Old PTO Conversion

bjr · Nov 22, 2006

My goodness you boys are a fussy bunch. That's a perfectly fine piece of driveline in my neck-o-woods. Use a needle scaler on ii for a while. Lot's of PB Blaster. Probably a big screw driver to go down the internal splines to chisel off the rust there. Wire brushing and tap-tap-tappping on the release pin with more PB Blaster. Yeah it's time consuming but most poor old broke farmer typ's do this, at least I do. bjr

Eric_Phillips · Nov 22, 2006

I have greased the whole spreader. All but two zerks would take grease. Some of them only took about 2 strokes of the grease gun. I also grabbed the paddles in the back and gave it a turn. Everything moves and seems to work. Now at speed some of those bearings might show some weakness. The pin on the coupler, that is supposed to push in? That is the thing I am most concerned about; it looks like one mass of rusty metal now. I will try some penetrating oil and a hammer. Where do you guys get PB Blaster? I don't remember seeing it at Lowes. To get the shaft to telescope I don't have a torch or at least one better than the propane things for soldering copper so a com-along, hammer and more penetrating oil here I come. I won’t have anything to spread until next summer so I have some time.

In terms of safety. I laughed when I looked over this spreader. No lawyer would let a company roll a spreader like this off their assembly line now. From the tractor to the front of the bed there is only a small cover over the U-joint. From there a couple gears and a chain are covered that transmit the power to an uncovered shaft running down the side of the spreader. Not the safest thing around.

Eric

srjones · Nov 22, 2006

NAPA auto parts carries PB out here. I suspect that would also be true in Rochester.

Soundguy · Nov 22, 2006

Don't discount that plumbers propane torch. I've heated alot of parts a-part with one.

Soundguy

Eric_Phillips said:
I have greased the whole spreader. All but two zerks would take grease. Some of them only took about 2 strokes of the grease gun. I also grabbed the paddles in the back and gave it a turn. Everything moves and seems to work. Now at speed some of those bearings might show some weakness. The pin on the coupler, that is supposed to push in? That is the thing I am most concerned about; it looks like one mass of rusty metal now. I will try some penetrating oil and a hammer. Where do you guys get PB Blaster? I don't remember seeing it at Lowes. To get the shaft to telescope I don't have a torch or at least one better than the propane things for soldering copper so a com-along, hammer and more penetrating oil here I come. I won’t have anything to spread until next summer so I have some time.

In terms of safety. I laughed when I looked over this spreader. No lawyer would let a company roll a spreader like this off their assembly line now. From the tractor to the front of the bed there is only a small cover over the U-joint. From there a couple gears and a chain are covered that transmit the power to an uncovered shaft running down the side of the spreader. Not the safest thing around.

Eric

rambler · Nov 23, 2006

Eric_Phillips said:
The pin on the coupler, that is supposed to push in? That is the thing I am most concerned about; it looks like one mass of rusty metal now. I will try some penetrating oil and a hammer. Where do you guys get PB Blaster?

My farm supply store sells PB Blaster. But, anything with the word 'Penetrating' in it will work. 'Liquid Wrench' is another popular one. I'm not such a fan of WD40 for these jobs, it is a Water Dispersal product, it doesn't loosen & 'creep in' so good.

The pin on the coupler: Fat side should push in, the skiny side (with the clip) will push outward. There is a spring inside that should push it back out again. If you can loosen it up enough but it don't work right, you can buy just that pin/clip/spring at farm supply stores for a couple bucks. I'd soak it up with penetrating oil, wait a day or 2, and tap on it. tap it back & forth once it starts. Apply penetrating oil inside the coupler too - that pin is exposed in a notch inside, you will see what I mean. Actually very little of it is in metal, so they generally come free with a little work.

All my spreaders (one is still working, one the big chains broke, one the wood is failing...) have a lot of exposed shafts - but to be fair, it ain't runnig while you load it, and when it is running, not too many people want to be that close to it.

The worst thing on an old spreader is the chains inside the box. The bottom will wear off the links that the bars are on, then get weak & stretch & break. And their you sit with a fork, pitching the stuff out......

--->Paul