'59 Cub Lowboy clutch not completely releasing?

[DonMountain]

I have a 1959 International Cub LoBoy with a 59" 3-blade mower deck installed that my wife and one of the grandchildren have been using to mow grass around our farm. Lately the clutch doesn't seem to be disengaging the drive line from the engine completely. Particularly when the tractor is cold in the morning, after starting and running for a minute, when you push down the clutch and wait several seconds for it to stop rotating, and then try to put either the mower deck in gear or the transmission in gear I hear a bunch of gear clashing like the clutch has not completely disengaged. If I start it with the transmission in gear and the clutch pushed down, then it is ok. But once the transmission is put in neutral and the clutch released, I can't get it back in gear without clashing the gears. I checked the release distance given in my book for 1" of play and that is ok. I greased the throwout bearing and the clutch release lever bearing and that didn't help. So, what is my Cub's problem and how do I fix it?

[Urbish]

Pilot bearing may be seizing up and causing the trans innards to keep spinning even though the clutch is depressed.

[DonMountain]

Wow! That means a total separation of the engine and bell housing to even get to that. Then I would still have to figure out what to do about it to make sure it doesn't happen again. At that point after all the work just getting it apart I might as well replace the clutch and throw-out bearing too. But I can't do that much work out in the barn in this 105 degree heat. Seems to me about 15 years ago I had this same problem but I don't remember what I ever did to repair it. Well, this time around I don't think my wife will stand still for these long, drawn out repairs to a grass mowing machine. Next time she wants the grass mowed and the tractor is still not running I think she will draw the line and go buy a newer machine and insist this one go down in the dump.

[LRiddle]

It really isn't as bad as it sounds. Yes, you need to split it, but it isn't hard, and it also makes it easier to adjust the clutch fingers if need be and check for wear on any parts. All in all it's about a half days work. In 105 degree heat on the other hand...

[DonMountain]

Whats this about "adjusting the clutch fingers" that you talk about? That rings a bell with the similar problem I had about 15 years ago, and I didn't dismantle the entire Cub then either? Where might I find information or instructions about adjusting the clutch fingers?

[clemk]

Whats this about "adjusting the clutch fingers" that you talk about? That rings a bell with the similar problem I had about 15 years ago, and I didn't dismantle the entire Cub then either? Where might I find information or instructions about adjusting the clutch fingers?

I think the adjustment Luke's saying is in the manual. Clutch I think is section 5. I couldn't figure out how to move the picture here. Go to Quick Links in the upper left hand corner, then PDF manuals, then service manual, and finally , Clutch. If memory serves, that particular adjustment is in Reassembly, rather than Adjustment. If I'm all the way out to lunch, somebody smarter will be along and clarify it. I hope I'm right, and this helps!

[ajhbike]

I have seen a thread or a How To on the forum that described with pics how to adjust the fingers from from the hatch on the belly... involved a 90 degree screw drive. Try doing a search.
Another wise man from MA told me that if you park the tractor on a downhill angle and spray some PB through a straw on the shaft towards the fron, the penetrating oil will seep down the shaft and loosen things up without getting gunk on the clutch plates

[ajhbike]

Clutch Adjustment Through the Hand Hole is the topic in the How To section for finger adjustments

[pickerandsinger]

I have a 1959 International Cub LoBoy with a 59" 3-blade mower deck installed that my wife and one of the grandchildren have been using to mow grass around our farm. Lately the clutch doesn't seem to be disengaging the drive line from the engine completely. Particularly when the tractor is cold in the morning, after starting and running for a minute, when you push down the clutch and wait several seconds for it to stop rotating, and then try to put either the mower deck in gear or the transmission in gear I hear a bunch of gear clashing like the clutch has not completely disengaged. If I start it with the transmission in gear and the clutch pushed down, then it is ok. But once the transmission is put in neutral and the clutch released, I can't get it back in gear without clashing the gears. I checked the release distance given in my book for 1" of play and that is ok. I greased the throwout bearing and the clutch release lever bearing and that didn't help. So, what is my Cub's problem and how do I fix it?

