Winches PTO winch with L3400?

[Adiredneck]

Given the long history of the PTO problems & L3400's, would you use a PTO logging winch? My serial # shows the tractor being built after the upgraded cams. Is it wise to attempt it? I have had my tractor almost 2 yrs now & haven't even used the PTO yet.

I was thinking that it might be wiser to go with a large 12 volt winch with a couple (or few) deep cycle batteries in parallel.

 

[ccsial]

That's a good question. I have never used a winch so I don't really know what kind of load they present.

The PTO problem has been with the HST models so if your a gear guy your OK.

Having read on this forum about a PTO winch causing the tractor engine to stall and then run in reverse I think I would not put a winch on my L3400HST.

My L3400 has 160 hours, mostly with the PTO engaged and has been fine. I only use a finish mower and snow blower though. The tillers seem to be hard on the PTO.

Just looked at your profile and see you have a DT. Your PTO should be fine. Nice looking son too.

 

[Youare]

I am not totally understanding what the PTO issues have been with the L3400 but I do have a 3PH winch on an L3000DT. The Farmi winch I have does have a clutch that allows you to control the amount of power applied to the cable when pulling. I generally operate my winch with the tractor RPM's between 1200 and 1500.

There does not seem to be any sudden shock loads put on the PTO like a brush hog would if it hit something. I have never stalled the engine or even come close to it when the load being pulled gets to be too much the winch clutch begins to slip.

There are 3PH winches that are not mechanically driven by the PTO shaft but run on hyrdaulics. I would think you could run one of these off the tractor hydraulics instead of using the PTO.

Randy

 

[canoetrpr]

Personally I don't treat my tractor like a baby. If there is something that a reasonable person should be able to do with a reasonably built tractor, I do it.

If I had a 3 PT PTO winch, I probably would not hesitate to use it.

I don't have the upgraded CAMs. If I could have gotten them upgraded without a hassle then I would have. That said, I'm not going to treat my PTO like it wasn't meant to be used.

I do the sensible thing and avoid letting it rachet when disengaging it, knowing that anything that rachets will eventually wear down.

If the PTO breaks, I will get it fixed. I have another 1 1/4 years of warranty. If it breaks after that, I will pay for it and I will chalk it up to the cost of owning and using machinery and a bit of bad luck.

There is no question that there were some failures on the PTO and along with the racheting noise that was good reason for Kubota to upgrade the CAM design. That said, its not like the original PTO cams are likely to self destruct if you happen to use the PTO either. There were one or two threads at most that reported a PTO failure. That does not sound like it was widespread or had a long history of problems.

Kubota has sold a lot of L3400s that are probably being used in ways that you are I cannot think of, and are generally holding up fine.

If you are still in doubt, go ahead and add an external over running coupler to ensure that the PTO cannot ever be powered by the implement.

 

[Adiredneck]

My neighbor has the Uniforest winch that I have been drooling over for a while. I want to try it & see how well it works & eventually buy my own. I have 135 acres of hilly property & 40% of it is not accesible with my tractor. A winch would help tremendously.

Thanks for the opinions.