grand l3940 pto slow about disengaging

[cwheatsr]

Hello all,
Last several times I cut grass with a rear grooming mower the pto took 15 or 20 seconds to stop spinning the mower when I pushed the switch to cut it off. It has not failed to desengage but just takes too long. It should be instantly when the switch is pushed. Wondering if anyone knows the location of the solenoid/linkage that operates the pto or is it internal requiring major disassembly. Hoping to find something simple. Only 220 hours on a 2013 cab model that has been stored under a shed since new, so not out in the weather.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Sounds like it's working properly, what you're describing sounds like it is just the mower spinning down, and it's driving the pto.
Try disengaging it in some deep grass and I bet it stops much faster.

 

[SidecarFlip]

Hopefully, you idle down the tractor BEFORE you disengage the pto. Reason being is that the pto pack also has an internal brake mechanism and the inertia of the mower spinning is detrimental (in the long run) to the pto brake. As an aside, implements that I use that have coasting inertia, (mowers, square balers, etc.) either have internal to the implement, over running clutches or I add an over running clutch to the pto output stub, so the implement don't drive the pto when coasting to s atop. Saves the internal pto brake. With an over running clutch you CAN disengage the pto at any speed because the over running clutch will disconnect the pto driveline once the power to the implement is cut.

 

[cwheatsr]

Hopefully, you idle down the tractor BEFORE you disengage the pto. Reason being is that the pto pack also has an internal brake mechanism and the inertia of the mower spinning is detrimental (in the long run) to the pto brake. As an aside, implements that I use that have coasting inertia, (mowers, square balers, etc.) either have internal to the implement, over running clutches or I add an over running clutch to the pto output stub, so the implement don't drive the pto when coasting to s atop. Saves the internal pto brake. With an over running clutch you CAN disengage the pto at any speed because the over running clutch will disconnect the pto driveline once the power to the implement is cut.

I do idle down before disengaging and also depress the main clutch before engaging so I can control starting the PTO spinning with the main clutch so there is no shock load. Have done that since it was new. When I do disengage at idle the finish mower is spinning slow and 15 or 20 seconds later and traveling 50 feet or so the blades are still spinning, if I speed up the engine the blades and PTO will increase so the PTO is not disengaged at that point and is still driving the mower. When the blades finally do stop spinning the pto brake seems to be working because it will not start back unless I engage the PTO with the switch to start it back up. Some time but not all if I depress the main clutch when this is happening the PTO will then stop. I know this is not right because before this problem started the PTO stopped immediately when the switch was tripped and had done so since the tractor was new in 2013. It may be the infrequent use of the tractor as it only has a little over 200 hours on it since 2013. Was just hoping someone had a simple fix that did not require tearing into the machine hydraulics. Thanks for all the responses.

 

[PitViper]

It sounds like a sticky PTO clutch.