The short forward section of the PTO shaft on my 324 gathereing unit will not telescope out to the tractor. I have it tied up vertically and shot a LOT of pen oil into it. Is there a better way? I tried pulling on it with the Honda but I was more than a little afraid of wearing the chain around my neck :)
torch off the cover and heat it maybe? or anchor the picker and back the tractor up and hook it up to the pto and slowly pull ahead but now that i think about it on my 324 the short pto doesnt slide? it just rocks backwards and forwards the sliding all takes place on the long shaft
The short PTO on a 324 doesn't slide, just the long one (unless someone had changed it along the way). At least that's the way it is on the ones I have seen.....
Gordo, the others are correct. We have four 324s, and our difficulties are similar to yours for each machine. We bought each unit used. All of them had hammer marks on the U-shaped cradle between the short and long PTO shafts where previous owners tried to hook up to the tractor. It appears that there is quite a long overlap in the long section by which the whole PTO system slides back and forth. The problem on our pickers was just old, gummy grease (rather than rust or a bent shaft). We used a long bar to slide the PTO shaft in and out while adding used oil (rather than grease) into the access holes toward the rear of the long shaft. It helped a bit, but it is an ongoing battle.
Welcome to the forum, by the way. Very friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful folks on here, with resources for all corn pickers.
