PTO Kills Engine

[Mek-a-nik]

Turns out the guy is honest. He called me today and said the seat switch wires HE had disconnected were touching. Case solved.

Thanks for all of the ideas. That's another to keep under our hats.

[38racing]

Turns out the guy is honest. He called me today and said the seat switch wires HE had disconnected were touching. Case solved.

Thanks for all of the ideas. That's another to keep under our hats.

When I take possession of a rider the first thing I fix is the seat switch circuit. The thought of a mower moving with blades on and no driver scares me. Most mowers will let you get off with engine running if blades off and brake on.

[38racing]

is he trying to engage PTO at idle or at full throttle? If at full throttle, Im with honda - idle circuit problem - (Can probably stall it out to or make it stumble if you snap throttle open when it is at high idle) if starting it at idle, it's probably a worn out engine - in fact most machines I rarely see them handle starting the PTO well when at idle.

old thread I know. trying to recall if this forum had a thread discussing whether to engage electric pto at full rpm or reduced. recently read manual for my jd 160 and it says at reduced rpm. now reading manual for my mtd lt1750h and its says to do it at full rpm. wondering their reason for their choice.

[Luffydog]

One I would say engine won't handle it as such a loss in rpm. Two I would say clutch wear. Three would be belts and idlers have tension on them and the slower they go the more chance of moving and throwing belts premature wear and the springs will drop off with the lower rpms

[KE4AVB]

From my experience larger decks needs the increase speed to get started especially under high belt tension loads. I have mowers that simply can't get the deck going at less full throttle. I just return a CC ZTR with fabricated deck that required full speed engagement. I also got HUS LO2148 that the PTO clutch stalls (slips) at low speeds until the deck gets moving.

As for the PTO clutches themselves I am instructed by my supplier Xtreme to burnish them in using the following procedure or the warranty is voided. I think this is to burn off the protective coating on the new metal and polish clutch surfaces so them mate properly.

• Engage at full throttle ten times for ten seconds with tens between rest periods
• Second round of engagements at mid speed
• And with a final round at low speed

I have notice the instructions do change with different clutches I get from them though so I read them each time as to follow their procedure they want me to do.

The problem is that some mowers can't engage the deck at low and stay running ie the engine stalls out. I also got a customer with a TB Mustang that the whole deck was jumping up when engaging the deck. I do know when I installed a new deck belt it wasn't as bad; probably a belt length change.

[Luffydog]

Yes I have noticed different intructions as well as how to burnish them. Bad boys and Husqvarna are bad about the belts jumping off when starting the pto at low rpms.