PTO spline

[Patrick Del]

Has anyone seen a spline with a rib in the valley of each groove. Trying to hook up that old winch i got a couple days ago and the pto shaft wont go in far enough to lock. I cleaned all the grease and dirt off it and filed a couple of burrs and noticed the rib in the groove and haven't seen that before. Do they make a PTO shaft that has a matching groove for the rib. any help would be greatly appreciated. I am chomping at the bit to start using it. Thanks

 

[motownbrowne]

Interesting. I haven't seen that before. I'd try holding a ruler across the main splines and measuring down to the top of the ridge. Then compare to a regular shaft. It may be that the ridge is at the normal height and the valleys are cut lower (maybe to accommodate grease and dirt.

By the way. What model winch is it??

 

[Baby Grand]

Yes, my B5100 has one of those. I believe it allows individual finish cutting/grinding of the spline tooth flanks without a resulting mismatch - so they don't have to do both sides in the same operation?
Mine fits up to the same attachment PTO shafts as our newer, B series tractor, which has smooth bottom splines. So I don't think the spline geometry is the problem, but measure as motownbrown suggests - because ya never know.

Have you checked the (axial) depth of the mating spline - is there any debris jammed in (like wood chips) the bottom of the bore that may be preventing full engagement?

 

[Patrick Del]

I haven't measured any thing yet but i did clean up the channels on both ends so i know iy is not dirt or grease. Might just not be long enough to engage the lock pin.. i'll measure to see what i can come up with..Glad to hear some has seen one like it though, i feel better about it now. I don't know what make the winch is because most of the paint is worn off but it works good but didn't alot of strain on it because it wasn't locked in, I will send a picture of it next week cuz i work a double shift the next 2 days and have to go to town this afternoon. thanks for your help

 

[Baby Grand]

On second thought, I think the purpose is to provide a diameter at the external spline's root to pilot the internal spline, so centering doesn't rely on tooth flank contact. Sorry it's out of focus ...

Here's some more information on the piloted fit:
Major diameter fit vs. side fit splines - geardesign.pro
I know it doesn't help you out with your immediate problem, but may come in use at some other time.
Hope you can get it hitched without too much grief!