PTO Shaft has annoying metal band

Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the metal band on the outer

PTO shaft is for? 

 

After some pretty good swear words, I figured out how to take the covers off

my PTO shaft. This is from a NH BR7050 baler.

 

I kept thinking that if you rotated the shafts in some special way 

that it would slider together. This darn thing is heavy, and it was too long 

for my situation.  And it sounded like metal hitting metal.

 

 

So, I wanted to put the covers back on.  And I was wondering if this thing 

needs to be there for any reason.  And I'm wondering if it can be tapped off.

 

This baler is new to me.  The 3rd bale was OK. The first 2 were practice I guess.

I was so worried that this thing was going to spin itself apart and collapse into 

a pile of expensive junk. But everything worked pretty well, except for the PTO thing.

 

If anyone wants to help, thanks.

PTO Shaft has annoying metal band