Bushhogging

And if you're a geek like me, you're looking at this going "but the pto doesn't get driven through the gears!" Absolutely true, so theoretically it shouldn't matter. But, it does. For whatever reason, as Zane has pointed out, hogging in second kills the gears.

So first gear it is. What the heck, you'll get a much better looking job this way.

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Following the power through the pieces leaves you kinda confused though. It comes in the input shaft, and goes down to the counter shaft. No problems there. At the far end of the counter shaft, the pto connection exists. This leaves all the drive gears out of the picture. So, it shouldn't matter what gear you're in when the pto encounters a heavy load.

So much for theory and following power transmission, because if you're in second gear, you're darn well more likely to break it.

Now it may be that it's not the pto load that kills it, but the shock to the drivetrain when the front edge of the hog hits the stump. For similar warnings about plowing in 2nd gear exist. As in that momentary stall and the horrible windup that occurs inside the transmission.

In any case, 2nd gear is weak, and doing hard things should be done in first as a result.

Hey Zane?, jump in here, I'm just reading what you wrote! (-:

later,me

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