My cleaning project - PTO driveshafts and the yellow safety covers

[Yinzer]

Hello, I need to open up and clean at least three PTO driveshafts, that have had next to no maintenance for four years.

1. First and foremost, how do I remove the yellow plastic safety covers? They're apparently intentionally constructed to be difficult to take off. I'll put them back on when I finish, promise.

2. Lubrication. I'm supposed to 'grease' them. Doe it matter what grease I choose? I have a tub of white lithium grease, is that good grease?

There's a concoction I use to lubricate my table saw gears - a mixture of Johnson paste wax, powdered graphite, and a drop or two of mineral spirits. Any reason why I couldn't use that?

3. There a REAL long (at least 4 ft) driveshaft for my post hole digger, that I cannot pull apart. Searching thru old threads here, there's this stuff called Blaster PB that I never heard of before. Apparently it's much better than WD40 in penetrating, I'll try that next time I go shopping.

Is the driveshaft safe to bash up and down with a regular hammer, to try to break whatever is keeping the two parts stuck together within?

When trying to pull the shaft apart, are there joints that should not be subjected to that kind of stress? I think I know what the U-joints are, what if I slide a crowbar through that area, and start bashing the crowbar outwardly, to try to separate the two parts?

Thanks for reading,
James.

 

[PHPaul]

1. First and foremost, how do I remove the yellow plastic safety covers? They're apparently intentionally constructed to be difficult to take off. I'll put them back on when I finish, promise.

On most of mine, there are plastic screws that hold the main part of the cover to the "bell" over the joint on the end. If you undo those, you should be able to slide the bell and shaft cover off. There will be a ring still mounted to the shaft that everthing screws to, but you don't need to remove that to clean and grease the shaft.

2. Lubrication. I'm supposed to 'grease' them. Doe it matter what grease I choose? I have a tub of white lithium grease, is that good grease?

There's a concoction I use to lubricate my table saw gears - a mixture of Johnson paste wax, powdered graphite, and a drop or two of mineral spirits. Any reason why I couldn't use that?

I use wheel bearing grease, smeared on by hand, but this is not a high stress or high heat application so about any grease will do. While your homebrew table saw lube would work, I don't think I'd waste it on PTO shafts.

3. There a REAL long (at least 4 ft) driveshaft for my post hole digger, that I cannot pull apart. Searching thru old threads here, there's this stuff called Blaster PB that I never heard of before. Apparently it's much better than WD40 in penetrating, I'll try that next time I go shopping.

I find that PB Blaster is about the best penetrant in it's price range. A lot of folks like Kroil, but I can't get past the price. Time is your friend: Soak it down and let it sit. Give the penetrant time to work it's way into the joint.

Is the driveshaft safe to bash up and down with a regular hammer, to try to break whatever is keeping the two parts stuck together within?

No. The ujoint arms are cast steel, you're likely to break one. If you MUST use brute force (and you may well...) capture one end with a vise or chain and apply a pulling force to the other end with a comealong or similar device. Whacking it with a hammer, while satisfying, is likely to be counter productive.

When trying to pull the shaft apart, are there joints that should not be subjected to that kind of stress? I think I know what the U-joints are, what if I slide a crowbar through that area, and start bashing the crowbar outwardly, to try to separate the two parts?

See above.

Thanks for reading,
James.

Edit: This line added to make it post as my info was inside the orignal quotes and didn't make the minimum word count.

 

[Baby Grand]

1. First and foremost, how do I remove the yellow plastic safety covers? They're apparently intentionally constructed to be difficult to take off. I'll put them back on when I finish, promise.

On mine, there's a small, plastic, red tab with a grease nipple. Push this in with a flat blade screwdriver and then rotate it to disengage the retaining collar. Once you've done that, you can rotate the retaining collar and the yellow cover will separate and come off.

2. Lubrication. I'm supposed to 'grease' them. Doe it matter what grease I choose? I have a tub of white lithium grease, is that good grease?

There's a concoction I use to lubricate my table saw gears - a mixture of Johnson paste wax, powdered graphite, and a drop or two of mineral spirits. Any reason why I couldn't use that?

That mix should work. Not sure about the white lithium, but probably better than nothing. Or try Fluid Film.