texasfarmboy

I got the above tractor and lots more when I bought a working farm of 35 acres to retire on. I will never talk bad about farmers again, this is work. I don't know how to operate most of the stuff I received, but the tractor is a nice one. 1991 and it looks well taken care of and I have logged quite a few hours on it. Anyway, there is an old mower, 5 ft. and I hooked it up yesterday, brought the tractor up to PTO idle and engaged the shaft. BANG! and a really cool looking spark into yon garden! Turned everything off and got down to look. Ujoint at PTO (tractor end) sheered. Checked first for seized blade but no it turned freely so am not sure what happened. To my question, this is a two piece shaft from mower to tractor. More like a shaft with a sleeve, now I have noticed that actual shaft from the mower is twisted. The sleeve is straight, but as you try to seat the sleeve and it comes in contact with the twist it stops. I want to replace the whole shaft from yoke to mower. Is this a common part or do I have some sort of ancient crap that I would be best buying a new mower?

wjjones

Welcome to the Forum!..texasfarmboy.. You might try TSC, etc..

2jdeeres

Does your tractor have both 540 & 1000 rpm pto speeds? if so could you have had it in the higher rpm range and overspeeded your mower??

texasfarmboy

Not sure 2jdeeres, it has a yellow mark just before 2000 rpms that says PTO. I was not quite up to that when I egaged it. I have been told by many that the mower is too small, and it is a 6 ft not a 5 by the way, for a 73hp tractor. It does seem like a big tractor to be pulling such a small mower, but the little sucker is heavy.

Country Boy

The horsepower of the tractor doesn't matter as long as it is sufficient to power the mower. When you say you brought the tractor up to "PTO idle" what do you mean by that? Did you bring the tractor up to the PTO mark on the tachometer before engaging it? That could be what caused the joint to break. You should engage the PTO at idle speed, then bring the tractor up to the proper operating RPM's. That makes for a slower engagement which is easier on the equipment. The joint could have been bad to begin with, and simply engaging it caused it to shear. There is a lot of force on the shaft to get the mower spun up because the mower has a flywheel under the deck to help keep it spinning. If you have a lever to engage the PTO, it should feather into gear as you move it from off to on. Bring it into gear slowly to allow the shaft to come up to speed slowly, not abruptly. If you have a switch, then it should engage slowly on its own.

As for the shaft, you should be able to pick one up at a tractor supply shop. Tractor Supply Company, Northern Tool & Equipment, and other type stores should carry them. We have Fleet Farm around here that carries a wide range of shafts. They are pretty universal, you just have to make sure the end that goes on the unit has the proper diameter to fit over the shaft and has the same type of end as the old one (spline shaft, keyed shaft, shear bolt design, etc) and that the tractor end matches the type of PTO you have on the tractor (540 RPM coarse spline, 1000 RPM fine spline). Also make sure you are running the PTO in the proper range. My IH tractors have two PTO shafts, one 540 RPM shaft and one 1000 RPM shaft. You just hook the implement to the proper shaft and go. Most modern tractors just use one shaft that you can shift into one speed or the other with either a lever somewhere or a switch in the cab. Some have you swap out the PTO shaft in the tractor for the proper one (John Deere does this).

__________________
'76 IH 1066 Turbo Diesel, '73 IH 766 Diesel, '72 IH 574 Utility Gas, '56 IH 350 Utility Gas, '46 Farmall H Gas, '08 Bobcat Toolcat 5600 Turbo

Nobody puts that "C" word in front of MY International!

texasfarmboy

well mine only has the one shaft. The ujoint was brand new, but like you said should not have engaged it at such high speed. My son in law always did and being a real farmboy I assumed he knew what he was doing. We have a couple Tractor Supplies and one Atwoods. I say what I needed at Atwoods but didnt have the measurement I needed. The cost was around 150 for the whole thing end to end. Thanks for all the words of advice. Will be needed more as we try to get the place in shape.

cyrush

I think your tractor is built with 1 6spline shaft but is selectable for 540 or750/1000 rpm speeds, which is an option on these tractors???