frozen pto set screws! 147
 

i'm trying to rebuild my pto clutch this weekend and it's turning out to be very difficult!

two of the three set screws are frozen and somewhat stripped now...

i have another pulley... a friend of mine suggests i drill them out and replace it... we've tried several things!

any ideas?

thanks!

Here’s one of my trade secrets I’m going to pass along and it’s guaranteed to work or your money back as long as the set screws aren’t to messed up….….) This is the only way I’ve found to remove them easily after a PTO I rebuilt for a neighbor. His CC has sat outside for over 30 years. Get yourself and 3/8 Impact Driver and a 1/8”Allen wrench socket. Also purchase a long hardened 1/8” Allen wrench. Cut it off a little over 2” long and put it in the socket. The ones that come in these are too short. Keep in mind there are 2 in each hole. A few strong blows with a hammer and they will pop loose. If you do this from the start, there will be no damage to any of the set screws.

Those can be a real pain.
And not to add to your misery but there should be 6 set screws altogether
3 cone nose (tapered) ones that are in against the bearing and then 3 normal set screws to lock them in place. So 2 in each hole.
The problem with drilling is you sometimes get into the threads and tear them up. But sometimes you have to do it just to get it removed. You can always find another one from one of our sponsors or there are usually some to be found on e-bay.

one more caution
 

One more thing to be aware of is that it is real easy to break a drill bit off in one of these holes and if you think a set screw is tough you ain't seen nothing until you are drilling out a broken drill bit! Be careful and be sure that you keep the drill perfectly aligned with the hole. I would give it a try to salvage the pulley but if it gets too difficult then just go ahead and trash it and buy a new one.

those set screws are freaking hard! i've tried to drill and tap with a screw extractor... it won't grab!

i think i'm just dulling my drill bit...

how can i drill them out?

jp

jpianalto a regular drill will not touch those set screws. You will need a carbide drill to deal with those set screws. Set screws are usually a grade 8 or better on the hardness scale. I have in the past used a T-10 Torx bit and hammered it in the set screw hole and use a vice grip to back it out. Not sure about the Torx size best bet would be get a new 1/4 20 set screw and see which Torx driver is just a hair bigger than than the hole. It's worked for me in the past.

I had similar problems getting out the set screws, mine were on a junk motor and needed the crank from the motor. All mine stripped out, I wasn't concerned about saving the pto from this motor so I decree to drill them out. I had some good carbide bits and managed to get one set drilled out after a hour or so, I managed to break a couple of bits and was getting tired if fighting it. So, since I wasn't concerned what happened to the pto I changed my game plan. I took my 3" cutoff saw and cut all three of the clutch fingers off just enough to remove the center bushing and expose the end if the crank. I then hooked my 3 armed gear pulled to the pto pulley and began pulling on it with the center of the puller resting on the end of the crank, it pulled it off easily, leaving the pto bearing retainer in place on the crank which I removed by taking the set screws out.