PTO shaft too wobbly?

[californiacentralcoast]

Hi,

I was running my brush hog yesterday when I felt a shudder and wobble that seemed to be from the PTO shaft. Does this look like a problem? It is mowing fine. I have tried to attach a video. Thanks

 

[Botamon]

With mine, it is just the shaft cover that is wobbly, not the shaft itself. If you are feeling a shudder, made sure your blades are freely rotating on their pivot points. I have to lube my frequently to keep them loose; if not, if one or both of them is not able to pivot straight out due to the centrifugal force of rotation then the whole rotational mass is out of balance and it shakes.

 

[Roadworthy]

I'll go along with Botamon on that one. I have hit an object mowing and had a blade fold back and stick throwing everything out of balance until I freed it. It would still mow with only one free blade but I didn't care for the vibration.

 

[NCL4701]

Agree with others, check the blades to be sure they’re swinging free. When I first started using my Dad’s old Howse with the Kubota it had a terrible shake at 540 RPM. Asked him about it and he said it had been that way a few years but his tractor didn’t have the torque to run 540 so it didn’t matter. Checked the blades and found one bound up by about 30’ of rusty baling wire. Half an hour later the shake was gone and it cuts much better.

 

[Mak65]

One other thing you may want to check while looking under it for stuck blades See if you hit something that bent (or broke) a blade A bent or broken blade will throw off balance and create a shudder.

 

[hope to float]

It seems that you have lifted the mower too high with a long top link and caught the middle of the shaft with the front edge of the mower. And yes, that'll bend your shaft.

 

[californiacentralcoast]

Thank you all. I'll check the blades to see if they are stuck. @hope to float. I couldn't attach the top link to the mower without extending it that far. How would I attach it without extending the long link that far?

 

[mikester]

No offence please I'd be very weary of opening a zip file from a new user posting on a user group. It's a great way to get your computer hacked. Scammers love sending email attachments with zip and rar extensions because they can contain executable malware. From Russia with love...

 

[GreensvilleJay]

re: Scammers love sending email attachments with zip and rar extensions because they can contain executable malware

yes, but..... a good AV program will scan/find malware inside a Zip or RAR file

 

[ACDII]

My rough cut has one tight blade that will do that as well. It comes and goes. Some day I will figure out how to remove the blades so I can loosen the blade. It's been like that since new.

I just built a new PTO shaft for my JD 1209 MoCo. The Supply chains really sucks, the correct shaft is made, but no one has it in stock. I wound up getting what was in stock, cutting it down and welding it back together. It's 70HP driveshaft, so beefy.