Mowing PTO Operation

Grey Mountain · Aug 24, 2016

Recently purchased new (to me) Ford 340A Diesel. There is a lever on the left of the crankcase that engages the PTO. From what I can tell, it's either all the way or not at all. With a mower or shredder hooked up,when I engage the lever, it goes instantly to 580 (I think) RPM with quite a jerk. What am I doing wrong? Seems there should be a way to slowly increase RPM to eliminate excessive start-up torque. Operators manual does not help much.
Thanks.

k0ua · Aug 24, 2016

Grey Mountain said:
Recently purchased new (to me) Ford 340A Diesel. There is a lever on the left of the crankcase that engages the PTO. From what I can tell, it's either all the way or not at all. With a mower or shredder hooked up,when I engage the lever, it goes instantly to 580 (I think) RPM with quite a jerk. What am I doing wrong? Seems there should be a way to slowly increase RPM to eliminate excessive start-up torque. Operators manual does not help much.
Thanks.

Well for one thing, idle down the tractor, for another push in the clutch, then while holding the clutch down, then engage the lever, and slowly release the clutch. Then throttle up the tractor until the 540 mark on the tach, which will be somewhere over 2000 rpm on the engine.

CCWKen · Aug 24, 2016

It looks like Independent PTO was an option on that tractor. If it has it, it's hydraulic and you don't need to clutch but for sure reduce engine speed to idle. Engaging the PTO at speed can break parts in a hurry.

One way to tell if it has I-PTO is with the engine off, the PTO shaft will turn by hand. With the engine running, the shaft is tight. (Both tests with the engage lever off.) Duh.