Rotary Cutter Driveshaft failure. Your suggestions.

[EddieWalker]

So I just got a bigger tractor that has 70hp. The tractor that I've been using since 2003 was 37hp. My rotary cutter is a light duty 6ft Land Pride. I don't remember what hp it's rated for.

I was cutting with it today for several hours and it was working great. Then all of a sudden, it wasn't.

The driveshaft did this.



Now what do I do? Is there a heavy duty driveshaft? Is there a Category 2 driveshaft? The slip clutch has always worked great with the smaller tractor. I'm guessing that it worked fine with the bigger tractor, but I don't know. Should the slip clutch have prevented this, or is it too much power for the driveshaft?

The gear box and blades turn easily by hand.

Thanks

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

Thick grass will do that. If you were in thick grass, go slower. Seen that happen on a 15 ft batwing and it's made for big tractors. But thick grass is probably the toughest on a machine.

 

[mapper]

Did you service your slip clutch recently?

 

[ponytug]

Driveshafts do have HP ratings, but my guess it was a three strikes event; too much thick grass too fast, an old lighter duty driveshaft, and a slip clutch rusted together or not adjusted for your brand new tractor with oodles of HP.

Time to upgrade, service the slip clutch, and be thankful that the driveshaft didn't go flying off.

Congratulations on the snazzy new tractor!

All the best,

Peter

 

[plowhog]

Congratulations on the snazzy new tractor!

+1

 

[K5lwq]

My thought is likely the drive shaft was too short going from the smaller tractor to the Cat 2. I think if you have the correct length you will be fine. Definitely need to slow down in the thick stuff and maybe take smaller bites.

 

[Hay Dude]

Eddie, my guess is your slip clutch rusted tight, you grabbed something tough with the blades and your new, more powerful tractor twisted the PTO shaft like a pretzel.

 

[Mud2Money]

Slipper clutch is probably froze. Series 5 shafts get into higher ratings for your new tractor. I just replaced the one on my tiller. The shaft I got was rated for I think 80 pto horse.

 

[Hay Dude]

Eddie, we have a driveshaft shop that’ll UPS you a PTO shaft if you don’t have a local shop. They are excellent to deal with.

 

[thclimer]

I'm amazed how robust your gear box is!

The failure could have been much more expensive if it was your gear box that failed.

Slip clutches have the advantage because you don't have the trouble associated with replacing a shear pin, but when they don't work (rusted, out of adjustment) they can have very sever consequences.