Lengthen a pto shaft

gemini5362 · Dec 17, 2006

Soundguy I get your message about not useing a store bought driveline. To be honest the people I talk with and am around see nothing wrong with scabbing one together. I personally agree with that. If it comes apart then you have two things you have the driveline connected to the brushhog that is going to spin until the brushhog stops spinning it is going to bounce around a bit but the three point hitch on the brushhog is going to keep it from going very far. The section on the tractor is going to spin until you push in the clutch and it coasts down. I dont see either of those sections hitting the driver of the tractor. It might happen but it does not seem to be something that makes the papers every day. The odds of someone getting hit by a drunk driver and killed are a lot higher than being injured by a broken driveshaft. If a person really really is worried about it breaking then get a piece of thick wall pipe bigger than the pipe you are welding. slide it onto your driveshaft all the way down to the end. Weld your piece lengthening the driveshaft then slide the pipe back over the entire welded area and weld it on the ends. If that breaks and kills you then it was probably your turn to die no matter what you are doing.

Slamfire · Dec 18, 2006

A shield only keep you from puttin' your fingers or other appendages into the driveline and havin' them ripped off. If the line broke in the middle some place it is conceivable that one part could hit the operator. Since I put an extention on the tractor's pto shaft the original shield still fits.

Soundguy · Dec 18, 2006

I'm not sure I follow here.

Actually.. i would reccomed a store bought driveline. i don't believe i sugested -not- buying a driveline vs repairing one, anywhere in this thread.

Also.. Your scenerio doesn't take into account the possibility that a piece of the driveline may come off.. perhaps the welded piece.. that would become a 'missle'... Not to mention.. i don't want 2 loose ends of a pto shaft spinning around beating the heck out of my tractor. Look at the back of your tractror.. start counting 'dollars' on items that may be replaces when yuo have a steel 'light saber' spinning back there.

I'm thinking at worst... perhaps: 1-2 tires, pto shield, remote hyd connectors, remote hydlines, fenders...

I'm not sure on your tractor.. but that short list topped a couple thousand bucks on mine..... it's not worth avoiding a 70-120$ driveline purchase to have to make a few thousand dollars worth of repair...

A pipe on top of the repair? It would add strength.. however.. now you might be getting into an imballanced load.

Also.. if this is a telescoping driveline.. I'm seeing problems...

Soundguy

gemini5362 said:
Soundguy I get your message about not useing a store bought driveline. To be honest the people I talk with and am around see nothing wrong with scabbing one together. I personally agree with that. If it comes apart then you have two things you have the driveline connected to the brushhog that is going to spin until the brushhog stops spinning it is going to bounce around a bit but the three point hitch on the brushhog is going to keep it from going very far. The section on the tractor is going to spin until you push in the clutch and it coasts down. I dont see either of those sections hitting the driver of the tractor. It might happen but it does not seem to be something that makes the papers every day. The odds of someone getting hit by a drunk driver and killed are a lot higher than being injured by a broken driveshaft. If a person really really is worried about it breaking then get a piece of thick wall pipe bigger than the pipe you are welding. slide it onto your driveshaft all the way down to the end. Weld your piece lengthening the driveshaft then slide the pipe back over the entire welded area and weld it on the ends. If that breaks and kills you then it was probably your turn to die no matter what you are doing.

gemini5362 · Dec 19, 2006

soundguy I wished I could say that english was a second language so that my ramblings could be accounted for. I try not to lie though so it is not a second language. What I was trying to say was that I get your message about why one should only use a store bought driveline versus one that had been modified at home. Hopefully that is a bit clearer.

I have given several examples of how strong welded metal can be. You have a different opinion obviously. I myself have broken a pin that holds my driveline to the power take off ( no it was not a manufactured pin it was a store bought one ) the driveline came off the brushhog I pushed in on the clutch and killed the engine nothing broke bent or becamse a missile. Your idea of a store bought driveline is a good one. I reccomend everyone to use one. I personally will use my manufactured one because I dont see it as being a danger. While we are on a safety kick here do you reccomend everyone that drives a tractor has a cab. with safety glass in the back window. The brushhog could hit something and send it flying. You might hit a yellow jacket nest while brushhoging and be killed from the stings. A huge rattle snake my strike high enough to hit your foot when you almost run over it.

Soundguy · Dec 19, 2006

I'm surprised that your connection at the mower did not incorporate a retainer ring to keep the yoke in place whent he pin sheared...

Soundguy

gemini5362 · Dec 20, 2006

I dont know it is an old mower that I bought years ago that still works. The yoke fits on the shaft of the gearbox and has a spot for a pin to slide down through an aligned hole with the shaft

Soundguy · Dec 20, 2006

Most smooth shaft gearboxes on mowers have the shear pin hole, and then have a machined groove, or some other sort of 'keeper' to prevent the yoke from sliding off the gearbox input shaft when the shear bolt goes.

My KK mower has a c-clip in the groove... it prevents the shaft from sliding off. I've seen other methods like a bolt mounted in the end of the shaft so that the head protrudes out over one edge.. or has a large washer on it to capture the yoke.. etc.

Check yours out... This is a safety feature... Nobody wants their rotary mower drive shaft to fly off the gearbox just because the shear bolt broke...

Soundguy

gemini5362 · Dec 20, 2006

Soundguy I will look and see before I hook up my mower again. If I dont see it I will try and take a picture to post and maybe you can tell me where it goes. I bought my mower 18 years ago and it was well used then. So I dont know how modern it is going to be concerning safety

I do however have a question and it is just an off the wall question please feel free to tell me how stupid an idea this is. Why could you not put a coil spring in the telescoping part of the driveshaft so that it pushes the ends of the driveshaft apart. That way if you had a pin to shear or something like that your driveshaft would not come off when you got it at an angle that the driveshaft would normally telescope ?

Soundguy · Dec 20, 2006

I guess you could.. however.. the range of motion that spring would have to run would have to be about half the length of the shaft.. my bet is you would not get enough tension on the shaft to keep it extended when it was at a 'long' length.. or if you could manage to get the tension.. then when you tried to remove the shaft.. the spring would be fighting you, making it darn near impossible to remove the pto shaft from your tractor... Besides.. no need to.. the circlip and other keeper ideas i mentioned have been used for -years-.. 18ys is plenty modern enough to have that. I used to mow with a ford 951 mower.. my neighbor bought it new in 1984.. still had the sales reciept in his manual when i went over and sharpened his blades for him... That mower is uh.. going on 23ys old.. and has the circlip feature i spoke of, same as my 7yr old KK mower.

No need to over tic the plumbing with fance springs and stuff when simple keepers using set screws, bolts and washers and c/e clips do the job just fine, and are way cheaper and easier..

Soundguy

gemini5362 · Dec 21, 2006

Soundguy as I have been talking about in another post I am building a 4 car garage onto my house. For some reason which I dont know but am thankful for I have been blessed with beautiful december weather. It has been in the 60s and 70s with sunny weather most of the last two weeks. It rained yesterday but was sunny again today. I am making the most of the weather towards my construction work. When I get a chance I will post a picture of my mower and you can show me where that clip goes. As far as springs goes I was thinking of an old motorcycle front end that I have it has variable rate springs in the forks that would be close to the correct length