125 PTO lever side to side play
 

Hello,
I have a 125 that's having some issues with the PTO lever. The first time I used the tractor to cut some grass a few weeks back there was a horrible rapping sound. Turns out it was the PTO rod (with turn-buckle) slamming back and forth against the motor. This appears to be caused by excessive side to side play of the lever itself as the wear button contacts the PTO button. The button is brand new by the way. I also had a machinist friend replicate the fiber wear button out of brass. This seems to be a problem that was coming on over time as I recall hearing that rapping noise last year.

The lever seems to be forced off center and it moves about a quarter inch to the left side (if you were sitting on the seat), then rattles badly back and forth. It is unusable until I figure out a fix.

Question is: does the shaft or something wear and allow the entire lever to slide off horizontally off center? If so, what's the correct fix? These levers are about $116 for a new part!

Also, I'm sure this has been covered before, but I cannot get the PTO bearing off the engine shaft. I know it's an eccentric collar and I can get the lock ring to rotate a little back and forth on the shaft, but the bearing will not budge. The old bearing seems to be OK, but I have a new one that I'd really like to install.

Thanks very much for any advice!
Tony

Tony-G -

You have a spacer and a spring at the pivot point of the pto lever. These can either wallow out some or the bolt loosens or fails somehow. I'll try posting a blow-up that shows the pto of your tractor.

The rockshaft "goes" through holes in the grill shell and the ends are "stopped" from going too far side to side by the frame rails on each side.

Take your grill out and look through to see the rockshaft, check to see that it is in it's holes in the grill shell and then look to see if the ends of the shaft go through and touch the inside of the frame rails.

I was able to wedge a wrench down between the frame rail & rock-shaft that took up the play. It seems like there should be (or used to be) something that kept the centerline of the lever arm centered with the PTO.

In any event, it looks like I'll have to remove that heavy front casting to fix this problem. That should be fun.

There are some hose clamp type things that are supposed to keep it from moving from side to side.

Removing the grille casting is no big deal, it only weighs about 40 lbs. and is attached with 4 bolts.

Sorry Tony-G, I was on the wrong end of the deal. I guess my brain was about 50% last night when I read your post. I have had dealings with the same problem you have. When it's bad it will eat buttons left and right. What YoSam and Matt said should clarify and help your situation. I think ideally a two piece locking collar on each side would solve this problem and allow for centering adjustments. It's one area IH fell a little short in engineering.

Good luck....Wayne