Kioti HST PTO true neutral position?

sdef · Apr 26, 2016

I have a 2013 Kioti DK45 HST and have been using the PTO and PHD digging 9" - 24" diameter fence post holes in very hard, very rocky ground. The last (so far) 9" hole took 4 hours to create (ended up being 18"), mainly using a 20# digging bar, heavy manual rock post hole digger, four PTO post hole digger 5/16" grade 5 shear bolts and a lot of swearing in the hot summer sun.

Since the shear bolt attaches the PTO shaft to the PHD gear box, when the shear bolt breaks, the PTO shaft keep rotating until disengaged and the corresponding shear bolt holes on each end are no longer aligned. It is a simple matter to rotate the PHD shaft's shear bolt mounting hole for access through the PHD's PTO shaft safety, but I have not found a way to place the PTO shaft on the tractor into a neutral position where I can simply rotate the PTO shaft to align its shear bolt hole with the access hole in the PTO shaft shield for insertion of the shearbolt.

In my Kioti operator's manual I can only find a single mention of the PTO shaft in neutral position and it does not explain how to do so. So I suspect that neutral to Kioti does not mean the same thing as neutral to me. I do not see a mechanical lever to accomplish this and messing around with the two PTO electrical switches with the tractor running or not running does not accomplish what I need either.

I do break a lot of shear bolts. Does anybody know of a way to place the tractor PTO assembly into a true neutral position where it can be rotated manually by the attached PTO shaft? I guess my only other option of making this task easier would be to make the PHD's safety shield a quick removal item in some manner.

JerryK · Apr 26, 2016

' Usually ' , on a lot of modern tractors, the problem is that they have a PTO brake which prevents the shaft from turning. My old loosy goosy 2240 John Deere, with 5800 hours either never had said brake, or it is worn out and easy to turn by hand.... thus easy to hook up PTO shafts or replace shear pins. My new Mahindra, not so... I assume that your Kioti is the same... Sorry....

whiskywizard · Apr 26, 2016

My CK20HST is a much different model, but my PTO shaft turns freely by hand when the tractor is shut down. I rotate it every time I change shaft-driven implements.

Msamt · Apr 26, 2016

I'll try to check tomorrow how mine behaves exactly, however I know I can turn mine by hand (takes a bit to get it moving if I recall, but I do have to spin it for attaching my finish mower. I cant remember if it was while running the tractor and the pto switch off, or the tractor shut off. I'll check after I go fishing tomorrow.

ritcheyvs · Apr 27, 2016

The PTO on my DK45s seems to have a brake and the shaft won't turn (by hand) with the PTO off (or the tractor off, for that matter). This means you have to turn the implement drive shaft shaft to align the splines.

paulfun9 · Apr 27, 2016

With the tractor off I have only limited turning of the PTO. Its usually more than enough to hook up any of my attachments but for when it isn't I have a bar and an old PTO shaft with a hole in it that turns any attachment with ease.

IslandTractor · Apr 27, 2016

My DK40se also has limited (maybe 10-15 degree max) free movement of the PTO when engine is off and PTO switch is off. As a personal safety policy I never touch the PTO with engine running even with PTO off.

SSdoxie · Apr 27, 2016

The DK uses hydraulic pressure pushing against a clutch pack to engage PTO with spring pushing some pressure on the clutch pack to act as coaster brake. The PTO drive gear is always in contact with transmission shaft direct coupled to the engine so it takes fair amount of pressure to slip that coaster brake to turn it by hand. Carry a pipe wrench to rotate either the auger shaft or the U joint.

sdef · Apr 27, 2016

Sorry for my tardy reply. About half of my TBN emails end up in the Spam folder and I have to remember to look there for anything new. I received an email notification of the yesterday morning replies but the rest from last night and early this morning went to the Spam folder. Go figure.

IslandTractor: Oh no. I will not hookup the PTO assembly with the tractor running.

Thanks to all. In general from the comments, it seems the tractor's PTO drive assembly may be able to be moved with sufficient force applied and this will be helpful in other circumstances. I can move my PTO assembly a few degrees by hand, but it is probably less than 5 degrees and is more like mechanical play and not moving against the force of a clutch. For PHD PTO connections, I connect the bare driveshaft to the tractor first and then to the PHD which is easily rotatable by hand.

But for realigning the PTO shaft and PHD gear box shaft due to a broken shear bolt, I do not see a workable solution with the design of this assembly and your comments. I guess my best solution is to make the PHD gear box shields easily removable for complete access to the shear bolt assembly and the problem will be solved.

A couple days ago I ordered an ETA 6900 HD PHD so will make any mods to it.