Screwed up twice--need pto shaft

[Pilot]

So I bought one of those used Japanese tillers. It had been converted to a 3pt. hitch & the seller assured me it would work on my tractor. 1st mistake.

Came with a pto shaft, which I would need to cut to fit.

Gee, the gearbox comes awfully close to the tractor. But it looks like it should work. It didn't. 2nd mistake. After I cut the PTO to fit, (only about 7" between U-joints) it now makes about a 25 degree angle coming off the tractor & the dealer says it should not exceed 15 deg.

So, it looks like I ought to sell the tiller. I need a new PTO shaft to go with it. Standard 1 3/8 inches on one end, 18 spline on the other.

Who has good prices on PTO shafts?

So much for my "good buy" on the tiller.

Thanks for any help.

 

[frank_f15]

I take it you are going to buy a new Tiller? if so why not buy it from a dealer and also get the shaft from him and let him cut it to the right size.

 

[Pilot]

Good idea, except I am not sure I will buy another tiller. When I get done with one particular project, I may not need it any longer. Might get by with my cultivator & my disc.

So, Frank, do you fly F-15's? I used to do NDI work on them for the Oregon Air Guard, until they kicked me out for the crime of turning 60.

 

[NewClimber]

Pilot I am in a similar situation...being we live so close hopefully we are not looking at the same tiller. The sell said it is a Mitsubishi tiller that was converted from a 2 point hitch to a 3 point hitch. He had it working on a JD. He told me I would need to get a pto shaft but he has the flanges on both ends. I am going to look at it tomorrow..any suggestions on what I should look at before I make the purchase??? I hate to follow you same mistakes.

 

[Pilot]

Mine is also supposed to be a Mitsubishi. The gearbox is right on the front and it was converted from a 2 point also. It is very similar to the one shown on Craig'slist at
http://portland.craigslist.org/tls/95004147.html. Note the short PTO shaft. That's about how mine is.

I bought mine from a guy on Coyote Lane between Battle Ground and Yacolt. Have been trying to get hold of him but I have discarded his phone #, so if this is the same guy, please send his phone #.

 

[NewClimber]

No this guy was in brush parie just outside of Vancouver..I did purchase this tiller and now I need to do some modifications to get my PTO shaft to work...The shaft on the tiller is extremely close to the output shaft on the tractor. I have some ideas but need to get the help of someone that can weld..I wish I had the money to pick up a welder this would be a perfect time to learn....Sorry I could not help with the number..if you come up with any way of getting it to work please pass on your ideas...

 

[Soundguy]

Sounds like you need to weld some extensions on to the tiller where the lower lift pins are.. and move the tiller back so that you can get a short pto shaft in between. Allow for toplink connection, and measure so that the pto shaft is not completely bottomed out when raised. Check on a small pto shaft to get the size for the extension.. I think you can get shafts that telescope from 18" and up.

Soundguy

 

[Pilot]

Tried out the tiller, being real careful about angles on the PTO shaft as I raised & lowered it. I'll probably keep it, but will have it modified to mount it farther back. Will also have the lower hitch mounts moved lower--as it is now, they are higher than the gear box & I see on domestic market tillers the lower lift arms attach at a point below the gear box. Will take some measurements on some domestic market tillers & copy the relationships between the mount points and the gear box.

The other difference between these Japanese market tillers and the domestic ones is that the Japanese use guage wheels to control the depth, while most of the domestic ones I have seen have skids or some other arrangement on the ends to control the tilling depth. In my case, I rarely have a need to keep it high, so I don't expect this to be a problem.

Again, does anyone out there know of a good source for PTO shafts? Local tractor dealers want about $150.

 

[HGM]

I would recomend like soundguy, to modify it. You may not think youll have future use for it, but if you got it cheap like most of the used Japanese tillers I have seen, you'll be pleaseantly surprised how usefull it is for the investment. My Yanmar mounts close I would say 7" or so. I read on here not too long ago about TSC having shafts that will work in the $50 range. Obviously, make sure to extend your lower mounts first so you dont have to buy two. I have seen them run without the wheels, though I like the wheels on mine. They help to control even depth and can help to identify rows, I run my tires in the wheel tracks from the previous pass.

 

[rambler]

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Again, does anyone out there know of a good source for PTO shafts? Local tractor dealers want about $150. )</font>

Tractor supply. for a tiller you need a pretty good shaft, goting to be $90 or more. If you can't find the spline you need, buy the exact same tube type & you get the joy of pulling 2 knuckles apart & putting the proper halves together.

What type of tube, the triangle stuff? Many pto shafts you can press the old tube out, press a new tube in, and cut to length. That will only run $40-50.

Valu-Bilt has them on line, and other sources.

--->Paul