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Posted: 5/13/2009 1:52:04 PM EDT
Bought a new 5' Bush Hog. Can't get the God$%&* PTO shaft on. 
Cleaned it.....oiled it, greased it. Won't go on. Cleaned it again.......ball bearings in it are a little sticky but move. Won't go on. Separated the two halves of the shaft to deal with just the one side. Won't go on. Pulled the shaft off my tiller.....pops right on. 
Any advice? |
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:03:35 PM EDT
pull the shaft harder
 sorry man had to. last one i dealt with was a bitch as well...so bad in fact i thijnk we all gave up and got drunk instead  |
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:05:21 PM EDT
Well for now use the one off of the tiller
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:11:41 PM EDT
Crazy question , But is it the correct size? I only ask because My neighbor has one that uses some foreign metric connector. Looks just like ours, but will not fit.
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:17:48 PM EDT
Is there a locking tab on the inside of the shaft. had a hydrolic pump that was only able to go on at a certian tooth position. real pain in the ass...
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:23:13 PM EDT
sometimes they go bad
it's brand new, take the MF'er back and say "don't work, gimme another one" esp if the one off the tiller works fine. Most of the bushhog brand ones are a collar that you twist left about 90 degrees IIRC, you don't pull straight back. are you doing it right? |
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:25:51 PM EDT
Quoted:
Is there a locking tab on the inside of the shaft. had a hydrolic pump that was only able to go on at a certian tooth position. real pain in the ass... That was my first thought. Does it have a "key"? What I mean is at one spline you may have a valley that is not as deep as all the others. or a 1/4" spline where all the rest are 3/16", something like that. Put your glasses on if you need those might help too. If that is a negative I would check measurements with a caliper. You reload? Should be a good caliper around. One other posibility is you may have a burr on the end of the shaft. Clean the bugger and give a careful check (with glasses and good light if need be). Good luck. Call me. |
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Posted: 5/13/2009 2:32:35 PM EDT
Quoted:
Is there a locking tab on the inside of the shaft. had a hydrolic pump that was only able to go on at a certian tooth position. real pain in the ass... That was my first thought. Does it have a "key"? What I mean is at one spline you may have a valley that is not as deep as all the others. or a 1/4" spline where all the rest are 3/16", something like that. Put your glasses on if you need those might help too. If that is a negative I would check measurements with a caliper. You reload? Should be a good caliper around. One other posibility is you may have a burr on the end of the shaft. Clean the bugger and give a careful check (with glasses and good light if need be). Good luck. Call me. Woops, double tap, not sure how that happened..... |
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Posted: 5/13/2009 11:23:20 PM EDT
I have to disassemble and grease them to get them to work sometimes. Mine have a snap ring that, when removed allows you to get inside and loosen things up.
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Posted: 5/14/2009 3:24:12 AM EDT
Feral, on one of my true "bush hog" brand items, you have to pull an outer ring back, then push the whole assembly forward to make the bearings retract into their little cavity to make the female end go on the shaft. REAL pain in the arse....The brand new stuff may be a little different...
Take your time, don' t pop a brain vessel over it, once you figure it out you will be like.... 
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Posted: 5/14/2009 4:00:51 AM EDT
feral. call the dealership and ask for the secret handshake
I am pretty sure it is just a simple something that is unique to that model. Does the manual cover attaching to the PTO? |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 4:59:07 AM EDT
Quoted:
Feral, on one of my true "bush hog" brand items, you have to pull an outer ring back, then push the whole assembly forward to make the bearings retract into their little cavity to make the female end go on the shaft. REAL pain in the arse....The brand new stuff may be a little different... My problem is that the bearings aren't retracting when I pull the ring back. I can get the collar on to the shaft up until where the bearings hit. There's no "twist and lock" feature on the ring that you pull back.......you just have to pull the ring back while you slide the whole thing forward.......which I'm not having any luck doing. When I pull the lock collar back and try to manually move the bearings, they move but not far enough to open up the keyway fully. In any case, I'm gonna mess with it more this weekend. Talked to the dealer and he had no helpful advice except "keep trying." He did say "Yeah, I don't think I ever had that one hooked up to a tractor, maybe something's wrong with it."
If I can't get it working properly this weekend, he can come out and fix it or I'll run the shaft into the dealer and see if they can get it working. PITA, but that's the way it goes sometimes. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 5:12:30 AM EDT
Feral, soak the shit out of it with PB Blaster or something similar, and work the ring a bunch of times to get it loosened up and then re-grease it.