......Only drawing form my personal exploits, I would simply split the tractor and check and or replace the clutch ( 81.00 at Hamilton bobs and put a new pilot bearing in....As has been mentioned its a 1/2 to a full day job ( or 2 halves if you get up early to beat the heat ).....And that would be that...You can adjust the fingers thru the hand hole and you can spray thru a straw also....Your chances of success are greater with the first method...IMHO and what works for me...Good luck...Dave

[Jim Becker]

Another wise man from MA told me that if you park the tractor on a downhill angle and spray some PB through a straw on the shaft towards the fron, the penetrating oil will seep down the shaft and loosen things up without getting gunk on the clutch plates

This is the least involved option. If it doesn't do the job, the cost (time or money) was low and the other options are all still there. Since the shaft/bushing isn't entirely stuck, I would use a spray lube (like WD-40) rather than a penetrating oil (like Blaster or Kroil). Park it on the steepest downhill location you have readily available. Be sure the wheels are securely blocked. Reach through the hand hole on the bottom of the bell housing and spray the shaft. Try to spray little enough that it doesn't drip off the shaft, but spraying it more than once to get a little more lube on it can't hurt. Leave the tractor parked downhill for a few minutes to give the lube a chance to run all the way forward. If you want to be really thorough, block the clutch pedal down, put the PTO in gear, and give the PTO 1/2 turn between the 2 shots of lube.

[DonMountain]

Clutch Adjustment Through the Hand Hole is the topic in the How To section for finger adjustments

I think maybe this is the solution I used 15 years ago when I previously had this problem. I had to do this adjustment about 5 years after rebuilding the engine and mounting a new clutch, pressure plate and throw-out bearing. And now the grandson has learned how to operate a machine with a clutch and both he and the wife are hard on the old Cub. I pulled the Woods 59" mower deck off the Cub and took off the hand hole cover under the clutch and now I am looking at making the "measuring tool" to check the clutch fingers and see what I can do with it to improve the operation of the clutch. Anybody done this recently? I was going to go by the instructions in the section "How to Adjust Clutch Fingers" by setting the adjustment screws in half a turn each and tightening the lock nuts and see what happens.

[LRiddle]

That's a good path to start on. Like Mr Jim said, start at the easiest and work up from there. Try the lube with the tractor facing downhill. If that doesn't work go to checking the finger height through the hand hole with the last resort being to split the tractor. My opinion though, adjusting through the hand hole is a tedious, aggravating and uncomfortable process. I tried it before and ended up splitting to adjust, but that's just me, others might have had better results. Either way you do it there are complete and helpful instructions in the how to section to walk you through it. Certainly not anything to take "this one to the dump" over.

[Glen]

Hi,
Below is a pic of where to measure the clutch fingers when the clutch is assembled on the flywheel.
The guys on here have said that 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" high works good.
I saw on here someone used a wire, by making it the length that would go from outside the hand hole, up to the pressure plate to measure on the pressure plate fingers.
He made a 90 degree bend at the upper end of the wire, so that was sticking out 1 1/8", or 1 1/4" long, and then he could measure more easily, up through the hole.
The wire was L shaped, sort of.
You have to make the wire just right, from the end of the wire that goes against the lower surface in the pressure plate, to the side of the wire that touches the fingers, is the 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" measurement. Hope that's not confusing.

[bofahs]

Yeah I was setting up to split my '65 when I ran across the adjustment instructions in this forum a year or so ago. I had the same problem, and was sure something had broken or worn out. Nope. Got under there and adjusted the thing, and it is just fine. Do this first - it's, like, 3% of the work compared to splitting. Maybe 2%.

[DonMountain]

Thanks everybody for your help on the clutch finger adjustment and measurements. Took me maybe an hour to pull off the mower deck and get under the Cub and make the adjustments. Easy to do and didn't take me much time at all. Maybe 15 minutes to make the actual adjustments on the three fingers. And now it works like new! I need to keep a copy of these instructions in my Cub Instruction Manual for future reference and keep the measuring tool I made with a bent tong off an old leaf rake in my Cub tool box. Thanks again everybody!