Hello to all, I have a question for Vic, Well first I should say that I used this great site to help decide on which tractor I needed for my applications, I have 20 acres in upstate NY that I use as a second home and I need to keep the grass (weeds) cut down. I bought a L3400 with a Bush hog sq160 to do this, my first 5hrs of use was last winter to make sure everything worked then I had to store it for the winter,any way to my question, I cut almost all of my grass which was about 18 inches already with out any problems, this tractor and set up was exceeding my expectations, I needed to go to town and get some diesel fuel and a buddy " helped me and continued to cut". when I got back on the tractor I had a noise when I engaged the pto lever, and when I dis- engaged it, what I found out is that my buddy engaged the pto with out stepping on the clutch. Now I have this brand new tractor with this brand new noise, can you please tell me how much damage this created and what type of fix there is for this and what the cost associated with this might be. Thank You, Rich.
New tractor new noise
- Thread starter buzzard81
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Is the noise there only when you are engaging or disengaging the pto and NOT when it is running? when you engage that pto you are simply sliding one half of the overunning clutch into the other and it is held there with spring pressure. hard to imagine how any noise could come from it unless it is slipping? They DO get worn so they slip if you engage them with a large load without using the foot clutch. Once or twice would be ok but they won't take much abuse this way. The large load (bush hog) doesn't allow the sprags to fully engage until it gets up to speed with MUCH crashing and grinding!! You need to split the tractor between the transmission and rear housing to replace the two sprag halfs.
ed
ed
Hey ed,thanks for some insight. The noise is heard only when engaging or dis-engaging the pto lever at normal engagement rpms (slightly above idle). There isn't any noise when bush hog is comming up or at operating speed, this is only an engagement noise, it sounds like it's comming from under the seat area. Rich
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The engagement (clutch) IS pretty much right under the seat. Some noise is normal if you just throw down the foot clutch and immediately engage pto without allowing the clutch disc and shafts etc. to come to a stop. If you disengage the foot clutch with the mower up to speed you WILL hear that overrunning clutch rattling away until the speeds equalize. If everything is working alright with no noise disengaged or engaged I think you're ok. you could check the adjustment of the pto cable though.
Ed
Ed
Hey Ed, Being that the tractor has only 12 hours on it and it seems that the noise was created by engaging the pto lever without using the foot clutch, I guess there's something broke there inside, the noise comes from under the seat,if so, and there may be something, wrong how difficult will it be for a mechanic to get to it and make a repair, which (i'm hoping) is possible because the tractor's new. Rich.
A mechanic will have to split the tractor at the rear of the transmission to have a look . New tractor should be covered by warranty!
ed
ed
Well the local dealer sent his guy out to take a look at the tractor (at my place in upstate NY, while I'm working in the city) my neighbor gave him access, left and went back later and said that he adjusted the pto cable and cut some grass for me (nice guy) and so I called the head of their service dept. and was told just that, and said I shouldn't have to worry about it. Well I'm gonna take their advice and not worry. I don't know if this approach is good or bad but there isn't much more I can do right now, soon I'll be back in the seat cutting and I'll know if all is well (I hope). Rich.
I'm going up next weekend, 4th. of July, gonna party and cut grass, I'll see if the last pto lever cable adjustment has done any good. I'm hoping it did some good like eliminate the noise when I want to engage the pto, but something is telling me it won't and I'll have to deal with this engagement noise, I just hope I'm not going to do any further damage to the unit or the HST tranny by using it. I'm ok with laying up my tractor for a fix but that doesn't seem to be in the cards as per my tractor dealer/mechanic so I guess I'll wait and see next week. Rich.
I was up on fourth of July weekend and wanted to say that what the dealer/mechanic did must have fixed the problem, what I mean is that I can engage the pto lever while using the clutch and not hear any noise. Thank God it's fixed, I hope, anyway I cut all my acerage without a hitch and I hope my problem is in the past.