold the pto cover up and out of your way. I use white liquid paper on the spline shaft of the mower to show in or out splines rotate till they line up and rest in on the tractor outshaft. Take the land scape rake tine and insert it thru the ujoint and the bottom on the rockshaft lip and lift up while hold the collar back or button in, it will slide on. Unhook the bungee and go.

 

[RalphVa]

My Mac shredder/chipper came with a pin-push type PTO hookup. It's easier.

However, the key to connecting both of these is releasing the PTO so you can turn it by hand (on my 4010, I move the selector to the front PTO selection). Put the PTO collar in place against the end of the shaft and rotate it by hand until you feel the collar go onto the spines, THEN push the pin or pull that release collar. Slide it on, release the button or collar and tug it back and forth.

You can raise that shield that's above the PTO to get at it. I didn't realize the thing moved until a dealer rep came out doing something and raised it.

Oh, I also use a tension cord or even the chain I sometimes use as a top link to support the PTO shaft to near where it needs to go. Guess I'm a weakling.

Ralph

 

[jeffinsgf]

Turkeyman, don't know what type of tractor you're dealing with, but on most, the output shaft of the tractor will turn easily by hand about 2 or 3 splines worth. It is much easier to turn the output shaft to match the coupler than to turn the implement to match the shaft.

Willis Fecon, I sure hope I misunderstood you. Are you saying that you run your shredder without the PTO shaft fully engaged and locked? Please tell me I read your post wrong.

Got a great idea from a similar thread here a couple years ago. Park your shredder with the stump jumper resting on an old tire. That gives it some "gee and haw" to get it hooked up. I have most of my implements inside on casters. I just don't have room for the shredder.

 

[swampvol]

I too hated the bushog hookup until I got the pats ez change. I now can hook up the 3 point effortlessly.

I wish they would make an ez attach for the pto shaft as it is a pain in the a## most of the time.

 

[mikim]

my answer to that problem was "overrun clutch" ....it turns with 2 fingers so aligning the splines is EASY.

 

[ammodram]

Got a great idea from a similar thread here a couple years ago. Park your shredder with the stump jumper resting on an old tire. That gives it some "gee and haw" to get it hooked up.

I picked up the old tire trick from reading posts on TBN, and for a newbie, found it really easy to muscle around my brush hog this way, both for connecting and disconnecting. I have the front of the skids sitting on two old pickup truck tires, and the back resting on the tail wheel.

The hog is a King Kutter, with a twist collar on the PTO. While it took me a few tries to get the hang of it, I can now do it easily in a few seconds. The twist design doesn't involve pulling and pushing at the same time, which is nice. I did have to bend the metal PTO shield somewhat at the top to allow more room for my hand when twisting the collar.

On my old Kubota, with an independent PTO, I found it helps to back up to the cutter, shut the tractor down, THEN put the PTO in gear (with the tractor OFF, of course). This keeps the output shaft on the tractor from freespinning in two directions. I find it easier to get the cutter PTO shaft onto the splines when the output shaft only turns one way, rather than spinning all over the place when you try to push the shaft on. When you get it hooked up, go back and disengage the PTO on the tractor. Obviously, the critical part here is to go back and disengage the PTO BEFORE restarting the tractor. (And you can't afford to walk away and forget that the PTO is engaged).

-Matt

 

[cityfarma]

This sounds like a real good idea. Do you have any photos you could post?
Thanks,
Barney

I will not be going to my block for another couple of weeks so I will try to paint a word picture.

For my slasher, I have a square of 2 1/2" angle iron approx 1m each side. This has a heavy duty castor on each corner. As the slasher is wider than this, I have welded outriggers with a length of 2 1/2" angle to the sides. This is used to stop the slasher from moving off the side of the trolley. I found that it made itr a lot easier to attach if the slasher was put on the trolley at the angle that it is when raised at the height of the trolley. To do this I simply put a block of wood across the back of the trolley so the back was supported at the correct angle.

For the spring tyne harrow I just made a smaller trolley and put a board on it. I also found that it needed the back higher so again it has a block on the rear edge.

Note: These are for my ease of movement and may not be totally stable. Keep clear when moving them. Most importantly do not sit on them or let kids near them.

Cityfarma

 

[Barneyhunts]

I will not be going to my block for another couple of weeks so I will try to paint a word picture.

.

Note: These are for my ease of movement and may not be totally stable. Keep clear when moving them. Most importantly do not sit on them or let kids near them.

Cityfarma

Thanks, I'm trying to picture them. The idea sounds really good. Thanks again,
Barney

 

[dbdartman]

Barney, you know what a "moving dolley" is? A simple square/rectangle made of 4 pieces of wood with casters under it? Implement dolleys are the same, only larger, heavier, stronger, & usually with larger wheels.

I keep my stuff on 4X4's. Not as easy to move around as a dolley would be, but still easier to move than if they were just sitting on the concrete floor.

 

[Barneyhunts]

Barney, you know what a "moving dolley" is? A simple square/rectangle made of 4 pieces of wood with casters under it? Implement dolleys are the same, only larger, heavier, stronger, & usually with larger wheels.

I keep my stuff on 4X4's. Not as easy to move around as a dolley would be, but still easier to move than if they were just sitting on the concrete floor.

Thanks db! I keep my brush hog on 4x4s and on concrete and you're right they help. I'm thinking of building a storage building with concrete floors for all my stuff (currently on pallets under a fabric building.) and the casters sound like a good idea.

 

[cityfarma]

My son has gone down to the block and I have asked him to take some pictures. I will post them if they show clearly what I did.

Cityfarma

 

[cityfarma]

I have attached a couple of pictures of my trolleys. Note the pieces of wood used to raise the back of the implement to the correct angle to allow connection without having to adjust the top link.

Cityfarma

 

[Tigers1981]

Have you tried the delta hook. My friend has one and apparently it makes hooking up implements much easier. They are a little pricy though.

 

[daBear]

Aren't there two issues here that have gotten run together? One is lining up the splines on the output shaft and the PTO shaft. The other is hooking up the 3 point. I have no problem with my 3 point, even took the ez hooks off and don't use them anymore. However, getting the PTO shaft to slide onto the output shaft is a color of a different horse for me.