# Massey Ferguson 1105 - PTO Shaft Keeps Snapping



## scott.vowles68 (10 mo ago)

Hi All
Having a major headache with one of my 1105's.
I keep snapping the main shaft from the flywheel to the section just past the gearbox that drives the pto and charge pump, I am running a claas 250 rollant rotocut baler behind it and this seems to happen when the baling chamber is almost full. Been running this setup for the past 10 years with not a single problem, have upgraded the shaft from original IM12 to IM18 steel. Still snapping, this is the third time in 2 weeks.
At a loss as to what can be causing it, on a positive note I can now strip, split, replace the shaft and assemble the 1105 in under 4 hours.
Any ideas would be appreciated?
Thanks Scott


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## BigT (Sep 15, 2014)

Good Morning Scott, welcome to the forum.

You have 3 each Massey Ferguson 1105's. Is this happening on only one of them, or on all of them? If more than one tractor, your baler may have a problem?


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Does the Class have a built in clutch pack in the driveline or not. Sounds like the bailer is overloading the shaft. I see it's a sileage baler. Hay maybe too wet?


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## scott.vowles68 (10 mo ago)

BigT said:


> Good Morning Scott, welcome to the forum.
> 
> You have 3 each Massey Ferguson 1105's. Is this happening on only one of them, or on all of them? If more than one tractor, your baler may have a problem?


Only on the one, baler has a clutch in the driveline. I have replaced the original Claas driveline, we call it a PTO shaft in South Africa, as I though this may be the problem. No luck in solving the problem, as each component fails I replace it with higher spec heat treated material, I am not concerned with the cost of these repairs but the loss of harvesting time is starting to bite.


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

Is the drawbar pin set the same length and distance from the tractor PTO stub as the other tractors? It does sound like it is a problem specific to this tractor. Does it break while running in a straight line or turn? Are you sure your pressure gauge is reading correctly? I had a NH baler that I had a similar problem with that ended up being the gauge was reading low..and I raised the line pressure causing the PTO shaft to slip when finishing a roll. B.


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## scott.vowles68 (10 mo ago)

Hi BinVa
All tractors have a identical setup. Breaks while running in a straight line, PTO driveline does not slip at all. Just spent the morning putting a new shaft in - worked perfectly for 2 hours and then shredded the coupler between the internal
PTO shaft ant the PTO clutch/drum.


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## BinVa (Sep 21, 2020)

scott.vowles68 said:


> Hi BinVa
> All tractors have a identical setup. Breaks while running in a straight line, PTO driveline does not slip at all. Just spent the morning putting a new shaft in - worked perfectly for 2 hours and then shredded the coupler between the internal
> PTO shaft ant the PTO clutch/drum.


If it’s not a problem with the bale pressure or slip clutch….you got me 🤔. I hope someone running a claas will step up. Good luck with the repair. B.


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## FredM (Nov 18, 2015)

Have you swapped tractors to see if this is a tractor fault or baler fault??.


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## SidecarFlip (Mar 25, 2021)

Been following along and I'm curious about something, I'm not familiar with the baler at all but most balers I see, have either shear bolt protection on the driven driveline on the baler or a slip clutch the needs to be set to slip ate a certain torque value. Which one do you have? You have to have one or maybe both. Are you using the Claas recommended shear bolt which will usually be a Grade 2 in the driveline or have you slipped the slip clutch recently (if it has one). Slip clutches require slipping manually every year of so because the friction material locks to the drive (metal) plates when sitting. Far as slip torque is concerned, Weasler has a chart on their website that tells you at what torque setting a clutch needs to slip at to be effective.

Like I said, I slip mine yearly by backing off the retention springs and engaging the pto and allowing the clutch plates to 'burnish' themselves for a couple revolutions, then I'll lock the clutch with a suitable steel rod through the external space in the coupling (implement side, tighten down the tension springs while using a torque wrench to set the preload. I do that every year. It's required maintenance, especially if the baler is exposed to the weather.

I'm thinking that the baler is imposing an excessive torque load on your pto internal input shaft and breaking it.


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## scott.vowles68 (10 mo ago)

SidecarFlip said:


> Been following along and I'm curious about something, I'm not familiar with the baler at all but most balers I see, have either shear bolt protection on the driven driveline on the baler or a slip clutch the needs to be set to slip ate a certain torque value. Which one do you have? You have to have one or maybe both. Are you using the Claas recommended shear bolt which will usually be a Grade 2 in the driveline or have you slipped the slip clutch recently (if it has one). Slip clutches require slipping manually every year of so because the friction material locks to the drive (metal) plates when sitting. Far as slip torque is concerned, Weasler has a chart on their website that tells you at what torque setting a clutch needs to slip at to be effective.
> 
> Like I said, I slip mine yearly by backing off the retention springs and engaging the pto and allowing the clutch plates to 'burnish' themselves for a couple revolutions, then I'll lock the clutch with a suitable steel rod through the external space in the coupling (implement side, tighten down the tension springs while using a torque wrench to set the preload. I do that every year. It's required maintenance, especially if the baler is exposed to the weather.
> 
> I'm thinking that the baler is imposing an excessive torque load on your pto internal input shaft and breaking it.


Hi All
I have upgraded all the components in the drivechain and so far no more breakages, with see with the new harvest if it holds out. Thanks for all the feedback. Cheers Scott


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