QuestionQUESTION: PK, About 2 weeks ago my JD L130 quit running as I was mowing. I checked and the 20 amp fuse had blown. I replaced the fuse and mowed about 200 yards and the blades quit turning (but engine was running fine). Checked PTO switch and it was bad. Replaced PTO switch and mowed about 150 feet and mower made horrible noise. I found the arm that bolts to the frame and sticks down through a slot in the PTO badly bent and chewed up and no longer in the slot on the PTO. Also, the PTO clutch wires were ripped apart and wound around the shaft. Do you have any idea what could have caused this and what I should do to try to get the "gremlins" out of my L130. Thank you for your help!
ANSWER: It's all too convenient to be coincidence but I can't think of why it would happen like this in this order and be related. Unless the clutch were about ready to fall off in the first place and caused a short which took out the fuse then the switch somehow.
Was the bolt that holds the clutch up still attached? Does it look like the metal failed at the notch or the tab on the frame?
Will the engine still run? I've only seen one or two clutches fail, like this. I can remember one where the tab on the frame actually broke away but it was severely rusted. It also bent the crankshaft. A flywheel that has thrown it's magnets is also supposed to be able to so unbalance an engine that it could cause a clutch to fail, but I've never seen this happen, just been told that it could.
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QUESTION: PK, The bolt that holds the pulley and clutch up was still attached, as a matter of fact, I tried to loosen the bolt and was unable to as it was on so tight. It looks like the PTO clutch bent and twisted the tab that attaches to the frame far enough that it was no longer holding the clutch steady, so I guess I would have to say the metal failed at the notch but it looks like it took a lot of force to make it fail. The engine will still run fine but it makes a terrible noise as the PTO clutch spins around now with the tab hitting the top of it. Also, there is no rust on my L130 as it stays in my basement. Thank you very much for your fast response.
AnswerThat's an interesting one. I've never seen a clutch bend like you describe. I've seen them ready to fall apart and have springs missing, but not like you have.
Don't try and run the engine with that pto on there as you'll tear something up and might bend the crank or throw a rod. It's causing things to be terribly unbalanced and will have to come off.
The only thing I can think of to look for is something we see on pressure washer pumps sometimes and that's the key shearing. That could cause the crank to spin inside the pto and would possibly cause a good bit of damage. It often destroys pump input shafts so that would be mny guess I think. Thanks, PK.
