[AT] 1340 Hesston swather PTO shaft

[Cecil R Bearden]

I bought a 1340 Hesston Disc mower conditioner from a dealer Monday 
morning.   He advised the machine was ready to go to work, they had 
checked it out, it was only rough looking.  I checked the rotors, and 
they were tight, the driveline looked good, it did not have the front 
half of the PTO shaft, but dealer advised he had the CV joint half and 
it was good.  I paid his asking price of $4250 and requested a set of 
blades and that he deliver it ( about 30 miles to my place).   I found 
that my TS110 New Holland did not have the 1000 RPM stub shaft  
required  for the Hesston, so I spent the rest of the day fixing a flat 
on my 2-105 White tractor about a 1976 model. I have had problems with 
the 3pt lift cylinders leaking on the White, so I spent most of the next 
day getting the lift cylinders plugged off and taking the lift arms 
off.  Lift arms are a major cause of bent PT O shafts.  I also had to 
remove the dual wheels that had been on the tractor for the last 15 
years.  The flat was on the left inside dual, the tube had separated 
from the valve stem, and still had liquid in the tire.  A real mess...  
I ended up bolting on the dual wheel in place of the original.  Finally 
got the swather hooked up and greased and ready to go about 6pm 
yesterday. The drive shaft vibrated so much you could not stay in the 
cab and I never got it over 400 RPM.   I removed the drawbar extension 
this morning and tried it again and this time I sped it up to about 500 
-600 RPM   The strobe effect of the video camera really showed what the 
shaft was doing.

The link to the video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhkF1yF-7rg

The dealer wants me to pay his cost of $1200 for a new shaft, or he can 
get an aftermarket shaft for $700 cost and me to pay all of that.  I 
really do not think I should have to pay the cost of the shaft when I 
was told it was ready to go and I paid his asking price, paid by good 
check,  and did not attempt to get it at a lower price.

Cecil in OKla