New 154: Clutch issues

[mozer71]

That's a very cool /HOT trick right off the bat, toehead ! With the tank off, you can clean it and remember bee heads .

[toehead]

Some more progress while I am waiting for the driveshaft to arrive:

- Clutch and coupler are in, with new brake buttons .
- I rewired the whole tractor from scratch, and ran new grounding straps. The wiring that was there has been butchered by a PO (tons of scotchlock connectors, bypassed fuse, etc) and was falling apart from age. I made a harnness wrapped in electrical tape first and then put in a fiberglass protection sleeve.

[Landreo]

While the hood is off, you may want to remove and clean the SG terminals and check the field to ground resistance. That may be where the charging problem lies.

[toehead]

I pulled the SG off and took it apart. It needs new brushes (probably less than 1/4 left) and the field coil is open somewhere internally.
I'll need to source a new field coil brushes, bearings, etc. I'll update the other thread.

[toehead]

More work while waiting for my parts. The front mounting tab on the tank was broken off.

Normally, I would drain the tank extremely well, degrease, purge, and weld. However, this tank design makes it really hard to get all the gas out of the tank and rather than risk blowing myself up I went for a safer alternative.

Some scrap stainless from work and a few rivets and it should be back in business.

[mozer71]

Looks real good. The speed you're going, you'll be mowing or loading soon. I did a lot of repair when I got my 154 but since it was running so well, I neglected the valve adjustments. I'm sure that would have improved the power. I need to do this..

[toehead]

Thanks.

I've got all the parts in and installed for the clutch. Question: When pressing the clutch lever, I get some flexing/deflection of the rear pressure plate. I'm not sure if the creeper input shaft is moving or what. I can't move anything by hand.

Normal? Not normal?

[wagonmaster]

My 154 without a creeper does this also. I think its normal.

[toehead]

Glad to hear that, although that seems like a design that could be improved upon... I looked at the creeper exploded diagram and it looks like they only have a regular ball bearing on the shaft. I would think that for these situations there would be 2 angular contact bearings or some other way to deal with the thrust load.
I'll take a video of what I am seeing and post so that we can all agree if it is normal or not

[Landreo]

If by rear pressure plate you mean the driven disc attached to the input shaft of the creeper then there should be no movement.

Ball bearings are often used as thrust bearings. Not really much force from a numbered series clutch on that bearing. If you have any noticeable movement then either the bearing is loose, the bearing is worn, or the input shaft is worn allowing the driven plate to move.

[toehead]

Sounds like I should take it further apart then. That is exactly what I mean, there is relative motion between the disc and the transmission.

I can't move anything by hand but stepping on the pedal does it.

How difficult is it to remove the creeper?

[toehead]

Looking more carefully, the bearing retainer is moving a little bit (in and out of the creeper case). What in the assembly prevents this? What could be worn?

I'll pull the clutch back off and see what I can see. Looks like the creeper can drop right off the front of the transmission.

Service manual says that the tractor needs to be split but i'm not sure that I buy that.

[toehead]

Got the gastank back on, and the creeper out.

For a usual 154, you do need to split the tractor as there is a welded crossmember. Thankfully somebody added the bolted crossmember from a 184 to mine.

Now to disassemble it and find out what is going wrong.

[mozer71]

Thanks for the pix. It is great to be included in real-time repair and learn while you are sorting things and tips along the way. I'm very late to join / post. Operations as this had been recorded before, yet it is always good to see fresh progress and perhaps some advise along the way.

[toehead]

Thanks Mozer! I wasn't able to find any picture of the creeper pulled apart on the internet prior to doing it myslef, so I took a few for posterity. Since photobucet went down, most of the old threads seem to be missing their pictures

Tools needed:
Shop press.
snap ring pliers.
good set of punches.

Bearing isn't all that bad (a little notchy). Bushings seem fine too (does anybody have a source for the bushings???). I'm not really sure where the slop was coming from. I ordered new bearings and seals and will put it back together.