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While mowing yesterday the yoke with the sleeve that connects to the front mount mower broke. What was left was the square shaft that fits inside the sleeve and connects to the mower deck. That part looks fine. I decided to order the yoke and sleeve assembly as all that was left was the splined yoke and it needed bearings. I went to unhook the splined yoke at the PTO shaft and it would not budge. I used about a can of PB Blaster. lol Since I am going to replace the splined yoke I didn't care if I damaged it further trying to get the damn thing unhooked as long as I didn't damage the PTO shaft itself. I removed the spring and I didn't see any steel balls. The thing still won't budge. Any ideas or tips would be greatly appreciated. I'm thinking about a propane torch to heat it. Good or bad idea?

Hello,

I can't speak for Grasshopper, but Kubota uses a sleeve that pulls forward to release the splined PTO shaft (works sort of like a quick disconnect air fitting).

Regards

Jeff

jp1961 said:

Hello,

I can't speak for Grasshopper, but Kubota uses a sleeve that pulls forward to release the splined PTO shaft (works sort of like a quick disconnect air fitting).

Regards

Jeff

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Thanks for the reply Jeff. The Grasshopper works the same way. My problem is I can't get the splined yoke to release. It is a 2006 and I have owned it since new. The yoke has never been taken off in all these years and now it acts like it is spot-welded to the shaft. :laughing: Trying to figure a way to get it off without damaging the pto shaft. The yoke itself will be replaced if I can get the old one off. The cross bearing is shot so I'm not going to replace it I will just use a new yoke with new bearings.

Degreaser heat more degreaser more heat crowbars, heat , degreaser
Seriously that is the way to go.
I use an air hammer because 30,000 little taps a minute works a lot better than smacking your knuckles with a big hammer.
And a bit late now but your manual should mention greasing the spline every season.

bertsmobile1 said:

Degreaser heat more degreaser more heat crowbars, heat , degreaser
Seriously that is the way to go.
I use an air hammer because 30,000 little taps a minute works a lot better than smacking your knuckles with a big hammer.
And a bit late now but your manual should mention greasing the spline every season.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I left lots of PB Blaster on it when I stopped messing with it late this afternoon. I'll start with the heat tomorrow.

bozoc said:

Thanks, I'll give it a try. I left lots of PB Blaster on it when I stopped messing with it late this afternoon. I'll start with the heat tomorrow.

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Most penetrants work best if the parts are degreased first.

bertsmobile1 said:

Most penetrants work best if the parts are degreased first.

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What do you think of the wd-40 degreaser?

WD 40 is nothing more than a dewatering fluid which is what it was designed to do.

A can of spray on degreaser is not expensive.
Have a little play with them in the auto parts / hardwear shop to find one that can fit a WD 40 type long nozel and use that to spray the degreaser up the splines
When the local junk car parts store has them on special I buy several cartons.

bertsmobile1 said:

WD 40 is nothing more than a dewatering fluid which is what it was designed to do.

A can of spray on degreaser is not expensive.
Have a little play with them in the auto parts / hardwear shop to find one that can fit a WD 40 type long nozel and use that to spray the degreaser up the splines
When the local junk car parts store has them on special I buy several cartons.

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WD-40 makes a degreaser. Didn't know if it was any good or not. I picked up something from the local auto parts store today that they recommended. Great idea to use the long nozzle to spray up the splines.

Penetrating fluids work by chemically reacting with corrosion .
Grease prevents that happening.
AFAIK there is no WD 40 degreaser sold down here, just the normal goo & a slilcon spray, hence the response on WD 40.

I am no fan of either of them.
Not the fault of the product, the fault of the advertising telling people WD 40 will do everything short of cooking your dinner.
Thus I see lots of trashed mowers where the owners religiously sprayed WD 40 everywhere the manual says to lube.
Then then abuse me when I show then a flogged out deck linkage due to lack of proper lubrication.

bertsmobile1 said:

Penetrating fluids work by chemically reacting with corrosion .
Grease prevents that happening.
AFAIK there is no WD 40 degreaser sold down here, just the normal goo & a slilcon spray, hence the response on WD 40.

I am no fan of either of them.
Not the fault of the product, the fault of the advertising telling people WD 40 will do everything short of cooking your dinner.
Thus I see lots of trashed mowers where the owners religiously sprayed WD 40 everywhere the manual says to lube.
Then then abuse me when I show then a flogged out deck linkage due to lack of proper lubrication.

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This is no joke. I have heard of people spraying wd-40 on arthritic elbows, knees, etc.:laughing: I'm not a big fan of it. There is no substitute for good grease.

bertsmobile1 said:

Degreaser heat more degreaser more heat crowbars, heat , degreaser
Seriously that is the way to go.
I use an air hammer because 30,000 little taps a minute works a lot better than smacking your knuckles with a big hammer.
And a bit late now but your manual should mention greasing the spline every season.

Click to expand...

Thanks to bertmobile1 I solved my problem. Two days of degreaser, heat and a hammer softened it up enough to get it off with a wheel puller. Don't think anything was damaged in the process. New parts should be here Monday. Thanks bert!

Excellent.
So at the end of the season you now know why the coupling should be undone, greased & reassembled.
If your rear wheels sit on a single bolt axel then the same should be done with them.

Enjoy your mowing and feel good about getting the job done yourself.

bertsmobile1 said:

Excellent.
So at the end of the season you now know why the coupling should be undone, greased & reassembled.
If your rear wheels sit on a single bolt axel then the same should be done with them.

Enjoy your mowing and feel good about getting the job done yourself.

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Thanks Bert. You can bet I will be more conscious about greasing in the future!