PTO shaft rusted? Won't slide, need help!

I need to use my post hole digger. Its got a long PTO shaft that is fully enclosed in a 2 part plastic sleeve. Can't see the actual metal shaft inside.

Seems that over the course of the winter the 2 shaft parts may have rusted together??? Or something else seems to have caused them to fuse. I can't get the shaft to slide. If it won't slide, it won't hook up to the PTO spindle.

Any advice on how to free it up?

I'm half way thinking of hooking up the golf cart with a rope to the shaft and trying to pulling it apart . . . any other thoughts?

Bob, check the plastic guard sleeve carefully. I had what appeared to be the exact same thing on my PHD and it turned out that the two halves of the guard sleeve were bound up and the shaft was fine.

DaveNay said:

Bob, check the plastic guard sleeve carefully. I had what appeared to be the exact same thing on my PHD and it turned out that the two halves of the guard sleeve were bound up and the shaft was fine.

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Even with the plastic guard in place there must still be a place to Zert grease the shaft ?????

Another possibility is one you won't like...the square shaft inside the sleeve has a tendency to distort the metal and bind up inside the female half of the assembly. I had this happen on the big hay cutter and I had to replace the shaft. (Granted that was with a 9' cutter and a 105HP tractor)

PB Blaster, Heat, and strategic hammer strikes.

BigAl said:

Even with the plastic guard in place there must still be a place to Zert the shaft ?????

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There is....and that was the problem on mine. The hole that provides access to the zerk had become distorted and was preventing the other half of the sleeve from sliding.

The hole in the plastic guard only lets you grease the U-joint. There is a fitting to grease some of the plastic "bearings" on the guard on some models. Nothing lets you apply grease to the shaft parts itself unless you take it apart.

PBinWA said:

PB Blaster, Heat, and strategic hammer strikes.

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Ditto .

OhioTC18 said:

The hole in the plastic guard only lets you grease the U-joint. There is a fitting to grease some of the plastic "bearings" on the guard on some models. Nothing lets you apply grease to the shaft parts itself unless you take it apart.

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You can on my 3PH rototiller shaft ????

Melensdad said:

I need to use my post hole digger. Its got a long PTO shaft that is fully enclosed in a 2 part plastic sleeve. Can't see the actual metal shaft inside.

Seems that over the course of the winter the 2 shaft parts may have rusted together??? Or something else seems to have caused them to fuse. I can't get the shaft to slide. If it won't slide, it won't hook up to the PTO spindle.

Any advice on how to free it up?

I'm half way thinking of hooking up the golf cart with a rope to the shaft and trying to pulling it apart . . . any other thoughts?

Click to expand...

I had the same problem last spring. I used a 4' pipe clamp to slowly pull the two pieces apart. Once they came apart, I heavily greased them. Thought that would fix the problem, but this spring the same thing happened again even though the implement was kept under a shed all winter. This time I was able to mount it to the tractor and let the tractor hydraulics pull them apart.

Bob

i carry a heavy hammer on my tractor and tap the yoke . they always tend to stick on me.

Well it is NOT rusted. I suspect it is bent?

I pulled it apart (tow strap/golf cart/pull) and inspected for rust, didn't see any! Greased it up again and slid it together, it got to a point and was TOTALLY STUCK again. Pulled it apart again, more grease???, slid it back together, pushed and pulled and pushed again . . . TOTALLY STUCK. Damn, it slides up about 2' and then sticks.

Messed around with it some more, attached it to the PTO spindle but it was stuck again so I could not 'lock' it to the spindle. At this point the sun is starting to set, I wanted the tractor out of the driveway at the house and into the workshop bay. Start to drive and the shaft slips off the spindle. Damn. Retry. Start driving, get all the way to the south side of the property, hit a bump, slips off again. Mess with it some more and all of a sudden the shaft breaks loose and I get the collar locked onto the PTO spindle, but also managed to get my finger in the way. Blood is oozing through the glove. Damn again! Oh well now that its attached I go drill a few holes while I still have a little light and park the tractor in its garage bay.

I'll try to look at it more tomorrow, but its supposed to thunderstorm here. May not get much done.

I hate when I smash a finger.....

And it always hurts more the next day or two.......

Keep it well dressed, don't need any infections

Regards, Kirk

Melensdad said:

Well it is NOT rusted. I suspect it is bent?

I pulled it apart (tow strap/golf cart/pull) and inspected for rust, didn't see any! Greased it up again and slid it together, it got to a point and was TOTALLY STUCK again. Pulled it apart again, more grease???, slid it back together, pushed and pulled and pushed again . . . TOTALLY STUCK. Damn, it slides up about 2' and then sticks.

Messed around with it some more, attached it to the PTO spindle but it was stuck again so I could not 'lock' it to the spindle. At this point the sun is starting to set, I wanted the tractor out of the driveway at the house and into the workshop bay. Start to drive and the shaft slips off the spindle. Damn. Retry. Start driving, get all the way to the south side of the property, hit a bump, slips off again. Mess with it some more and all of a sudden the shaft breaks loose and I get the collar locked onto the PTO spindle, but also managed to get my finger in the way. Blood is oozing through the glove. Damn again! Oh well now that its attached I go drill a few holes while I still have a little light and park the tractor in its garage bay.

I'll try to look at it more tomorrow, but its supposed to thunderstorm here. May not get much done.

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You might try pulling it apart again and clean the male end off real good and inspect it for burrs with the plastic shield completly removed . If the outer tube has a slight bend in it , it probably has made a rough spot on the male shaft somewhere .

If you have a DA ( Double action ) orbital air sander you can use an 80 grit disc to kind of polish the shaft all the way up and down and use some emery cloth to get into the groves to remove any burrs . At the very last inch or so you might even need to remove a little more metal from it where the very end is a bit more tapered to slide past the rough spot it might have caused inside the female tube end . I also use powdered graphite instead of grease , it doesnt take to much sand to score the shafts if some gets in the grease.

The only other option if it is bent, is to either replace it or take it to someone that specializes in making and straightning and balancing vehicle driveshafts . It doesn't take much of a bend to throw it off balance enough to start knocking out seals and bearings not only in the impliment gearboxes but the PTO gearbox on the tractor as well either being much more expensive then a new pto shaft . Been there done that . . Best of luck.

if mine is tight and not visibly bent .i tap it apart wipe it clean of old grease and coat it with synthetic grease.then I Put it back the same way . if it is worn some putting it back the same way means it will slide easyer and the synthetic grease will not get hard from age like regular grease. his is the square shaft kind on my older JD . my post hole thing got shoved together and stuck tight .So I unhook it while augered in so it stands up now.
Unless it fell over your shear pin should have sheared prior to twisting the shaft.
jim