She bought it, I fix it.

My wife bought a M-F 1533 two weeks ago and a friend told me to be sure and push the drawbar in to the last 1" hole and I could still adjust it for hooking a trailer to it. Didn't push it in and now wish I had. Wife was pulling old 5' bush hog and could not see the edge of the creek until the front wheels dropped about 18" to maybe 2' and of course the PTO shaft got into the drawbar. So much for the front half of the PT shaft. Twisted it into two pieces and scared her half to death. My fault for not getting the drawbar out of the way.
Now to my question. A friend told me I needed a slip clutch in the link somewhere between the tractor PTO and the spline on the Bush Hog. He quoted me about $215.
Is this a good solution and if so how does the price sound?
Another angle is does the M-F 1533 have this type of clutch built in?

Since we are both newbies as noted above, we are open to any and all advice
as well as some clean and gentle ribbing and poking which we realize we deserve.
Thanks up front and stay safe...Bo

P.S. Wife also advises you leave rotten logs alone during the hotter months and she can back up her advice with 4 spots where yellow jackets popped her.

botree said:

A friend told me I needed a slip clutch in the link somewhere between the tractor PTO and the spline on the Bush Hog. He quoted me about $215.
Is this a good solution and if so how does the price sound?
Another angle is does the M-F 1533 have this type of clutch built in?

Click to expand...

Here is what your friend mentioned.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/agricu...lip-clutch-1-3-8-in-6-in-spline-shaft-0271211

Your MF is not likely to have a slip clutch built in.

But you may have an over-run 'clutch' (ratchet) inside the transmission that functions like the one in the second photo on that TSC page. The purpose for an over-run clutch is so the inertia of the heavy spinning mower won't push the tractor when you arrive at the the creek, fence, etc and need to stop. My US-version Yanmars have this feature built in.

If the tractor has an over-run clutch already, you can't miss it. When you are mowing then slow the engine there is a loud clicking same as what you hear on a bicycle when you stop pedaling. Except 20x louder. The function is the same as on the bicycle.