PTO Spins with clutch disengaged

bcrucemason · May 10, 2015

Hi everyone. I'm new to the Tractor forum. I have a 2006 CK30 with about 250 hours on it. I bought the tractor last fall and attempted to use the PTO this weekend. The previous owner never used the PTO or the 3 point hitch. He told me he bought it new and had the dealer do all the recommended services. When I disengaged the clutch to shift the PTO into gear it makes a slight grinding noise. I was engaging the PTO with the tractor at idle speed. It slips into gear with very little effort. The strange thing is no matter whether the clutch is engaged or disengaged the PTO keeps spinning. I was attempting to use the post hole digger. I thought maybe it was spinning because the post hole digger offers very little resistance. With auger buried pretty deep I disengaged the clutch and the auger still spins.

I am planning to throw the brush hog on to see if that changes anything.

This seems like more than a simple clutch out of adjustment. By the way the tractor shifts into forward and reverse and through all the gears just fine.

Any thoughts??

Thanks for any and all help!

bumperm · May 10, 2015

I'm sure you'll get some good advice on this. Pretty obvious the clutch isn't disengaging, at least not physically. If the clutch pedal is adjusted properly, some have a "two stage" clutch, push part way down to shift gears, further to disengage PTO. In any case the clutch plates are sticking, even when pressure is removed from the clutch, this is often exacerbated by leaving the clutch engaged for long periods of time.

After checking clutch adjustment, you might depress the clutch all the way (with helper or block the pedal down), and see if you can manually get it to break free, engine off, by turning PTO shaft. Using your bush hog, at low speed, is a good idea. With the blades spinning, you might try depressing clutch and shutting off engine. Again, I have no specific experience with your model tractor.

TJP89 · May 11, 2015

You have a 2 stage clutch. I believe the problem is you not using correctly. This type of clutch is designed to allow to shift gears without disengaging the PTO. If I remember correctly, pushing the clutch to the first stop only disengages the gear drivetrain. You must push the clutch all the way down to the second hard stop to disengage the PTO and be able to properly shift it.

Also remember that the implement will take a minute to spin down, even if you engage and disengage the PTO at idle, as your supposed too.

paulfun9 · May 11, 2015

I am sure others will chime in here but I thought the PTO on the CK30 is a independent PTO not dependent on the clutch or trans. Check your owners manual to be sure.

DK35vince · May 11, 2015

I think the CK 30 models have a 2 stage clutch.
If the PTO has never been used since 2006, there is a good chance the PTO section of the clutch is stuck from non use.

TJP89 · May 11, 2015

CK model tractors have a live PTO, and on the gear models I'm pretty sure it has a 2 stage clutch. The HST models like mine have just a single stage, as we don't have shift gears, and the DKs have an independent PTO.

bcrucemason · May 16, 2015

Thanks for the all the advice. I haven't had a chance to work on the tractor this week but I'm hoping to do some checks today. In regards to the clutch use, I never realized there was two positions. Regardless of what I was doing I always pushed it in all the way. More to follow.