How long are your splines lasting?

[CP1]

Doing a 966 today where the pressure plate and PTO drive splines are gone! Of course, resurfacing the flywheel quite a few times over the years moves the pressure plate farther and farther out of the shaft splines. But then,this one didn't even go 2 years and they are gone! Think of the hard PTO work these tractors used to do, running the silage chopper,grinder mixers,on and on, and it seemed like they would last a good number of years. What have you seen? Are the materials just a little under quality these days? Does anyone make a flywheel spacer to go on the end of the crankshaft to move that flywheel back an eighth or three sixteenths? Sure there are a lot of factors that cause these splines to wear prematurely, but I was just wondering what everyone else is doing to make things last a bit longer. This 966 does a fair amount of PTO work every day. Thanks

 

[TKelley]

Every time we change a clutch in a live pto tractor we change the pressure plate with clutch and we also change the drive gear that goes into pressure plate will a lot of use a little bit of wear on the gear will cause the pressure plate to wear rapidly.

 

[caterpillar guy]

Length of time they last is directly in line with the amount of PTO work you do. It does seem like a pretty short time though only 2 years. Check the stub shaft if it is worn the pressure plate will not last long either. If there is wear on the stub shaft I change them just it is easier while I am there than to go back again shortly.
I can have my 806 apart in about 2 hours with the clutch out on the ground. While you'er in there it is real easy to drill that plate for a grease hose to grease the throw out bearing. I used a bulkhead fitting with a fitting on the end that keeps the hose from getting into the moving parts.
I don't resurface the flywheel. I do change the pilot bearing, and the bearing and seal on the stub shaft when I replace it.
I changed the 806 one about 5 years ago when the throw out bearing went out. I last changed the pressure plate in the 1466 when the hub in the PP broke the rivets. This has been about 5 years now for both. The 806 gets the baler work all summer and the 856 gets the mower conditioner. The H gets the feed grinder most of the time or one of the other tractors.

 

[elevatorman724]

We have 4 Ih tractors only had to do one about 8 to 10 years ago and it does a lot of pto work. Didn't turn flywheel hit with rotary pad alittle

 

[the tractor vet]

Well are you using New IDPTO inputs or rebuilt ?? and are you installing a new bearing on the input . the ones i have installed also see a bunch of PTO work doing what the do manure spreaders , grinder mixers , silage chopping both grass and corn , running the generator , running the lagoon pumps , mowing hay three for times a year running balers both round and square . And i have not seen one fail in just two years , maybe ten or better years.Just how much have you removed off the face and step of the flywheel ?? The 966 has way to small of a clutch and flywheel and are prone to clutch failure more often . You can put the flywheel off a 1066 on it and move up to the bigger clutch . I am not there to see what you have .











































































































































































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[the tractor vet]

It really is wise to reface the flywheel and recut the step when your installing a new clutch , just so everything is nice flate and a good surface to get ahold of . This will take out the rounded corners and allow for the plate to apply more force to the disc.

 

[the tractor vet]

Yep while your in there replace everything and also replace the IDPTO bearing and all the seals. Reface the flywheel and recut the step face to spec.'s

 

[MikeJM]

I know of three IH tractors off the same farm that have been having a constant issue with the pto drive stripping out. All failures have occurred on a TMR type mixer, 7500 lbs of mix is made for the evening feeding, half is fed that night and the rest is fed in the morning, the morning startup had been real hard on pto clutches. I'd estimate about 2-3 hours of pto run time per day.

Happened on a 1586, 966 and a 1066 within a short period of time, the 966 had a new clutch before being put on the mixer, I don't think it made a year. The thoughts are the piece on the pressure plate is a little softer than the orginal ones and is wearing out quickly.

 

[the tractor vet]

Yea forgot about the TMR wagons they are really hard on PTO's when ya dump a whole round bale in them and they take everything the tractor has . I don't care whos tractor is inft. of one of them it is going to eat the PTO , weather it is the input shaft or the clutch discs. They are harder then running the Chopper. I know how much the soft core bale pulls down my one buddy's tractor i can just Imagen what a solid core bale would do .

 

[CP1]

Here are a couple pictures, we all like pictures. Every thing was replaced last time, two years ago on Feb. Pilot bearing, clutch disk, pressure plate, throw out bearing, PTO drive shaft, bearing of the PTO shaft, new seals double seal on the inside, slinger on the TA input shaft, clutch was ground and step to specs. But yes, this is used on a tub mixer every day. Couple months ago we rebuilt the PTO. So maybe this is normal wear and life for what it is used for?? Thanks

 

[CP1]

Pressure plate

 

[the tractor vet]

Yep seen a bunch like that . From what i see everything is setting about wright . So that tractor is working at max load for really long runs on something that has to be hammering like a grinder mixer or a TMR wagon . I see the same thing on a friends oliver and on that one it is eating one a year on the TMR . There set up is a little different but it takes the hub and shaft everytime. You can try a lite coating of moly greas on the shaft before you slide it back to gether , Will it help don't know all you can do is give it a shot . Like i said replace the bearing on the new IDPTO input . And other tractor that kept eating PTO's and the pressure plat and shaft was running a big square baler , on the tight turns it would just hammer on the PTO due to the vary short tong and PTO shaft as the u joints were binding up .

 

[Gleanerk2]

Hmmm! We put two pto clutch sets in our 1066 HYDRO in the 18 years we have had our verticle tmr mixer and never put a input shaft in and it runs it everyday with about 7500 pounds of feed in it! Works the old girl good getting it started!

 

[pete 23]

My question would be, has this been a problem all the life of that tractor. If not, I would say parts quality and type of pto work. If always short lived, I would say an alignment problem. I saw a some tractors from new, no real amount of pto work, where the splines just did not last nearly as long as another similar tractor. There are some dial indicator alignment checks that can be made but I don't remember the procedure. Found a 6588 that was way off and tore the clutch disk to shred in very low hours so they are out there. Other wise, quality new parts and use molykote lubricant on the splines, assemble clutch to flywheel after bolting tractor together.

 

[Janicholson]

With new parts in the assembly could a person get a wire welder in there (and with some twist on the shaft tube opposite engine rotation) tack the thing in 3 places? It might be harder to get apart, but might require only once every 8 years! Or drill 1/8" holes around the spline collar and squirt in Locktite shaft and bearing lock. Jim

 

[cool hand]

I have a 544U that has been a loader tractor all its life in addition to lots of PTO work. Loader work is particularly hard on engine clutches, so it's had clutches replaced many times with the flywheel dressed down each time. Because of this the live power splines were only engaging about half way and were wearing out frequently. Got down to lasting only about a year. I ordered a new pressure plate without the splined hub riveted in. Instead of attaching the hub through the plate, I riveted it flat to the other side of it. Thus having the splines engage fully again. It has lasted a long time that way.