Sometimes they are very hard so you might want to have a second person help, one of you focus all your muscle on retracting the ring the other one can line it up and push it on. Will the connector even fit over the end of the PTO shaft? (like will it slide on a fraction of an inch and then hits the locking mechanism?) Also, with a second person there, try turning the PTO shaft (tractor may need to be off to do this) a little at a time and finding the particular spot that it will spline in on. Several of our implements will only fit on the shaft at one spot. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 5:14:48 AM EDT
Okay I just read your last post and I see it will go on until it hits the locking mechanism.
Is the locking ring coming all the way back to the stop? It could be you just need to put some more ass into squeezing it to get it all the way (get someone else to assist if you don't have the hand strength by yourself) I mean that in the nicest way possible. Our Krone round baler is a bitch like that too for some reason it takes a lot of force to get it to come all the way back... And if its an older mower that has never been mounted then it may have corrosion in it that is not helping.... |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 5:39:34 AM EDT
Quoted:
Okay I just read your last post and I see it will go on until it hits the locking mechanism. Is the locking ring coming all the way back to the stop? It could be you just need to put some more ass into squeezing it to get it all the way (get someone else to assist if you don't have the hand strength by yourself) Yep, having an extra pair of hands involved would be really useful here. It's hard to retract the ring fully and simultaneously jiggle the collar. I'm gonna get somebody to assist me before throwing in the towel. I'm also gonna soak the hell out of those detents as you suggested then regrease. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 5:41:11 AM EDT
I've seen new equipment have paint in the splines that stopped it from sliding on all the way. If it has any paint on it at all then soak it with paint remover (the stuff that bubbles paint up in 10 seconds) then clean it all out.
Also check for burrs in the spline, u might need to take a file to some rough spots so it will all clear. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 5:46:52 AM EDT
Quoted:
Quoted:
Feral, on one of my true "bush hog" brand items, you have to pull an outer ring back, then push the whole assembly forward to make the bearings retract into their little cavity to make the female end go on the shaft. REAL pain in the arse....The brand new stuff may be a little different... My problem is that the bearings aren't retracting when I pull the ring back. I can get the collar on to the shaft up until where the bearings hit. There's no "twist and lock" feature on the ring that you pull back.......you just have to pull the ring back while you slide the whole thing forward.......which I'm not having any luck doing. When I pull the lock collar back and try to manually move the bearings, they move but not far enough to open up the keyway fully. In any case, I'm gonna mess with it more this weekend. Talked to the dealer and he had no helpful advice except "keep trying." He did say "Yeah, I don't think I ever had that one hooked up to a tractor, maybe something's wrong with it."
If I can't get it working properly this weekend, he can come out and fix it or I'll run the shaft into the dealer and see if they can get it working. PITA, but that's the way it goes sometimes. So are you saying the female end will slide onto the shaft until the ball bearings hit the shaft....or the ball bearings will clear the shaft, but it won't go far enough to lock on? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 6:48:28 AM EDT
Feral, you may want to try having your assistant tap the end of the shaft with a wooden mallet while you retract the detents. If that doesn't help, I'd take the shaft back to the dealer and have his guy mount it on another tractor. The coupler may indeed be defective.
Shame you don't live a bit closer, this is right up my alley.. Ops |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 7:10:56 AM EDT
Quoted:
Feral, you may want to try having your assistant tap the end of the shaft with a wooden mallet while you retract the detents. If that doesn't help, I'd take the shaft back to the dealer and have his guy mount it on another tractor. The coupler may indeed be defective. Shame you don't live a bit closer, this is right up my alley.. Ops I'll give that a try too. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 7:11:54 AM EDT
Quoted:
So are you saying the female end will slide onto the shaft until the ball bearings hit the shaft....or the ball bearings will clear the shaft, but it won't go far enough to lock on? Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 7:13:42 AM EDT
PIC's
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Posted: 5/14/2009 7:26:30 AM EDT
Quoted:
Quoted:
Okay I just read your last post and I see it will go on until it hits the locking mechanism. Is the locking ring coming all the way back to the stop? It could be you just need to put some more ass into squeezing it to get it all the way (get someone else to assist if you don't have the hand strength by yourself) Yep, having an extra pair of hands involved would be really useful here. It's hard to retract the ring fully and simultaneously jiggle the collar. I'm gonna get somebody to assist me before throwing in the towel. I'm also gonna soak the hell out of those detents as you suggested then regrease. it sounds like the "bearings" are packed in too much grease and can't move or the other possibility i can think of is that something is preventing the collar from moving back far enough - not sure what though. i'd soak it, or go to town w/a degreaser. my PTO shaft just has the one button to push, so i may not be much help - just get a bigger hammer. i brushhogged about 3 acres last night, before i got rained out. ETA: feral, sometimes when my PTO shaft doesn't want to slide far enough forward to hit the detents, i will raise the brush hog up as high as it will go, this usually will compress the shaft and cause it to slide forward. you also might try to raise the brush hog high enough so that the shaft will be level - i've noticed that it's a hell of a lot harder to connect when the shaft is angled. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 8:22:34 AM EDT
Our bushhog requires 2 people, a large hammer and occasionally an act of God to get the PTO hooked up.
