ScottinAfton
New member
- Joined
- May 9, 2021
- Messages
- 2
- Tractor
- MF 135
I’ve hit a mystery (for me) with my MF135 diesel. I was out mowing the other day and put the PTO in neutral to lift the mower over an obstruction. When I put the PTO shift lever back in engine speed and started to let the (2 stage) clutch out, the motor nearly died. I put the clutch back in quickly and it revived. The tractor runs fine with the clutch in, and drives fine with the PTO in neutral or in ground speed. Ground speed mode on the PTO works fine. With no implement attached and the PTO in neutral, the shaft spins freely by hand. But whenever I put it in engine speed mode and try to let the clutch out, it bogs.
I drained the transmission/hydraulic fluid and took the footrest and PTO shift cover off to look inside. The PTO gear sleeve slides back and forth fine, and spins freely in the neutral position. It slides back fine to engage with the drive gear above. The only thing I can see wrong is that it looks like a chunk of the back wall, nearly a cubic inch, tore out somehow. (See picture). I found some little metal shards in the fluid.
Obviously the hydraulic fluid was in AWFUL condition, like emulsified coffee. Who knows how old it was. I was going to flush the compartment with diesel and then replace the fluid, and hope that the problem was just that some little pieces of metal were somehow jamming the gear engagement. But honestly something doesn’t make sense to me here, and I’m wondering if you all have any advice about something else I should be doing. Obviously the top shaft and gear are spinning fine, or the tractor wouldn’t drive. The bottom shaft spins fine when the PTO is turned by hand. The gears engage together fine when pushed together by hand. Frankly it all looks much better inside than I expected it to. So how could some metal shards floating free in the fluid so consistently lock up the system when, but only when, the PTO shaft and drive shaft are engaged together? I have got to be missing something, and this seems like the group to tell me what.
Many thanks in advance.
I drained the transmission/hydraulic fluid and took the footrest and PTO shift cover off to look inside. The PTO gear sleeve slides back and forth fine, and spins freely in the neutral position. It slides back fine to engage with the drive gear above. The only thing I can see wrong is that it looks like a chunk of the back wall, nearly a cubic inch, tore out somehow. (See picture). I found some little metal shards in the fluid.
Obviously the hydraulic fluid was in AWFUL condition, like emulsified coffee. Who knows how old it was. I was going to flush the compartment with diesel and then replace the fluid, and hope that the problem was just that some little pieces of metal were somehow jamming the gear engagement. But honestly something doesn’t make sense to me here, and I’m wondering if you all have any advice about something else I should be doing. Obviously the top shaft and gear are spinning fine, or the tractor wouldn’t drive. The bottom shaft spins fine when the PTO is turned by hand. The gears engage together fine when pushed together by hand. Frankly it all looks much better inside than I expected it to. So how could some metal shards floating free in the fluid so consistently lock up the system when, but only when, the PTO shaft and drive shaft are engaged together? I have got to be missing something, and this seems like the group to tell me what.
Many thanks in advance.
