TOYS!, Part 2

Getting the bush hog OFF the tractor was almost as hard as I expected. In the end, I used the motorcycle jack to lift the bush hog to where we could find enough slack in the lift arm to get it OFF the lift arm pin. Now I've turned that pin IN, so we have a foot of slack we didn't have before.

It WAS like this:

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Now it is like THIS:

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And it may be like this in the future:

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Now, I had previously decided to NOT change the oil in the tiller's gearbox. It was cloudy, but not terribly discolored. Then I ran across a reference to white grease coming out of u-joints, and how this was caused by an emulsion of the oil and water. My oil looked like caramel milk, which didn't seem good. So, I changed the oil. I probably need to replace a gasket somewhere, too. But before I can do that, I need to know what MODEL my tiller is...

Then we mounted the tiller.

That is, we TRIED to mount the tiller.

We couldn't get the drive shaft mounted to the PTO. It didn't work.

So, we tried separating the halves of the drive shaft and hooking it up, then sliding the two ends together. It didn't work. The tiller just rolled away from the slowly-backing tractor, and the telescoping part of the shaft, wouldn't. Even after we oiled and greased it some more.

So, we tried to take the drive shaft back OFF the tractor. It didn't work. It was well and truly STUCK.

What to do?

Off to the local home improvement store, where we bought a 36" Stanley Ripping Bar. It is -just- too short to make a good cane for me. Too heavy, anyway.

Then, wedge the crowbar between the tractor and the neck of the drive shaft; pull back the collar of the drive shaft; and LEAN HARD into the end of the crow.

I've got about 6" below the fulcrum (the pin for the top bar), and about 30" above it. That means if I put 100 lbs of force into the bar, I should be putting about 500 lbs of force against the neck of the drive shaft.

At first, nothing happened. The CROWBAR was actually visibly flexing. Then, with a PING!, the drive shaft popped off the PTO, right out of my hands. I think it took somewhere between 500 and 1000 lbs of applied force, which I would NOT have been able to get any other way.

At this time, the neck and collar of the PTO are soaking in motor oil. They'll be there at least two more days, because WE GOT OUR TREES.