Posted by Greg Coffin [172.68.2.84] on Wednesday, November 08, 2023 at 08:06:50 :
In Reply to: Re: Rear PTO posted by Todd [162.158.90.77] on Tuesday, November 07, 2023 at 23:17:05 :
The picture you show is what is currently known as a pillow block. I'm not a big fan of calling the rear support casting for the PTO shaft a "pillow block", but it's the term Dodge used to describe it, so here we are.
The outer race of the ball bearing in the picture shown has a spherical outside surface, which gives the entire bearing unit the ability to shift in the housing to compensate for alignment differences between the housing and the drive shaft. The center support bearing of a Power Wagon PTO shaft has a similar function as a modern pillow block.
Given this ability for a pillow block bearing to shift within the housing, it is not suitable to support the PTO output shaft. The shaft needs to be held rigidly in the housing, which is why the Power Wagon rear casting has 2 bearings in it, to keep the shaft from flopping around during use. You could use 2 modern pillow blocks mounted to a rigid support that would then fasten to the rear cross-member, but that would not look "vintage" in any way, but it would work.
Long story short, you need a rigid structure that will support the PTO output shaft at 2 points. There are not many of these around.
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