I had to put quite a bit of oil in the PTO of the 1480 during fall harvest (I would say about 2 gal over 70 engine hours). There is quite the huge buildup of trash/dirt/oil under the PTO/engine. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it up today and have quite a ways to go yet. I imagine in hot weather it would be a pretty good fire hazard so I'm going to try to have it cleaned up pretty nice.

I talked to the local dealer today and the mechanic there indicated that there is a high probability that it's the seal on the PTO that has gone out assuming there aren't leaking hoses to the oil cooler or something. He said that I can replace it by either taking the engine out or taking the PTO out.

I already have the radiator out because it was shot as well as the starter so I thought it might be easiest to pull the engine. He said one problem with pulling the engine is that there is a decent chance that the shaft that drives the PTO will be shot and need to be replaced or machined which would require pulling the PTO anyways. He also asked how quickly the seperator engaged when I flipped the switch. To me it seems fairly fast but I don't have much to compare it to.

I guess right now I'm planning on putting the radiator and starter back in and starting it up to ensure that the oil is coming form where he thinks it likely is. Then I'll run some diagnostics to see what kind of condition I think the PTO is in (I thought there was a pressure test you could do). I will then most likely end up pulling the PTO off to see what's going on.

Does anyone have any thoughts on whether what I'm planning on is a good way to do it? Maybe there is a way to see if the shaft that drives the PTO is shot without getting it torn apart? If it's in good shape, it might be a lot easier for me to just pull the engine before I put the radiator and starter back on. Any other tips or suggestions? Thanks.