Clutch question and a bit of a rant

[mastercraft]

The snap ring should end up about 1/4" or so in front of the u-joint carrier. If the snap ring is right up against the u-joint carrier, then it is very likely that the front of the driveshaft is probably not fully seated in the pilot bearing. The clutch also behaves very "catchy" and it grabs as soon as you move the pedal. This is because the clutch is moving in an oval pattern rather than a perfect circle. The oval pattern wears the splines and breaks the rivets.

mine seems to chatter a lot and has torn the rivits out and oddly worn a new driveshaft.....I may have to try your suggestion and reseat the driveshaft?

[Larry B]

By any chance did you test fit the driveshaft without the clutch disk, pressure plate and throwout bearing in the pilot bearing and U joint to make sure it seated properly in the pilot bushing? If everything is together remove the tunnel cover and have someone depress the clutch and grab the driveshaft and jerk it up and down really hard. There should be no movement. Also double check all the bolts that hold the trans/diff assembley to the frame. And check the bracket on the bottom of the rear end for breakage and the right side of the frame up by the seat for being broken. Numbered cubs have issues with the rear ends working loose and causing problems with clutch and brake linkages.

Larry

[mastercraft]

By any chance did you test fit the driveshaft without the clutch disk, pressure plate and throwout bearing in the pilot bearing and U joint to make sure it seated properly in the pilot bushing? If everything is together remove the tunnel cover and have someone depress the clutch and grab the driveshaft and jerk it up and down really hard. There should be no movement. Also double check all the bolts that hold the trans/diff assembley to the frame. And check the bracket on the bottom of the rear end for breakage and the right side of the frame up by the seat for being broken. Numbered cubs have issues with the rear ends working loose and causing problems with clutch and brake linkages.

Larry

no but it is riding in the pilot bearing, I can see a groove it is wearing in it and the driveshaft is barely 2 seasons old, I didn't fully push it against the throwout bearing, I mean I did at first then pulled it back maybe 1/8 an inch......I'm gonna try the fully seat it approach this time and see what happens.

[Dieselrider]

The snap ring should end up about 1/4" or so in front of the u-joint carrier. If the snap ring is right up against the u-joint carrier, then it is very likely that the front of the driveshaft is probably not fully seated in the pilot bearing. The clutch also behaves very "catchy" and it grabs as soon as you move the pedal. This is because the clutch is moving in an oval pattern rather than a perfect circle. The oval pattern wears the splines and breaks the rivets.

I am not doubting what you are saying one bit and I will definitely check this out to see if I can move the shaft and or move it forward any to seat it better into the pilot bearing. This really does seem like a bit of oversight on the engineer's part if this is the way they were designed. Looking at it mechanically, the snap ring should keep the shaft from being able to work back and come out of the pilot bearing at all. If there is space to allow travel, then travel is possible and therefore damage is also possible. Very disturbing that this would have been the case.

[mastercraft]

I've had to play with mine to get it set right and the lack of info in the service manual doesn't go into a lot of detail on the proper method as it assumes a professional is doing the repair and thus understands the detail left out.........lol I say Just seat it in the pilot bearing all the way and set the u joint set screws to hold it on the shaft and it should fall within the parameters "outdoors" states

[Dieselrider]

Well I finally got the 184 back in the shop and loosened up the set screws on the universal at the back end of the shaft and was able to bump it forward about 1/2 inch. Oh, and I did shake the shaft real good with the clutch in both before and after. Not much if any give in the shaft either way.

I just really have a tough time believing the engineers at IH would have designed something like that and let it go that way. It's just wrong! This is how much space I have left after moving the universal forward a bit to get it to this (about 1/4 inch in the photo- was about 1/2 inch if I let the universal all the way back.


This is what it looks like as far as the universal moved forward. I just may make up a spacer tomorrow to take up the full half inch of space.


And the clutch does not have any more free play at the bottom than before. I will check that out more tomorrow as well as we should have plenty more rain from the remnants of Bill. Really don't need the rain.

[mastercraft]

i just did the same with mine yesterday and it cleared up a lot of the chatter it had before while letting out the clutch and backing up as well.....still has some but it has improved

[outdoors4evr]

The spacing now looks fully seated. Hope you have good longevity with this new clutch!