Clutch help

[hambone]

1979 low boy 184. Put in a new clutch, pressure plate, throw out bearing and pilot bearing. Clutch had a tag to insert washers between pressure plate and flywheel for thicker clutch. Clutch worked great about half way depressed but at full depressed clutch makes a loud grinding sound. Removed washers from under pressure plate and clutch wouldn't work at all. Used thinner washers under pressure plate but clutch still wouldn't disengage drive line. Moved drive line up a little towards motor because I thought pressure plate fingers were hitiing on the spine - didn't help. Any ideas appreciated - momma wants to get out and mow the grass when it stops rainning!

[Andrew Z]

Who did you get the clutch assembly from ?

[hambone]

Hamilton Bobs Cubs

[Andrew Z]

I would call bob up and tell him your situation, he may have seen this before.

[Mortgaged]

The fact that it was working at 1/2 pedal tells me you may have missed your pedal adjustment step? It sounds like you've got too much travel and something is interfering. Did you check the opening clearance between the disc and pressure plate with the pedal fully pressed? I recall the range was 0.015 to 0.020", but check it out in the service manual. Also, the manual states that you should have 1" of free travel before the clutch pedal does anything.

I installed the same parts from HB 2 weeks ago on my 184 with the thick washers and everything is working great. I checked all clearances and adjusted per the manual. My free pedal travel is close to 1" and the clutch does not disengage until the pedal is approx. 70-80% of full travel. I've pushed and leveled 10yds of topsoil, 18yds of mulch, pulled logs/trees and stumps with no issues. It did get a little hot pushing the dirt.

The driveshaft should be pushed all the way forward before tightening the set screws on the u-joint. The small end of the driveshaft just past the splines needs to rest in the pilot bearing for support on the clutch end.

If everything checks out per the manual, you may have a bad throw out bearing? Just a guess though.