Safety chains on PTO shaft shields?

[dixiedrifter]

I may be asking for an early death, but all that crap seems to get in the way and I prefer to just cut it all off.

 

[RonR]

Dixie, the risk is not so much that you might die an early death, but you have to put on your gloomy gus hat and think dark, very dark thoughts. (I'm on a sailboat board and one of the gurus says this is how he has managed to live so long sailing in the ocean--he pours a tall cold drink, sits on his porch looking at his boat, and thinks VERY DARK THOUGHTS about what can go wrong out there.)

Such as: a bus load of lawyer kids breaks down just off your property. They let the kids out to stretch. They see your nice shiny tractor just sitting there all inviting. 10 of 'em climb on it--what--the key is in it. One starts it, tosses it in gear and others flip on the PTO lever, only to gravely injure the others riding on the mower deck.

Why did they get hurt--no pto shields. Oh, but you say they were trespassing and had no right to be there.

My money says you are going to lose and lose BIG. What's worse, your insurance company might say you modified your equipment in an unsafe manner--therefore, no coverage in this instance...............................

If something bad happens, I think you want all the safety gear in place, and be able to say you were operating the equipment in a safe manner using it as designed, as prescribed in the operating manual. If you stray from this path, the lawyers will eat you up.................

Best wishes,
Ron

 

[Soundguy]

Yep.. it only takes a few minutes to slide those pto shields away from the connection ends.. no tools either on the kk units.. and only a small flatblade screwdriver on the howse units..

Soundguy

 

[Joe1]

The plastic tab on the plastic cover didn't last long on my LX-4 Rotary cutter. I bought some light chain and attached it to the shaft cover with a hose clamp. works great and has stayed on so far for about 20 hrs with no signs of letting go.

 

[Freds]

My Rhino brush hog didn't come with chains, but the other PTO driven attachments I have did.

 

[kybota]

My farm supply dealer told me not to use the pto cover chains on my new bush hog shaft. Never having used pto equipment before this year, I researched this subject on TBN and came up with this thread.

Unfortunately, after reading this these posts, I am still not sure if there is a consensus on this. The dealer said the plastic would wear out in 4 or 5 hours if I used the chains. I would sure appreciate hearing more comments from any of you with more experience using the chains? Maybe I worry too much, but I do wonder about the plastic shields binding and not functioning properly when needed,.

Also, am I wrong to assume that it should be relatively inexpensive and easy to replace the plastic shields, or is there a reason the whole pto shaft would need to be replaced?

I managed to destroy the plastic shield on my tiller the first time I used it, but that's a different story and not the fault of the chains.

 

[Soundguy]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I say what I did since there are gears in the front diff, not hyd. So I use a gear fluid for gears and a hyd fluid for the hyd system )</font>

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( he dealer said the plastic would wear out in 4 or 5 hours if I used the chains. )</font>

Wow! What advice!

I think I'd call the mower manufacturer, and tell them that one of their dealers is publicly advocation bypassing a built in safety feature..one that may well save your life.. or your childs life.. I'd send it certified mail, and send a CC to OSHA. My bet is that guy won't be selling that brand of equipment a day after the equipment manufacturer gets the letter. After OSHA is done with the hot-poker prostrate exam.. maybee he can find a job in a position that he can't give advice out that will potentiall kill his customers!!!

For the record.. I mow for about 3 hrs ever 4 weeks with my howse 10' mower. i grease the shield grease points after every use.

I have a 5' KK mowe rthat I have mowed with for about 4 years now. I grease it about once a month. The shield on both units are virtually new.

I recently just cut down the shaft on my 10' mower, and had to remove the shield to do so. The innder plastic race and wear surfaces ont he shield were grease coated and un-worn.

I think your dealer should be ashamed for dispensing that kind of info...

It only takes a minute to hook those chains up.. and it only takes a second to get would up in a pto shaft... At worst.. you'l be dead, and your family will have to live with that.. at best you may die slowly, or just be maimed the rest of your life... /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Soundguy

 

[JJT]

I have hundreds of hours on some of my implements and none have worn out plastic shields. Some have broke tabs that hold the chain, I simply wrap a bungee cord around the cover and hook it to the top link. I grease my shields once a year.

 

[frank_f15]

100% aggrement with Soundguy i have been using my RFM 4 years now, with chains hooked up, and i see no wear.

 

[RonR]

Agree that safety shields won't wear out. They will sun faded over years, but won't wear out if greased.