c1800,could you see marks on shaft spline indicating a spline failure in pto.I`m going to remove larger clamp this evening so I can inspect pto splines.Zip tyes would work fine,never thought of that.Was pto hard to remove[use impellar tool?]? I`ve heard of putting rope in cylinders. Also man is it hot working on this boat,a real sweat fest right now[104 ]. Near Cedar Creek