PTO shaft coupling repair

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I am converting my 60 year old crank start diesel concrete mixer to run off the PTO of my tractor.  I pulled a PTO gearbox 90 degree off an old loose hay loader.  Then I had to turn one shaft down to fit the gear for the mixer.  That went fine.  The problem started when I had to go inside to talk to some people that came and told my helper to take the shaft coupler off because we had to reverse the gearbox because we needed to have it a 1:2 instead of 2:1.What I forgot to tell my helper was we needed to use the coupling and don't destroy the coupling.....big mistake.  See picture!!!!   No problem I thought.  Called all the local tractor shops looking for some inside spline coupling.  No one had any.  I needed my mixer to finish a stone wall I am building and it needs to be finished tomorrow.  My helper says "can't you just weld it back together...."  I think I growled..As you can see in the first picture he had to get quite creative to get it off. He welded tabs to the end of the coupling and chucked it up in the big vise and tried to drive the shaft out. That didn't work.  He heated it and tried to beat it off. Nope.  So then he tried to cut it off with the torch but stopped because he thought he might ruin the shaft.So then he cut it off with the grinder with a cut off disc.   He comes into my office with the two pieces all proud because he got it off.   He was lucky I had people in my office.So then I decided to try and put this thing back together.  I put it back on the shaft in pieces and tacked it together and then went to welding.  For what I thought was lost it came out not too bad.  I installed it on the gearbox and shaft and hooked up the tractor to it and low and behold I now have a PTO powered cement mixer that I can use tomorrow. Attached Images
Reply:Well done.  I'm glad you posted, I need t do the same to my mixer.GeezerPower Mig 255C185 TIGBlue 175 MIGRanger 8 Kohler 20HP1974 5K Lincoln/Wisconsin Powered (Cherry)Victor/Harris O/AK 487 Spool Gun
Reply:Tomorrow I will take a few pictures of mixer put together if you want me to?The one cylinder diesel engine that was on it ran great but was really hard to start. You have to put a patron in it and then crank as hard as you can.  When it is cold then it is really hard to start.  Then there is no clutch so once it is running the barrel keeps turning and that makes it hard to load.  They used to shovel in cement and sand. They did not have the bags back then.  It was a little risky to dump the bags in while it was turning.  This mixer also had a winch built into it to hoist buckets of cement up to the floors above. I took everything off it I could and made it so I could tow it behind the tractor.
Reply:Originally Posted by burnandreturnTomorrow I will take a few pictures of mixer put together if you want me to?.
Reply:Here are three pictures of the cement mixer.  I have not finished the whole project yet.  I first wanted to test it how it is and then I will make it a three point hitch mounted,  put a hydraulic cylinder to tip the barrel to empty it and also mount the gearbox correctly.  Right now it is mounted upside down.  It actually is built to hang from top mounts. You can see the drain plug on top.  Also I will build a steel frame of course to mount the gearbox.  Now it is just bolted to four 4X4's just so I could "test" if it worked. I am sure the vibrations will not do the wood any good.  One interesting thing is the small gear mounted to the shaft on the gearbox.  It is made out of wood. It is original.  I was quite shocked when I put the puller on it to pull it off the shaft of the original diesel engine.  I thought it was plastic and even that surprised me.  But when I turned the inside of the gear wood shavings were what greeted me.  I wonder why they would have used a wooden gear versus a metal gear? Attached Images
Reply:Wooden gear?  Who would have thought of that?  Amazing.  The cylinder to actuate the drum is a nice touch.  Well, if you don't change things, you can always say the drain plug is your "filler plug":GeezerPower Mig 255C185 TIGBlue 175 MIGRanger 8 Kohler 20HP1974 5K Lincoln/Wisconsin Powered (Cherry)Victor/Harris O/AK 487 Spool Gun
Reply:If you have an Allis Chalmers dealer nearby a Gleaner corn head for a combine uses a coupler that is very similar to that if not the exact same thing. Not sure but most implement dealers will likely have something similar.That is if you should need another one. Good fix on that one.Trailblazer 302Hobart Stickmate AC/DCLincoln SP 135 TSmith torchSpoolmatic 30A
Reply:I haven't seen many Allis Chalmers in Germany!
Reply:Nice save on the spline coupler.Wooden gear.  Wooded spacer blocks.  A match made in. . .. . .the forest?Keep us posted on your conversion progress.MM200 w/Spoolmatic 1Syncrowave 180SDBobcat 225G Plus - LP/NGMUTT Suitcase WirefeederWC-1S/Spoolmatic 1HF-251D-1PakMaster 100XL '68 Red Face Code #6633 projectStar Jet 21-110Save Second Base!
Reply:Never have seen wooden gears, but a lot of old discs, disc plows, and other shaft mounted gang units used to have wooden bearings.A wooden insert was held by an iron, or steel, clamshell.  Side thrust was taken up by steel washers outside the clamshell.  These bearings, if kept oiled/greased would outlast any modern bearing.  They went out of style because guys were too lazy to get off the tractor every 45min-1hr to grease them.I have an old IH disc which runs on these kind of bearings, and I go through about 60 tubes of grease every season.  Same deal with my old Brillion cultipacker (although I don't use it too often, only when the field conditions get too dry and the plow starts pulling up hard clods, then it's pulled behind the finishing disc in tandem, what the disc won't break up, the cultipacker will)Great fix on the coupling...............Did you fit the pieces around a good shaft, tack the pieces together, gouge out the seams, then weld?My philosophy on this kind of stuff is..........It was broken when I started, so why not try just about anything to get it back together, can't be more broken than it is right now"Any day above ground is a good day"http://www.farmersamm.com/
Reply:I tacked it together over a long pto spline.  Because he used a cut off wheel there was good gaps to get good penetration but I had some protrusions on the inside.  I made  ground a broach out of a cold chisel that would fit in the splines.  Put it in the vise and broached the ways clean again. Then I mounted a small diameter grinding wheel in a drill bit extension and sort of reamed the surface of the splines.  I don't think I held .0001 tolerance though!
