Mowing Cutter death trap

   / Cutter death trap #21  
Vevor does as well and is very cheap. The one I have is holding up well and in use on a stump grinder.
 
   / Cutter death trap #22  
Somebody said standard began in 1980. I have equipment older than that (New Holland) and shafts are rectangular. The old baler I recently sold and the ancient Haybine I still for the few acres of hay I cut are rectangular. I realize the OP's cutter is really old but I can't remember one that can be put together out of phase. My recommendation on this is buy an entirely new driveline.
 
   / Cutter death trap #24  
If the shaft is bent as well, then just get a whole new shaft. It'll deal with the universal joints and the missing/broken shield. All that vibration and phasing is putting extra stress on the entire driveline, from the engine through to the implement
 
   / Cutter death trap #25  
Somebody said standard began in 1980. I have equipment older than that (New Holland) and shafts are rectangular. The old baler I recently sold and the ancient Haybine I still for the few acres of hay I cut are rectangular. I realize the OP's cutter is really old but I can't remember one that can be put together out of phase. My recommendation on this is buy an entirely new driveline.
Yep. Before the standards, you had good and bad options. Standardization is typically good, but sometimes the 'standard' chosen isn't even the best choice available at thst point in history.

I agree. It is probably less headache to just make it fit the modern standard.
 
   / Cutter death trap #26  
That drive shaft section from tractor to the knuckle is bent. It will eventually blow apart after damaging all the u joints.
Replace ASAP before more damage is done.
 
   / Cutter death trap #27  
As has been pointed out in previous posts your joints are out of phase. Also noticed you only half half the shield on the PTO shaft and the bell over the front joint is bent in, is it cotacting the yoke? The back half of the shield is missing causing the front half to rattle. Suggest you replace the complete safety shield.
By observing your video the shafts nor the PTO shaft of the tractor appear bent. You may want to observe this closer. Remove shaft from tractor, start PTO and watch shaft to see if it is running true. Also watch close, once you rephase the shaft to see it it is bent.
As far as the shape of the shaft most early shafts were square and could be put together wrong out of phase. Then they started putting weld dots or a rivet on one side so the could only be inserted correctly. I have even seen splined shafts with a dot of weld between two splines. Have also found rectangular shaft that only fit correctly. Most of these were US manufactured. When finish mowers and three point mounted spreader began to be imported the three cornered shafts appeared. Most of those were from Italy.
 
   / Cutter death trap #28  
I just bought a 55" collapsed length 540 tractor end 21 spline baler end, CV jointed + slip clutch for $600 from this place. It weighs about 100 lbs. For my Vicon 1210 round baler. The guy who sold it had removed the CV shaft and replaced it with a standard one apparently to keep the value of it. Turning in the field was a nightmare.
CV joint equipped shafts are usually 2 - 3 times the price of a plain vanilla one.

 

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   / Cutter death trap #29  
Thank you. This is good news then. I also found that one of the yokes is now missing the cap and bearings, so that is part of the problem in combination of the misphasing. I’ll get yoke corrected this week assuming supply has the right parts in stock. I should be able to correct the alignment by just rotating the shaft since it is square. Thank you for your help.



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A lot of drive lines look square but aren't, check the measurements of the shaft. They are made that way so that they can't be assembled out-of-phase. Possibly yours had a damaged yoke at one time and somebody put a replacement yoke on it out-of-phase. Hard to do, but with a good grinder and welder, anything is possible.
 
   / Cutter death trap #30  
Kodiak45, while you have it apart, straighten out the metal cover, your ears will appreciate the effort.

Naw, surely not I'm the only one to forget to disconnect the pto shaft from the tractor when unhooking.
This is the first I've heard of pto shaft timing, but then all my stuff is 540RPM. My triangular shafts have 1 longer side.
That's right, and most shafts that look square probably aren't, they may be 1" by 1 1/8", so that they cannot be assembled out-of-phase. If somebody modified a shaft or yoke to make it work, that could be part of the vibration problem and if you need to replace the shaft or yoke, most good machine shops will have the correct dimensioned shaft stock or yokes to make it right.
 
   / Cutter death trap #31  
I'm with the others, just replace the entire assembly. Agrisupply (ASC) sells at a reasonable price complete pto driveline assemblies with or without the double Cardan joint. I replace one on my old hay mower (1000 rpm), just before I sold it. Went from a shaker to smooth as butter. I went with the constant velocity double Cardan joint.

The double Cardan joint allows tight turning with little to no driveline vibration and remeber all the shaking and vibration is being transmitted to your PTO stub as well. You need to go over the rest of the driveline as that guard should not be shaking loose either.

My batwing shredder is 1000 pto ad is my Landpride solid mount shredder and both came with the double Cardan joints.

As with any driveline, they need to be kept greased reqularly.
 
   / Cutter death trap #32  
I just bought a 55" collapsed length 540 tractor end 21 spline baler end, CV jointed + slip clutch for $600 from this place. It weighs about 100 lbs. For my Vicon 1210 round baler. The guy who sold it had removed the CV shaft and replaced it with a standard one apparently to keep the value of it. Turning in the field was a nightmare.
CV joint equipped shafts are usually 2 - 3 times the price of a plain vanilla one.

You could have included the rest of the 'pup' in the picture as well....
 
   / Cutter death trap #35  
You could have included the rest of the 'pup' in the picture as well....
Although I disapprove of my doggos being anywhere near my machinery, here is the rest of the pack:
 

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   / Cutter death trap #36  
I'll agree with the other suggesting a new shaft for the front one.
Also your drawbar is set to short, your drawbar hitch pin should be very close to midway in the shaft. That allows equal angles in the shaft.Most tractors the drawbar can be adjusted in or out.
 
   / Cutter death trap #37  
I'll agree with the other suggesting a new shaft for the front one.
Also your drawbar is set to short, your drawbar hitch pin should be very close to midway in the shaft. That allows equal angles in the shaft.Most tractors the drawbar can be adjusted in or out.
I'm under the impression that distance should be 14" for a 540 rpm and 16" for a 1,000rpm shaft.
That is per maiuk in 2010.
 
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   / Cutter death trap #38  
I'm under the impression that distance should be 14" for a 540 rpm and 16" for a 1,000rpm shaft.
That is per maiuk in 2010.
The 14 inches from the end of the PTO shaft to the center of the hole is standard for a 540 rpm PTO (16 inches for 1000 rpm PTO). This ensures the pivot point for the u-joint on the PTO driveline is the same as the pivot point on the drawbar and reduces the stress on the u-joint

I don't recall the exact measurements, most implements have the desired specification in the manual.
 

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