PTO shaft issue

[dewaltdisney]

Hi Chaps,

Not been on for a while but I just wanted to ask about a little problem I encountered. I have a Danelander topper and last week while I was mowing I heard a bang and saw the cutting action had stopped. On inspection I found a bolt had sheared that holds the PTO shaft on to the topper gearbox. This joint is not splined it is just a sleeve with a bolt through it to connect the PTO shaft to the gearbox on the topper. As the Danelander is Chinese a number of bolts have failed over the last six years I have had it so I was not surprised that this one failed. I have replaced it and all is working okay.

My concern is that I am now wondering if this should be some kind of special shear bolt as although the topper is supposed to have a shear pin I have not got a clue where it actually is. So my question is to ask if a normal bolt is okay for this connection or should I have something differnent.

Thanks in advance

DWD

[chriss]

I always use a shear bolt on mine at the topper gearbox end of the pto shaft if not something is going to get badly damaged

[scoobyjim]

sounds like that is the shear pin. if its Chinese it will most likely be just an 8.8 (ordinary hex bolt) If you have the old one it may be stamped on the head. If not 8.8 should be fine.

[dewaltdisney]

Okay, thanks for that chaps. I will get hold of a shear bolt and replace the one I put in to get out of trouble. I think that the original shear bolt just 'fatigued' out rather than I hit anything as I checked the ground where the drive had stopped and there was no evidence of anything that might have caused an issue. The bolt head had snapped off and the remains cut a slot in the protective collar where it stuck after clearing the PTO union. At least I know where the shear pin is now

Thanks for the advice

DWD