Reply:Is that how it was made?  If it is I see why it broke. Look how far out that small gear hangs.  If it were me I think I would put an outboard bearing on that.  Lots of overhung torque or move the gearbox close and weld the coupling on to the gear itself
Reply:Originally Posted by burnandreturnI haven't seen many Allis Chalmers in Germany!
Reply:Originally Posted by garnificationIs that how it was made?  If it is I see why it broke. Look how far out that small gear hangs.  If it were me I think I would put an outboard bearing on that.  Lots of overhung torque or move the gearbox close and weld the coupling on to the gear itself
Reply:This installation and repair was to get me going over the weekend so I could finish a project I was working on.When I have more time I will redesign the whole setup.  I will turn a shaft that the gear will mount on.  This shaft will go through a pillow block bearing anthen into a coupling with one end a spline and the other for the round shaft that the small gear is on.  Also I will put a pulley on the shaft in order to allow me to mount an electric motor about the gear box.  The electric motor will free wheel when I use the PTO and the PTO will freewheel when I use electric.  Then I will be able to use it conveniently where ever I am working on the farm.Where I mount the pulley I will figure out later.  Maybe between the small gear and the gearbox or on the input side of the gearbox where the PTO shaft connects.  I will just have to see what I have laying around and go from there.  I love to re-purpose equipment. Wait to you all see my hydraulic chain saw that mounts on my excavator.  I use it for trimming the trees.  I works great.  Saves me not having to have a man in the basket mounted on my excavtor.  Much safer and less expensive.  I designed and built it myself.Last edited by burnandreturn; 03-15-2010 at 07:15 AM.
Reply:Now THAT I like. I'll pass that one on to some one I know wo's got some tall tree's he's always looking to prune. Shame is he doesn't have the QD bucket mount for his machine yet or the aux hydralics to run a hammer or grapple. Maybe this plus the concrete bucket I think you may have posted in the past will get him thinking about making a change finally..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:The saw really saves alot of time.  I have a harvester saw motor on this unit. It requires a case drain. My excavator doesn't have a case drain line out on the arm so that is why you see a garden hose running along the arm. I didn't have enough hydraulic hose to run back to the tank. Pretty redneck I know but it worked for me to test my saw.  It is important to have a hammer circuit so there is no back pressure on the saw motor. On this excavator I can switch between a hammer circuit and a two way pressure circuit for running my wide swing bucket.  I will try to post a video on YouTube of me testing the saw.  Wife says we will be living in the Black Desert not the Black Forest if I keep trimming our tree's!
Reply:DSW,Give this link to your friend.  It is a 2 minute video of me using my saw.
Reply:Thanks, I shot him an email with it and the pict posted above..No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:There is a funny story about the tank for the oil to lubricate the chain on the saw.  You can see the tank in the picture.  This oil feeds a special purpose built pump that is activated every time the saw is activated. Adjustable between 5 and 32 cc's of oil dispensed every time the saw motor is activated.  I needed a tank quick to test my pump and saw.  Umm, what or were could I find a suitable tank.  Light comes on....windsheild washer fluid tank would work perfect.   I live in a place where you just don't run out real quick and buy whatever you want.  Hmm.....windshield washer tank....we have autos.....I wonder......mmmm.  Pop the hood on my auto....no that tank won't work.....devilish grin....look over at the wife's SUV.....hmmm.....maybe.....carefully looking around pop her hood.....PERFECT..... I felt like a car theif.....two minutes later tank out, hood closed...I am a happy guy.  Execpt I forgot to tell the wife I "borrowed" her tank.   You guessed it.  She goes to town.  Slight rain.   Stops by the fuel station.   Has the man check her windshield washer fluid level....Hey Lady,  You need washer fluid....and a tank to put it in!  Someone stole your tank!  You all can imagine the cell phone call I got.....basically she asked/spoke loudly  what I did with her tank.....Darling you know that great chain saw I showed you,,,,,well I needed a tank for the oil......She tells me she is going by the dealership right now and if they don't have a tank for her SUV she is trading it on the spot for a new one.....Thank God they had a tank!I thought I would just test my saw and then rinse the tank with some solvent and put it back real quick.  No luck,  I got busted!
Reply:"well honey, I noticed the tank was leaking when I went to add some fluid to it when I filled mine, so I took it out to be sure and get the right one to replace it..."Actually it probably worked out for the best. I thought you'd be saying you put it back but after that all it did was spray oily water on the windshield and make a mess even though you cleaned it.You need some work on your excuses.  Remember they never want to hear the truth, only that you were wrong. If you were wrong, but thinking about them, that helps...No government ever voluntarily reduces itself in size. Government programs, once launched, never disappear. Actually, a government bureau is the nearest thing to eternal life we'll ever see on this earth! Ronald Reagan
Reply:Do you think it was just a coincidence that she asked me for my set of keys to her cars when she got home....mumbling "finger weg"  which means in German keep your damn hands/fingers off my stuff!