PTO operation while moving...

[maineSS]

Anyone use their PTO with the truck in motion? It's mentioned in the owner's manual, and shown in the VPW CD of Dodge's promotional film- the truck is pulling a bush hog.Another photo I've seen shows the truck with a rotary brush for street sweeping. I assume the PTO output speed would vary with forward gear ratio in these conditions, and the mechanical governor would not be used?

[Clint Dixon]

Anyone use their PTO with the truck in motion? It's mentioned in the owner's manual, and shown in the VPW CD of Dodge's promotional film- the truck is pulling a bush hog.Another photo I've seen shows the truck with a rotary brush for street sweeping. I assume the PTO output speed would vary with forward gear ratio in these conditions, and the mechanical governor would not be used?

I have pulled and operated a trail-behind 6-foot wide rotary agricultural mower (basically a "bush hog") with two of my rear tailshaft equipped Power-Wagons.

PTO speed is directly related to engine RPM. Gear selection in the transmission has no influence over the speed of the rear PTO tailshaft. The mechanical governor does not get used. If the Power-Wagon was like an old tractor, with only a hand throttle and without a foot operated throttle, using the mechanical governor might have some advantage, assuming you are working in a field large enough to allow sustained straight line operation without a lot of turning at the ends of rows. As it is, the foot operated throttle on the Power-Wagon is a lot easier to use than the hand operated settings for the mechanical governor if not using the truck as a stationary power plant.

The Power-Wagon has its limitations for pulling and powering trail-behind equipment:

1) The turning radius of the truck is much greater than that of a tractor making it hard to use in small fields.

2) The operation of trail-behind equipment is hard to observe from the cab of the truck.

3) The Power-Wagon does not have a live clutch. Because of this, equipment such as a mower need to be brought up to operating speed with the truck's PTO in gear and the transmission in neutral. Then, the clutch needs to be depressed and the transmission quickly shifted into gear before the operation of the equipment looses momentum. (This only works with an overriding clutch as described in "4").

4) On equipment that has a lot of rotating enertia, such as a mower, one needs to use an overriding clutch between the tailshaft of the truck and the driveshaft on the equipment. These are available in the correct spline counts at most farm supply stores.

If an overriding clutch is not used, the enertia of equipment will continue to push the truck forward as one backs off of the throttle. The only other way to combat this is to shift the transmission into neutral. Then, the transmission will not be able to be shifted into any gear until after the driveline on the equipment coasts to a stop.

[OLD DODGE]

I have a rear mounted winch that was used for a boom. I had disconnected off of the boom and used it for winching truck to truck.

One time I was trying to get another truck out of the mud, lots and lots of mud. The only way it would work was if I was driving and winching at the same time, otherwise it just pulled me to the other truck. I had to stop every so often and reel out more line and start over. Did that about four times till I got him out. It was a 1 ton 2wd dually Dodge diesel and I think he outweighed me.