question on PTO Guard

[bassfishrman]

I bought my first attachment a few weeks ago. It is a finishing mower. After I attached it to my tractor, I noticed a short chain hanging from the yellow plastic shield near the PTO. I assumed I needed to clip the end of the chain to the tractor so the yellow shield would not spin when the PTO was engaged. Yesterday, the chain pulled loose from the plastic yellow shield and now the yellow plastic shield spins when the PTO is engaged.

Question: Is it OK for the yellow shield to spin or should I figure out a way to reattach the chain? I'm new at these attachments....help my ignorance!

 

[dliston]

Shield is there for a reason - to keep you or someone else from getting a sleeve, finger, hair, etc. tangled in the rotating shaft. If the guard is rotating around, then you have the same issue. Catch your sleeve in that and it could (quite literally) rip your arm off.

As much of a pain as it is to always remember to hook (and unhook) that shield, I always try to. Better to take a few seconds and stay safe.

Doug

 

[KiotiJohn]

The problem with allowing it to spin may not be with you, but with someone else who just may come along that you're not aware of. While it's not likely that someone would get wrapped up in that shield because it spins separately from the PTO shaft, and would probably come to a halt if someone got into it, you don't want to take the change that it wouldn't halt.
A small child could get hurt even before it could stop turning. I'd recommend you maintain the chain stop.
John

 

[beenthere]

With your finishing mower running (PTO engaged) do you think anyone will ever be close to it? I rather doubt it. Now if it were a PHD or a chipper or a sprayer pump running, then stopping it from spinning with the PTO shaft makes sense.

There is another thread that is running that is discussing the same thing. Might be interesting reading for you.

Look under the Safety category and see the thread on "Safety chains on PTO shaft shields? ""

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( With your finishing mower running (PTO engaged) do you think anyone will ever be close to it? I rather doubt it )</font>

I doubt anyone knowingly / willingly gets wound up in a rotating driveline.. yet we see and hear messahes about it from time to time... Best advise is to always encourage use of provided safety equipment, especially to less experienced owners...imho. Erring on the side of safety never hurts ( least not as much as becoming a human pretzle.. )

Soundguy

 

[normde2001]

I hooked my chain up also, and it pulled loose after a few hours. I decided that the cheap plastic bushing was just not designed to constantly spin at 540 rpm, and since the warning sticker on the shield clearly states that the shield should spin freely on the shaft, so I let it spin, and just check it before each use to make sure it spins freely.