Be careful out there guys...

I used those PTO's for most of my career in trucking. I used to pump on Pneumatic Tankers Cement, Lime, Sand, Flyash, Slag and it would be interesting to know what he was doing under the Catwalk because thats where that PTO shaft spins? Never thought about it as a hazard until i read this story. The only hazard that i was aware was when this Driver was pumping Cement up a Silo and he had the Pressure Gauge at normal pressure about 11 psi and he went to the rest room. He was not familiar with this tank and the Emergency pressure release valve was stuck which it releases air pressure at16 psi with a loud sound! The faulty tank kept pressurizing to more than 30 psi and that Pneumatic Tanker exploded and destroyed a storage shack besides the tank. That Driver had to change his pants!

 

You would have to be pretty much under the tractor to be near the shaft. At least for everyone I have seen.

 

I'm wondering if maybe the other driver was unloading using some sort of auger. That would make more sense instead of one on a big-truck. At some small elevators/co-ops, I've unloaded through the grain-door of my tailgate, into a small auger.

 

We have a water truck at my company where the shaft that goes to the PTO is up by the hood and has this huge bumper covering it , but you can see it spinning when you kick it on.

 

That's not really a PTO that is considered to be live it just has a clutch that stops it. We had it on our bed trucks to run hydraulics it was extremely handy as you could run your winches while slipping your clutch to work a heavy piece out of the mud or to roll out from under a piece you just set without moving it.

 

i know first hand about pto shaft got wound up in one back in 1980 on a small farm that did not know about safety shield nor did i was lucky it didn't kill me spent two weeks in hospital and about 3mos recovering got a whole lot smarter about pto after that

 

whenever there is an exposed pto there should be warning signs and guards, but growing up on farms there isnt any signs and you learn pretty quick that you dont go next to anything thats spinning.