when have you used non-540 PTO?

[Ginormous]

So, with our compact tractors we have multiple PTO speeds, but most things specifically call for a 540 PTO speed. When have you (or would you) use the higher speeds?

 

[deepNdirt]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/131029-3-speed-power-take-off.html

 

[Ginormous]

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/131029-3-speed-power-take-off.html

I saw someone mention in the linked thread using the PTO 2nd speed for a snow blower.

I will also mention that the guy I purchased my tractor from said he used the higher speed with a sprayer he used.

If I'm not going to ever use the 2nd (or 3rd!) PTO gears, I was thinking about adding a stop to prevent accidently moving it to 2nd. That would make it easier to be sure the PTO is in neutral, since 1st is down while 2nd and 3rd are up (at least on my YM1700.)

 

[Wombat125]

When have you (or would you) use the higher speeds?

I could see using one of the higher speeds for an attachment that uses very little power, like a sprayer. You could still get approximately 540 rpm while throttling down the tractor to a more economical engine speed.

 

[284 International]

The original purpose was for the tiller that came mounted on the tractor. I use my tiller mostly in low gear on the PTO, but for making vegetable beds middle range works best. It fluffs the soil up to powder, and lets the bungeed guide wheels hill the soil into perfect beds.

I've used my posthole digger on my YM240 in high gear (1000 PTO RPM) with the tractor running at idle. The dirt here is hard, and the auger bit is small, so there's little load on the tractor. Revving the machine to rated RPM to run in 540 doesn't make sense when I can idle it in high PTO gear and get the same result.

I am going to build a PTO generator from a generator head I have, and will run in high range so I can use more reasonably sized sprockets to get to 3600 RPM at the generator head.

 

[kemary]

I use the second speed on the pto with my 6' Woods RFM and run the tractor at 2000 rpms instead of 2600 rpms with the 540 pto speed. That way I have full blade speed for cutting the grass without running the tractor as hard. Works for me.

 

[Reg]

I use mine quite often when I have light tasks to do.
I just knock the engine revs down to about 55% of what they would be if I was in the 540 gear.

It gives me a different set of ground speeds, each a little over half of what they would be in the same gear, but I usually shift up to a gear that gives me the right ground speed.

Some folk seem to believe that it is BAD to run a diesel at 54% of its nominal operating revs, but I don't think it is that much different from idling a truck in traffic, which mine does at about 1/3 of its highway cruise revs.

 

[jtokc]

For my 1401, PTO 2 is 1000 rpm @ 2200. I use it PTO 2 with the engine at 1100 when I'm flushing my sprayer.

1. The spray pump gives very little resistance so there it doesn't lug down the engine
2. 1100 is well above idle and the engine runs very smoothly at that speed
3. I'm stationary while flushing the sprayer so ground speed is not a factor.

BTW ... at least for the YM1401 the PTO speeds are:

1 - 540 @ 2200
2 - 1000 @ 2200
3 - engine RPM

 

[284 International]

I didn't ever know the PTO speeds on my 1401D. That's nice information to have, thanks.

 

[nevis]

I have an F215 which has a big jump from 2nd to 3rd range so when I'm mowing PTO 1 @ 2450rpm is too slow in 2nd range 3rd gear but too fast in 3rd range 1st gear so I use 3rd range 1st gear with PTO 2 at just under 2,000 rpm which equates to 540rpm.
Works very well for me - these machines were not designed around mowing but by using the additional PTO speeds at least I can get an acceptable speed for my bumpy ground.