PTO Turns Intermittently While Driving

[SmokeyBear20252]

I have a new L3901 with only 30 hours on the machine. I would probably have not noticed this problem but my wife was helping me with some work over the weekend and I happened to be walking behind the tractor while she was driving. When the tractor is going down a slight grade or even on level ground, everything looks normal. But when going up a hill where the tractor is actually having to pull, the PTO shaft turns intermittently. It doesn't turn like it's actually engaging but rather turning at at rate that seems to match the rotation of the wheels. Is this an indicator that something is wrong or is this a normal quirk on the new L series tractors? I'm going to call the dealer today as well but I wanted to get some other feedback in case I need to throw the BS flag on them.

 

[BCrouse]

I have a new L3901 with only 30 hours on the machine. I would probably have not noticed this problem but my wife was helping me with some work over the weekend and I happened to be walking behind the tractor while she was driving. When the tractor is going down a slight grade or even on level ground, everything looks normal. But when going up a hill where the tractor is actually having to pull, the PTO shaft turns intermittently. It doesn't turn like it's actually engaging but rather turning at at rate that seems to match the rotation of the wheels. Is this an indicator that something is wrong or is this a normal quirk on the new L series tractors? I'm going to call the dealer today as well but I wanted to get some other feedback in case I need to throw the BS flag on them.

Not sure if its suppose to do it, but my 3301 HST does that as well.

 

[SmokeyBear20252]

Thanks for the reply, BCrouse.

Just got off the phone with my dealer's mechanic and he said he had never heard of this issue. But he said he would make a call to tech support. Apparently, they (tech support) offered no definitive answer. The dealer said they have several of them on the lot and they would test drive them and see if they can recreate what I'm seeing. He did say that he doesn't believe it's anything seriously wrong with the tractor. I'll post an update when I hear back from them.

 

[Rosher18]

My '77 L185DT does this as well. My wife and I were standing on a railroad tie we were dragging with the 3PT and we noticed the PTO shaft was spinning slowly. We were able to hold it and it would stop spinning, so it's got to be some slight extra friction in the transmission causing some rotation.

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[lugbolt]

I have a new L3901 with only 30 hours on the machine. I would probably have not noticed this problem but my wife was helping me with some work over the weekend and I happened to be walking behind the tractor while she was driving. When the tractor is going down a slight grade or even on level ground, everything looks normal. But when going up a hill where the tractor is actually having to pull, the PTO shaft turns intermittently. It doesn't turn like it's actually engaging but rather turning at at rate that seems to match the rotation of the wheels. Is this an indicator that something is wrong or is this a normal quirk on the new L series tractors? I'm going to call the dealer today as well but I wanted to get some other feedback in case I need to throw the BS flag on them.

DT or HST transmission?

 

[bucktail]

. We were able to hold it and it would stop spinning, .

Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk

The preceding is not an OSHA approved troubleshooting method...

 

[SmokeyBear20252]

The preceding is not an OSHA approved troubleshooting method...

Yeah, definitely don't want any of that action.