Learned Stuff About PTO Shafts Today

Gordon Gould · Jun 27, 2016

Last week I took off my winch and left it standing in the woods while I graded the road. When I came back the winch had flopped over forward (must have been the wind :laughing

and the pto shaft was sticking out from under it looking like a broken leg. The U-joint was jammed onto the winch shaft hard and I had to disassemble the U-joint cross so that I could use a hub puller to get it off. In the process I lost some cross needle bearings in the woods. I found that the outer tube of the pto was bent right at the U-joint. Maybe you can see it

So I placed an order for an outer tube and a cross for a La Magdalena M1 PTO shaft. (By phone and talked to a real person.) In pic just above disassembled old shaft. When I got the new outer tube It would not go onto my original inner tube. I could see that it would never slide on. It was way more than just tight. I then assumed that my inner tube must be damaged. So I called to place an order for an inner tube. (Talked to the same nice lady and she remembered me and I told her my story.) She shipped me a new inner tube right away. (On top in pic).
When I got the new inner tube today it WOULD NOT slide into the new outer tube. So I called the nice lady again and told her my story. She said "Oh you can't put any two tubes together you have to find a matching pair. They have code numbers." :confused2: Then she continued, "You have already spent more on those two orders ($90) than the cost of a complete new M1 shaft" ($89). Yikes :confused2::confused2::confused2:. "How about if I send you a complete new shaft and a return authorization for the two orders you placed". That's a deal I said-Thank you.
She should have warned me about the coded tubes in the first place and I should have asked about the new shaft price vs parts. But when I had first looked in TSC for new pto shafts they were a couple hundred bucks so I thought $90 for parts was a good deal. Live and learn.

gg

BukitCase · Jun 27, 2016

Gordon, I tend to collect old sayings, motto's, etc - one of my favorites goes,"Any day I learn something with no loss of body parts, it's been a GOOD day"

BTW, I had occasion to shorten the PTO shaft on one of my implements a while back - after I cut the (painfully figured out) correct amounts off both halves, I had one of my "good days" - I learned that those "spherical triangle" shaped pto shafts are NOT, repeat NOT, "equilateral" triangles. (at least, MINE isn't)

Tried 3-4 times to slide the two back together, looked like the right way to get correct U joint timing - rotated one piece by one "notch", and they slid right together. Tried the THIRD option, no go that way either.

Finally just put it together the way it WANTED to go, worked just fine... Steve

Gordon Gould · Jun 27, 2016

Yeah - If you look real close one of those points is actually flat and the other two are pointed. But you have to try to see it. A casual look says they are all the same.

gg

newbury · Jun 27, 2016

Gordon Gould said:
Last week I took off my winch and left it standing in the woods while I graded the road. When I came back the winch had flopped over forward (must have been the wind :laughing and the pto shaft was sticking out from under it looking like a broken leg. The U-joint was jammed onto the winch shaft hard and I had to disassemble the U-joint cross so that I could use a hub puller to get it off. In the process I lost some cross needle bearings in the woods. I found that the outer tube of the pto was bent right at the U-joint. Maybe you can see it

View attachment 473052

So I placed an order for an outer tube and a cross for a La Magdalena M1 PTO shaft. (By phone and talked to a real person.) In pic just above disassembled old shaft. When I got the new outer tube It would not go onto my original inner tube. I could see that it would never slide on. It was way more than just tight. I then assumed that my inner tube must be damaged. So I called to place an order for an inner tube. (Talked to the same nice lady and she remembered me and I told her my story.) She shipped me a new inner tube right away. (On top in pic).
When I got the new inner tube today it WOULD NOT slide into the new outer tube. So I called the nice lady again and told her my story. She said "Oh you can't put any two tubes together you have to find a matching pair. They have code numbers." :confused2: Then she continued, "You have already spent more on those two orders ($90) than the cost of a complete new M1 shaft" ($89). Yikes :confused2::confused2::confused2:. "How about if I send you a complete new shaft and a return authorization for the two orders you placed". That's a deal I said-Thank you.
She should have warned me about the coded tubes in the first place and I should have asked about the new shaft price vs parts. But when I had first looked in TSC for new pto shafts they were a couple hundred bucks so I thought $90 for parts was a good deal. Live and learn.

gg