newbie seeking advice

[Soundguy]

On the ORC removal.. ya got 95% there and then stopped!

Onc ethe grease fittings are removed, rotate the outter portion of the ORC till you line up the ports with a hole thru the inner portion. Int hat hole will be a spring-roll pin.. may be packed with grease.. use a nail as a probe... simply get a drive and drive it all the way out... the the orc can be snatched off.

soundguy

The overrun clutch was installed on the tractor when I bought it, so obviously the previous owner thought it was a good idea to have it on there. As far as removing it goes, I tried, but can't find any mechanism that locks it in place. There are two grease fittings, I took both off but the OR clutch is still locked firmly in place. I replaced the fittings. There is no other obvious knob, button, bolt, or whatever to get the thing off. The PTO shaft has a shield but admittedly it's a bit worn and has several cracks and missing pieces. I'm headed up to the farm again this weekend, I'll try cutting down the PTO shaft and see what happens, if all else fails there's a tractor supply store nearby, I'll hit them up for some assistance.

 

[eblanks]

Weekend operations were a success. I wanted to post another follow up story to let everyone know how things went this past weekend up on the farm. Special thanks to Soundguy for your advice on removing the overrun clutch. Once that came off the PTO shaft fit like a glove. Unfortunately I found out quickly that I need the overrun clutch. I didn't have the tools with me to cut the pto shaft down so I did what work I could do in open spaces and just allowed plenty of room for the tractor to come to a stop with the bush hog turning. Speaking of the bush hog, I now have a new found respect for the power and violence that thing is capable of. I would like to think I did my homework before operating it, but I don't know that anything short of experience will prepare you for the damage that thing is capable of. I made sure to stay on the tractor while it was in operation and I started cutting grass and briar patches first, then worked up to some smaller sapplings. So once again, thanks for all the helpful advice, I managed to get the work done without getting injured or tearing up my equipment. I guess that is about all you can ask for.

 

[Soundguy]

Good luck, stay safe and get the shaft sized.

soundguy

 

[TomOfTarsus]

Learned a little from reading this thread!

But re: Poison Ivy (PI). I have PI on my place that I've had to cut with an axe, 3-4" diameter up the sides of trees (I bought an abandoned tract next to my home... I must be a glutton for punishment!). And I get it bad.

My daughter is a registered nurse, honors graduate, and she absolutely squashes the idea of using scalding water. It does feel really good - we used to do it - but what it's doing is activating the histamines (if I remember this right) and making things far worse in the long run. So don't do it. She also frowns on the Clorox, due to the possibility of chemical burns, but YMMV.

My protocol when facing PI: I "dress out" like I'm going into a nuclear reactor vessel. Paper suit with hood, disposable socks or sleeves up the pant legs and arms, tape around the boots and gloves, and I'll even don a hard hat with drop-down face shield if I have to. I may look like I'm heading for Mars, but I get it bad, and avoiding contamination is the best way. Technu on any exposed skin, and even on hands, wrists and ankles, is a great preventative measure as well. The stuff rocks.

If I don't have a paper suit, I still tape up- I use old sock tops as sleeves, and duct tape around everything. When I undress, I go very carefully and avoid touching any of teh possibly contanimated outer clothing with my bare hands. And you must go carefully, because as you undress you can transfer some stuff to the inside.

My wife washes it all separately (bless her heart), including the gloves, and I haven't had a bad problem for a while now.

Try not to cut it in a way that shreds and flings it. That's hard with a bush hog, granted... And whatever you do, don't burn it. My now-retired boss nearly died when younger after he and his dad did this, and the smoke got in his lungs.

 

[eblanks]

I have made my first attempt at resizing the PTO shaft and after doing so a question occurred to me. I have read that you take equal lengths off of both ends of the shaft. So if I need to remove a total of 4 inches length, do I take 2" from one side and 2" from the other for a total of 4". Or do I remove 4" from both sides. I err'ed on the side of safety and only removed 2" per side, but if that only nets me a 2" reduction then I need to cut again.

 

[Soundguy]

You done right.

2" off each side lets the colapse together for a net reduction of 4".. just remember to cut the plastic shields back as well, if they will bottom out befor ethe shafts do.

soundguy

 

[638]

Sorry Soundguy, 2 inches is 2 inches. If you cut 10 inches off of the inside tube and 2 inches off of the outside tube, you have not shortened the shaft 12 inches. 2 inches off the outer and 2 inches off the inner shaft will have shortened the shaft 2 inches.

ron

 

[Soundguy]

Nobody said to cut it unevenly.. I said to cut equal portions off each telescoping shaft... try this ez and cheap experement:

Take (2) 2' pieces of string, and a tape measure.

lay the strings end to end, overlapping 6" in the middle.

the end to end measurement is 3' 6" ( even though you have 4' of string.. see whats happening here? )

now... say you want to shorten the total end to end length 6"... try this...

cut 3" off each string, and then reset that 6" overlap...

measure the end to end distance... what is it? .. it's 3'..

IE.. 3'6" - 6" cut in equal parts ( 3/3) from the string.

soundguy

EDIT: hit this link.. it's a pdf manual for a king kutter mower.. see page 17-19 for info on how to cut the shaft in equal parts... this was the only company I could find offering a manual online.. however my other 3 mower manuals use the same general practice as in this manual.

http://www.kingkutter.com/downloads/manRKRK.pdf

 

[Soundguy]

Hmm.. quiet....

soundguy

 

[Soundguy]

Hey 638.. how'd the string trick come out???

soundguy