PTO not engaging

[Joey]

Been thinking of a name for my '52 cub and I think I'll name him Bruno to keep Popeye company - Bruno will do all the groundbreaking chores, while Popeye does the grass cutting. Bruno's pto doesn't engage and I recruited Merlin's help. Took the back cover off and we decided the problem was the pto shifter lever. I repaired the lever as instructed by Merlin and reinstalled everything back, making sure the pin on the lever was in the groove of the shifter clutch. Engaged the pto and......nothing. Same as before. Opened it up again and checked a few things. Splines on shaft all looked good, as did the shifter clutch. By the way, how do you take the clutch off of the shaft? The set screw has a round hole and not a hexagon hole to fit an allen wrench. I noticed daylight through the pto shaft ball bearing (the gear shift housing cover was off) and tried to move the shaft around. There's about a quarter inch play back and forth on the clutch shaft. Is this an acceptable amount of movement? I then took the pto shifter rod guide off and moved it further back about a half inch and the pto engaged. I don't want to reposition the guide, I want to fix whatever is wrong. Any ideas? I hope Merlin jumps into the discussion because he knows what 's going on. Thanks for any help.

P.S. I hope I got all the parts named right - the parts manual is right in front of me.

[Merlin]

Some call the shifter clutch the collar. Looks as if someone rounded the Allen screw hole. It slides back and forth and stops where it is supposed to. Is there an acceptable movement of the clutch shaft toward or away from the the rear of the engine, or if not, could the "transmission spline shaft front bearing ring" ( snap ring ) be broken letting the clutch shaft move too far forward to let the PTO collar slide over the end of the clutch shaft? I've never seen one do this, so hope some of you can help. As long as the shifter rod guide is unbolted from the top of the transmission, the shifter rod will go far enough back to engage the PTO collar on to the end of the clutch shaft.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

Has the pto ever worked on this one since you owned it? Hold the clutch down and check the end play. If it has quite a bit, the transmission shaft front seal retainer may have been instaled backward. It also holds the front transmission bearing in place.

[Joey]

I bought the tractor from a gentleman who bought it from someone else. Been around the block. The man I bought it from said the pto didn't work when he had it, but didn't need it since he bought it for gardening. He had another cub for his grass cutting. Merlin and I are planning to split the cub to check out the bearings. Anything else we need to check out besides the seal retainer? It just seems like something is not set in right to allow the collar to slide all the way on the shaft.

[badguygitr]

I have a similar problem on my 52 Cub. I replaced the shifter lever assembly that was broken. It worked perfect until I put the mower and belt on. Now when I engage the PTO it grinds and pops out before it ever turns the mower. Any suggestions from anybody? Thanks.

[Jim Becker]

I would suggest you go over the whole answer to the PTO question on page 2 of the FAQ http://www.atis.net/CubFAQ/cub_faq_2.html. But in your case, I would suspect the pilot bushing between the PTO shaft and the upper transmission shaft.

[LARRY BALL]

JOEY,
LOOK AT THE POST I JUST PLACED ON" WHERE'S PTO SITE?" MY POST SHOULD ANSWER YOUR QUESTION ON YOUR PTO PROBLEM!