Remote Unit Controls Pto And Throttle

Remote Unit Controls Pto And Throttle TRACTORS Accessories 31-6-35 Dave Jones was tired of listening to the chatter of an empty auger as a load finished emptying. A swing hopper on his auger forced him to race around a truck or under the auger to shut off the pto. After a short conversation with a local body shop owner he found an answer to the problem. "He suggested using a power window motor from a car," recalls Jones. "He even gave me one and showed me how to wire it." Jones mounted the unit on the John Deere 4020 that powers his 70-ft., 10-in. auger. It's rigged to engage the hydraulic pto clutch and then throttle up the motor. Shutting down the auger eases back on the throttle before shutting off the pto. "You have to reverse the polarity to shut down, so we have two double-throw switches on the control box," says Jones. "A 30-ft. cable runs from the unit on the tractor to a magnetic-backed control box (which is stuck to the hood in the photo)." The setup is simple. The power window motor and arm that would normally move the window up and down are attached to a metal plate. The plate bolts on the frame of the tractor and also clips to the hood. A short steel rod runs from a metal sleeve that slips over the handgrip on the hydraulic pto clutch arm to and through an eyebolt on the arm. Two stops on the rod on either side of the eyebolt allow the rod some needed slippage. "The pto tends to snap into and out of gear about the time you move the clutch arm halfway," explains Jones. "The stops on the rod let it move as fast as needed without putting pressure on the arm of the window motor." A cable connected to a midpoint on the control rod engages the foot throttle on the 4020. The cable runs from the control rod through a pulley on the tractor frame and back up to the lever and spring. When the clutch is engaged, the cable puts pressure on the lever, which in turn presses down on the foot pedal throttle. Positioning of the cable end on the clutch control rod ensures the throttle is not engaged until after the pto. A second spring attached to the window motor mount maintains some tension on the cable when it is not engaged. "The linkage was easy to set up, and it didn't take long to adjust everything," says Jones. "It works great, and it can be removed from the tractor in a few minutes time and easily reinstalled as needed." Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Dave Jones, 1185 Pine Ave., Fairfield, Iowa 52556 (ph 319 694-3684; triplej@iowatelecom.net).

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