I hang my head in shame !!

[Mark_in_NH]

HI, My name is Mark, and I am guilty of tractor neglect.

After reading this, you guys make think me unworthy and drum me right out of the CTB. BUT !! Please give me a 2nd chance, I won't let this happen again. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/eyes.gif[/img]
Here is the story.
Seeing how the summer has been so busy, and I haven't really put much seat time in, my JD 950 has been sitting idle, more than it is being used. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif[/img] Anyway, I jumped on it the other day so I could pursuade my dumpster to accept a little more trash and found that I could not shift it into any gear other than 1st, 2nd and reverse in low range (with minor grinding)
As soon as you slipped it into one of these gears, tha tractor was moving, Even with the clutch still fully depressed.

All other gears and all of high range just would not even come close to going in. I figured that after 77 hours of use since the new clutch was installed that I probably need to adjust it a little. I checked with mechanic who installed the new clutch (at the dealer) and he told me how and what linkage to adjust. Nope, it made no differance!!!
I then concluded that maybe the clutch peddle was not throwing out the throwout bearing at all. I checked with the same mechanic and he asked a few ?'s.
How often did I use the tractor ? Does it sit outside ? etc. etc. He said that the bearing has extremely close tolerances, and that it is possible, that from lack of use and temperature changes, that the bearing can become simply stuck.
This is what he said to do. Once I got past the cruelity of it, I try'd and it worked. He told me to put the tractor into 4WD, a low gear, go find a big tree and have a light controlled crash. Meaning, run the loader into something that won't move. WITH THE CLUTCH PEDDLE DEPRESSED
He said, Don't Get Hurt, but give it a comfortable whack and then give it some throttle. He said don't be bashfull, you need to unstick that bearing. With some Common Sense, You won't hurt the tractor.
Thats rather a hard thing to do !! Purposely crashing your tractor into a tree. Kind of like kicking your dog. But it worked.
I do know that I will make sure to get more seat time in, even if all I do is drive around the yard.
Have any of you ever experienced anything like this ?

[GarageSmoker]

Not quite the same but I have a TV that must have a bad connection in the sound circuit. If you don't use it every day the only way to get sound is to give it a good whack on the side of the cabinet.

We found this out sort of by accident which I am sure you all can figure out.

So not just tractors need to be operated frequently or suffer the fate of a "deliberate beating" to get going.

GS

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I haven't, but you can bet the next time I hit something with my tractor, that's the story I'm going to tell. "Honey, I meant to do that. You see, there was this stuck bearing, and..." [img]/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif[/img][img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img][img]/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Golfgar4]

<font color=blue>"...but give it a comfortable whack..."</font color=blue>

Sounds like what I used to have to do to my son when he was 16 or so. [img]/w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif[/img] Fortunately, he outgrew it - kind of [img]/w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

[alvanko]

I have done the same thing . The clutch freezes to the flywheel . But I backed into a tree with the draw bar not with the hood !! My tractor has a bar that holds the clutch pedal down and disengaged when I park it at night or when I store it for an extended time . You can do the same with a block of wood wedged to hold it down . You will have to do a lot worse things to your tractor than that to be banned from this forum !

[karmakanic]

Hi Mark,

The stuck bearing your mechanic was talking about is called the pilot bearing. It locates and holds the input shaft of the transmission into a little recess in the flywheel. When that bearing is frozen the effect is like no clutch release since the input shaft is now locked to the flywheel.

I would agree with your mechanic that the symptoms you describe are exactly what would happen if the bearing was frozen, and the method to unstick it is also correct.

You could also try this if you don't want to go bashing into a nearby tree. With engine not running, put into gear, depress clutch. Now start the engine. It may break free at that point. If not leave the clutch depressed and give it a quick spurt of throttle and just as quick let off. Keep clutch depressed all the time your trying to break it free. Basically, you want to create a shock to the driveline one way or the other to break it free.

As soon as it breaks free once it should be ok unless it sits for a long time again.

HTH
Dave Perry aka karma-kanic

[robertm]

Hey, Mark!
For better or worse, my Kubota manual states that you should stick a wood block between the clutch pedal and the frame wne storing it for long periods of time, or over a season to keep it depressed. Maybe this would help you out too?

All I know is that if a block of wood is keeping my clutch pedal depressed in storage, that means i'm depressed! [img]/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif[/img] Gotta get that seat time in ALL THE TIME! [img]/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Charlie_Iliff]

As Alvanko noted, what is sticking is not the throw out bearing, but the clutch plate rusting to the flywheel. In a car, the best way to fix it is to jack up the drive wheels, run them up a bit in high gear and then stand on the brakes and throttle at the same time - with the clutch depressed, of course. Less body damage than slamming a tree. Good heel &amp; toe accelerator &amp; brake practice, too.
Rolling down a hill and slamming into gear also works, but with lots of potentially expensive grinding noises. Sometimes, just towing the vehicle with engine stopped, in a low gear and clutch depressed will break it loose, but it takes another vehicle and driver. Come to think of it, your mechanic's recommended controlled crash sounds the most fun of the solutions so far.

[Boondox]

<font color=blue>you guys make think me unworthy and drum me right out of the CTB</font color=blue>

I'd be ashamed too if I got my tractor sites mixed up like that! [img]/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif[/img]

Pete

[ChuckinVA]

He should go to <font color=blue>TNA <font color=black>(Tractor Neglectors Annonomous) ! They have a 10 step maintenance plan...