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clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 2:30 am
by dbboss
My clutch pedal goes almost all of the way down before engaging. The throwout bearing looks ok from what I can see. Once it engages the pressure plate fingers, the fingers only move a fraction of an inch with pedal fully depressed. Tractor pulls ok from what I can tell. Haven't worked it, but put it under a strain & it spun the tire instead if the clutch slipping. Fully disengages when pressing the pedal from what I can tell. Question is this.....is the clutch plate worn down excessively (can't see it through the inspection hole), is the throwout bearing worn & I just don't realize it, are the fingers on the pressure plate just out of adjustment, or is it a combination of things? I don't have any pics at the moment, but may be able to get them tomorrow if you think it'll help. Best guesses, please. Thanks!

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:07 am
by Rick Spivey
sounds like you just need to adjust the clutch pedal free play, using the bolt under the platform on the pedal arm. Should be 1" free play before engaging the pressure plate fingers, measured at top of pedal.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:59 am
by Gary Dotson
Check the pedal free play adjusting bolt, that Rick referred to, it may have slipped, causing excessive free play. It may be a combination of things as well. Pressure plate finger adjustment, pedal adjustment and throw out bearing wear. Clutch disc wear will reduce free play so that's not a part of the problem.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 9:49 am
by Peter Person
Looking up through the round inspection cover you should see the throwout bearing.
Here is what a brand new one looks like, courtesy of TM Tractor.
Image

Peter

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 12:32 pm
by dbboss
Thanks guys. I'll try that. The throwout bearing looks good compared to the one in the photo. I'll check out the pedal adjustment & let you know how it goes.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:01 pm
by dbboss
I looked at it on the way out the door to work. Looking at the pedal adjustment from the right side of the tractor, the bolt in the adjustment slot is located to the left end, or upper end of the slot. Does that mean all of the adjustment has been taken up or is it adjusted all the way the wrong way? I didn't have time to adjust on it. I took a few pics of the throwout bearing and pressure plate fingers. I'll try to post them as well.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:20 pm
by dbboss
I tried to show the current adjustment on the finger adjustment bolt on one of the pics. What do you think? (Other than it's filthy. Lol. The inspection cover was missing. I just built one for it.)

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:41 pm
by Jim Becker
Your throwout bearing looks pretty good still, wearwise. Your adjustment at the pedal is towards the "all used up" end. However, I don't think it is at the end of the slot yet. When you get the chance, loosen the bolt and see if there is some adjustment left.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 3:52 pm
by Peter Person
Jim Becker wrote:Your throwout bearing looks pretty good still, wearwise. Your adjustment at the pedal is towards the "all used up" end. However, I don't think it is at the end of the slot yet. When you get the chance, loosen the bolt and see if there is some adjustment left.


Jim,
It looks fairly "dry" in there. The clutch fingers should show more oil on them from the grease in the throwout bearing. The red grease does not appear to be bleeding the oil out of it, may be high-temperature grease as opposed to a low-temp grease. Hard to tell from the angle of the photo but the fingers do not appear to be in the same plane.

Peter

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:03 pm
by Scrivet
I would check the height of the clutch fingers. There looks like to much room between the TOB and the fingers "at rest" That's going to take a lot of pedal movement for the fingers to reach the TOB. The second reason I say this is that in pic 1 the one visible adjusting screw is way higher than the nut. Most of what I have seen are usually about flush.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 4:36 pm
by Rick Spivey
Thanks for pics, I agree with others, fingers look too far away from TOB, and look uneven. Red grease is probably not the correct grease for this application. Need to use low grade chassis grease, which will leech the oil into the graphite of the TOB. Check for posts on adjusting fingers, and prepare to curse.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 5:08 pm
by dbboss
Thanks. Yep. It's high temp lithium based grease. Didn't realize I needed a different type, but at least it's got something. There's no telling how long it'd been since it had seen any grease. It was the same way wit rest of the grease fittings. I'll look up the adjustment procedure for the fingers later, but I'll probably still need some advice. I remember seeing a measuring tool made from a wiper blade arm that . Sound familiar?

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 6:22 pm
by Scrivet
You're thinking of the right post with the wiper arm. A piece of heavy gauge wire will work. I made one out of a butter knife. Clamped the knife tip in a vise and bent it over and then hammered it into a sharp ninety degree angle and then ground the tip off till it got to the desired length. Has a nice handle. This was an old one in the junk box, not one out of the kitchen drawer :D .

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:09 pm
by Boss Hog
The fingers need to be adjusted on the pressure plate. You will end up with the bolt being flush with the nut when you are done. It can be done without splitting the tractor.

Re: clutch question

Posted: Tue Mar 26, 2013 8:21 pm
by dbboss
There was a little bit of adjustment left in the pedal as suggested. It helped some. I bent over a piece of plastic to get a rough idea of the distance from top of finger to top of pressure plate, & I came up with about 7/8". Guess I'll be adjusting the fingers soon & try it to see how it drives.