Clutch Smoking

[dtd24]

OK did a real stupid thing this weekend to the "Big Green Sexy"!! A friend and I have been taking some big pines old pines down that were leaning over the house. We tied them off to the tractor with a good solid logging rope. All went well until we took down one and it was pretty rotted, before he got the angle cut in she spun and was coming down. It landed on my picnic table about 10 feet from the house. No injuries. Well after that I was a bit nerved up. We tied up the next tree which was a oak. Well I was so nervous I rode the clutch a bit. She started smoking a bit, and then some more. Once she came down we untied the rope from the tractor and I drove her around a bit to cool down the clutch.

I don't think I did much damage to her, but probably took a bit of life off the clutch. I'm still feel real stupid!! Lesson learned!! Don't ride the clutch dummy!!

Should I do anything special to her to relieve anything I may have done?

 

[Gordon Gould]

I'm no expert mechanic but I would say what is done is done, just hope for the best. Check your free clutch travel and adjustment as necessary.
You will probably get better advise from someone more knowledgeable.

You are lucky that is all that happened. Putting pressure on a tree while you are cutting it is extremely dangerous unless you really know what you are doing. And if it is rotted things are totally unpredictable as you found out.
I am glad no one was hurt.

 

[Thomas]

I read years back sometimes it good to press the clutch in than block it so the plates don't fuse together until cool.

 

[Treemonkey1000]

Ok a big whack along side the head with a newspaper for nearly taking out the house. If you have a leaning tree and feel compelled to take it down do some compensating on your face cut to account for lean. Also always think about rot. That will certainly mess you up of the core isn't solid. At least you had some rope on it. Usually what I do is pull until I see the tree start to move and park the rig or if I have live bodies pulling. Next big no no is jerking on the tree when someone is cutting it.. Bad bad bad.
At least you and the tractor are ok.. The picnic table you can replace....

 

[RoyJackson]

I read years back sometimes it good to press the clutch in than block it so the plates don't fuse together until cool.

That's for storage...my old Deere 670 and 790 had tabs welded to the clutch pedal so it could be clamped down during storage. Some tractors have a latching hook to lock the pedal down.

 

[dtd24]

I know.........

BAD DOG!!!

 

[Thomas]

Thats true RJ.."storage"..myL2800HST has spring push pin.

More I recall past member wire clutch pedal down on his Ford 8N...something about keeping plates from fusing/line etc. etc. after clutch abuse....guess I better start writing things down or make up folder.

 

[beenthere]

No need to "ride" the clutch. Put some tension on the rope, then step on the brake to hold that tension. Add more tension as needed, but no need to ride the clutch. Be in low enough gear to not kill the engine when the time is needed to pull on the rope.

Doubt you took much off the clutch, and doubt you need to worry much about the smoke. Just next time know not to do it that way. A good learning experience.

And a real positive reason for HST tranny.

 

[RoyJackson]

Thats true RJ.."storage"..myL2800HST has spring push pin.

More I recall past member wire clutch pedal down on his Ford 8N...something about keeping plates from fusing/line etc. etc. after clutch abuse....guess I better start writing things down or make up folder.

Not so much for after "abuse". More for extended idle time. That's when the clutch and pressure plate can rust together...

 

[Ford tractor]

Anytime you heat up an organic to metal interface so hot the organic smokes (clutch or brake) and you let it stay in contact with metal, the metal can warp.

Run some hot laps on a track with a lot of turns and then set the parking brake. You will warp the snot out of them so fast it will make your wallet barf (literally). Tractor flywheels used to be big, thick and heavy on the order of 100 pounds. Hard to warp them like one designed for quick rev capability. Next time you smoke a clutch, block down the peddle to keep from running the potential of damaging the flywheel.