"Incident" today while shredding. ????

[pharmvet]

I shredded about 10 acres today with my "brand new" Rhino Turbo 120 drag shredder and my "New to me" Ford 7710 fwa. All went well except for when I attempted to cross a small draw. It apparently was too steep and I did not raise the shredder enough and it bottomed out in the dirt. It actually killed my tractor before I had time to hit the clutch. I was in 1st gear low, with the RPM's at about 540. Totally my fault and a lesson learned. Turned off the PTO, Cranked back up, raised the shredder, crossed the ditch and wen on to mow about 8 acres with no apparent problems. From this experience I have a few questions.

1) Do you think I did any damage to my tractor? If so, what should I be looking for?

2) Should the slip clutch on the shredder have prevented my tractor from dying? If the slip clutch is not slipping, can I back off each nut a few revolutions and mow some until it intentionally slips to make sure its not stuck? Whats the protocol?

thanks in advance.

 

[teg]

Most likely no damage to the tractor... it happens, but don't make a habit of it :laughing:

and you are correct about the slip clutch... should have slipped and exactly as you planned will work fine for adjustment. :thumbsup:

 

[JESSE1]

The slip clutch is probably stuck. If the mower had sat for very long before you bought it the clutch plates were stuck together. Loosen up on the bolts and separate the clutch plates. With the plates loose, engage the pto and spin the clutch for a few seconds. Re-tighten the bolts. If you have a manual for the mower it should give you the procedure for freeing the clutch. The bolts need to be torqued to a certain spec so the clutch will slip when it has to. You're lucky the pto shaft didn't get twisted.

 

[pharmvet]

How would I know if the PTO shaft did or did not twist??

 

[JESSE1]

Disconnect the pto shaft from the tractor and see if it will slide in and out. If it will fully extend and retract without binding it's not twisted. With the shaft connected and the pto engaged you'll be able to see if the shaft is still turning straight or crooked. I twisted a pto shaft once and it's not hard to tell if it's not straight.

 

[pharmvet]

OK, your referring to the pto shaft on the shredder, not the shaft coming out of the tractor, is that correct?

 

[JESSE1]

I'm talking about the shaft coming from the tractor to the shredder.

 

[Egon]

If they drive shaft is bent you'll know it!:laughing:

Just for interest has the drive shaft been sized in length for the tractor?

 

[ddivinia]

It happens to all of us - you will figure out how to keep it from happening.

I have had it happen even with freshly slipped clutches.

D.

 

[Mur386]

Having recently rebuilt the ages old slip clutch on ford 901 22-60 series cutter, I used a paint stick pen to make two marks, one on the drive side and one on the driven side so that I can tell that it slips, when hitting something big or just cutting into the dirt. And if the cutter has sat outside for ages and slip clutch was not covered there will be rust inside it, I got a half a cup of just scale rust alone out of mine and had to use a grinding disk on the parts to make them flat again, yep it took hours. take it apart and inspect it. Is what I would reccomend.
Billy

 

[Willl]

Ditto on the paint pen.

First time every year when I bust the rust off my slip clutch I repaint new paint pen lines.

Hint; when you get a white paint pen, get a black one also to hide your old marks.