PTO turns for a few seconds after being disengaged

[neilbedwell]

Yesterday evening I hooked up the tiller to till a small strip of the garden to plant some peas. When I came out of the garden and disengaged the PTO I noticed something. Here's what I did:

1. lifted the tiller up out of the dirt. PTO was still engaged and tiller was still turning
2. I pushed the clutch in all the way and disengaged the PTO. The tiller stopped turning while I had the clutch pushed in.
3. I let back out on the clutch and the PTO and tiller started turning again. It ran for about 2 seconds then stopped.

So, is this normal? My tractor is a 2010 L2800 HST 4x4 with about 23 hours on it. I can't say I have ever noticed this happening before but it's entirely possible. I was able to make it do it several more times as I engaged / disengaged the PTO to try and see if it kept on doing it. Most of the time it did it, a few times it did not turn after letting back out on the clutch.

If this is normal behavior that's fine. I've just never noticed it before. Thanks guys!!

 

[Robert6401]

Mine still turns after I disengage also, so I think its normal. Its especially noticeable when I have my mower on. The blades will continue to turn for a while.

 

[Harvest Moon]

Your PTO cable may be sticking, a little cable lube may fix it. Mine went through a phase where I had to go under the tractor to manually disengage it but after spraying a little lube in the cable jacket, good as new.

 

[RoyJackson]

It's probably just inertia of all that rotating mass, but try it with no implement hooked up. I expect it'll stop considerably quicker.
BTW, my 60" rotary cutter takes more then a minute to stop...that's due to the weight of the blades plus the high rotation speed.

 

[Chilly807]

Hmm.. he's saying the tiller has stopped with the clutch pushed in and the PTO disengaged, then when he lets the clutch out (PTO still disengaged) the tiller starts turning again for a few seconds before finally stopping again.

Maybe a sticky clutch pack in the PTO clutch?

Sean

 

[RoyJackson]

Maybe a sticky clutch pack in the PTO clutch?

Sean

Or the PTO brake not functioning (assuming his tractor has one).

 

[ccsial]

Or the PTO brake not functioning (assuming his tractor has one).

L2800 does not have one.

There is a slight rake on the PTO cams, so unless the implement is driving the PTO a bit it may not want to disengage easily.

When I sheared a pin on my snow blower the PTO did not want to disengage on my L3400HST. After putting in a new shear bolt the PTO disengaged right away again. With the pin broken there was not quite enough inertia to unload the cams.

This is why I always disengage at the same time as I push the clutch in.

 

[teg]

Mine still turns after I disengage also, so I think its normal...

THIS IS NOT NORMAL @#$%^&* NOR IS IT SAFE!!!

Lube the cable... So kubota hasn't fixed this issue either...

I dug a hole with my tiller in my shed... with the PTO out of "gear".

 

[ccsial]

Here is a picture of the PTO cams used in the L2800 L3400 HST's. Once they are engaged they tend to stick a bit. When the old style is unloaded they ratchet. The old style is a one way clutch. When they are unloaded they will disengage much easier. The newer models have clutches that don't ratchet.

There are also problems with cables. I lube my cable every 100 hours or so. There is also a new style lever bracket that is supposed to take some of the bend off the cable. I have not installed that.

I have always thought if I have problems with the cable I would design a manual lever at the bottom of the floor pan that does not use a cable. So far after 5 years and 300 hours I am still OK.

 

[neilbedwell]

OK, so I guess the first thing I need to do is lube my cable. I will unhook my tiller and test the PTO without anything hooked to it to see if it does it then. The tiller might still be rotating after I push in the clutch and I just cannot tell from the seat. When I let back out on the clutch you can feel the tractor shake like it's running the PTO for a couple seconds then it smooths out and you can hear the tiller stop. Would cold weather make it slower to disengage? How do I lube the cable? What lubricant do you recommend? Thanks guys for all the replies.