Try the first 2, then the 3rd. If it still isn't working, I'd make the dealer come out and try it. Could be a bum PTO shaft, or he may know some secret he forgot to clue you in about. |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 11:18:38 AM EDT
Guys, this isn't Feral's problem, but I think it is some of yours.
These really do work pretty well, most are a one man operation. (unless it's cold out, then they don't slide) I change out 3 point stuff at least once a day in the spring and fall, sometimes a couple times a day. From 5' equipment to 15' equipment. If your PTO collar takes a hammer to get on or off it's broken. Get a new head put on it, or fix it. The button ones are esp prone to break. (the spring inside the button gets jammed up) A lot of times this is caused by shafts that are too long and put all the pressure on the head when the implement is up. Make sure you aren't bottoming out the shaft, it should always have some room in it. Lube the splines and keep them clean, lube the U joint every 25 hours or so, lube the shaft itself. all with good grease. If it still doesn't work, it's fucked up, go get another one, pretty darn cheap on Cat 1 hookups (5', 6' equipment) |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 11:35:52 AM EDT
If it is a new purchase, depending on how far the dealer is from you, I would take it there and try it on one of his tractors. If it doesn't go on, he can replace it on the spot. If he is a distance away, do you have any neighbors with a tractor you can take the shaft over to and try it on their tractor?
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Posted: 5/14/2009 1:13:37 PM EDT
Quoted:
Guys, this isn't Feral's problem, but I think it is some of yours. These really do work pretty well, most are a one man operation. (unless it's cold out, then they don't slide) I change out 3 point stuff at least once a day in the spring and fall, sometimes a couple times a day. From 5' equipment to 15' equipment. If your PTO collar takes a hammer to get on or off it's broken. Get a new head put on it, or fix it. The button ones are esp prone to break. (the spring inside the button gets jammed up) A lot of times this is caused by shafts that are too long and put all the pressure on the head when the implement is up. Make sure you aren't bottoming out the shaft, it should always have some room in it. Lube the splines and keep them clean, lube the U joint every 25 hours or so, lube the shaft itself. all with good grease. If it still doesn't work, it's fucked up, go get another one, pretty darn cheap on Cat 1 hookups (5', 6' equipment) |
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Posted: 5/14/2009 1:46:39 PM EDT
Use a bigger hammer.
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Posted: 5/14/2009 8:35:19 PM EDT
I deal with this every other year with my tiller (which gets used once a year.) Dissasemble the whole coupler, Polish any rusty parts (wire brush in the grinder, or put a pin in the grinder and hold the scotchbrite, etc. Lightly lube with 3 in 1 oil, 90 wt, CLP, motor oil (NOT Greese, not WD40, something in between). Next time put a bag on the coupler and store it pointed up.
If you are having problems, fix them off the tractor, it is much worse having problems when the implement is attached. I prefer the pin style. It seems it can allways be made to work with a light tap from a small hammer. And you can actually get a small hammer in position when the shaft is on the tractor. |
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Posted: 5/17/2009 5:06:56 AM EDT
So it turns out that the issue here was that the detent bearings were not moving far enough to allow the collar to slide on. After soaking them in Liquid Wrench they freed up a bit, but not quite enough to go on. I drove the separated shaft on with a hammer and that popped the bearings free. Lubed it up with some silicone lube and put it on a few times......and now it works like it's supposed to. Goes on easy, comes off easy.
The shaft on the right is the offender. The collar on the shaft is not nearly as complex as the one on the tiller. Thanks for all the input, guys. 
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