Hi all.
Haven't had to tinker much with my PTO, not sure where to start. Noticed on my second to last mowing session that my engine felt like it had something pulling it down, not nearly as much power as usual, near the end of the mow. Tractor ended up stalling out and I saw a puff of smoke come from the front of the tractor as I was sitting. Not exactly sure where it came from, but seemed to be from the front grill area. By the time I got out of the seat to check there was no smoke. Definitely a hot, almost kind of like hot solder smell. I tried to restart the tractor, maybe within a minute of it stalling, and it was completely dead. I pushed it into my garage, tried the ignition, and it fired right up. PTO at this point was disengaged (switch off). Tractor seemed to run fine.
A week later I go out to mow, fire up the tractor, running strong, engage the PTO, engine drags a bit but nothing terrible, I start to cut. Maybe 5 minutes into the mow the engine really starts to drag, then stalls. I immediately tried to restart, nothing. Starter doesn't even engage. Sitting there I hear an audible "click", I try the ignition again, and the engine starts. I reingage the PTO, and immediately notice a hot, almost plastic-y smell. About a minute later, engine dies. I do the same thing, let it sit, hear a "click" after 30-60 seconds, starts up, engage PTO and blades, stalls out about a minute later.
I do use a PointSaver, and it seemed like the "click" I hear might be coming from that, almost like something being reset, as if there was circuit protection or something.
At that point I push mowed what was left of the yard, and let the tractor sit for about an hour. It started right up, and ran strong with no PTO and mower deck engaged.
My knee jerk reaction was to locate another PTO and swap it out to see if the same thing happens, but they aren't cheap. All things considered (tractor runs strong with no PTO engaged, funny smell when engaged, puff of smoke at the end of my last cut) I'm assuming the PTO might have croaked. Just not sure where to start troubleshooting short of replacing the PTO to maybe see if that is the problem.
Any and all guidance is much appreciated.
JB
Haven't had to tinker much with my PTO, not sure where to start. Noticed on my second to last mowing session that my engine felt like it had something pulling it down, not nearly as much power as usual, near the end of the mow. Tractor ended up stalling out and I saw a puff of smoke come from the front of the tractor as I was sitting. Not exactly sure where it came from, but seemed to be from the front grill area. By the time I got out of the seat to check there was no smoke. Definitely a hot, almost kind of like hot solder smell. I tried to restart the tractor, maybe within a minute of it stalling, and it was completely dead. I pushed it into my garage, tried the ignition, and it fired right up. PTO at this point was disengaged (switch off). Tractor seemed to run fine.
A week later I go out to mow, fire up the tractor, running strong, engage the PTO, engine drags a bit but nothing terrible, I start to cut. Maybe 5 minutes into the mow the engine really starts to drag, then stalls. I immediately tried to restart, nothing. Starter doesn't even engage. Sitting there I hear an audible "click", I try the ignition again, and the engine starts. I reingage the PTO, and immediately notice a hot, almost plastic-y smell. About a minute later, engine dies. I do the same thing, let it sit, hear a "click" after 30-60 seconds, starts up, engage PTO and blades, stalls out about a minute later.
I do use a PointSaver, and it seemed like the "click" I hear might be coming from that, almost like something being reset, as if there was circuit protection or something.
At that point I push mowed what was left of the yard, and let the tractor sit for about an hour. It started right up, and ran strong with no PTO and mower deck engaged.
My knee jerk reaction was to locate another PTO and swap it out to see if the same thing happens, but they aren't cheap. All things considered (tractor runs strong with no PTO engaged, funny smell when engaged, puff of smoke at the end of my last cut) I'm assuming the PTO might have croaked. Just not sure where to start troubleshooting short of replacing the PTO to maybe see if that is the problem.
Any and all guidance is much appreciated.
JB
