Breaking in my new toys... from Yeehaw! to Uh oh!

[RoyJackson]

So back to tractoring 101. Today's topic the clutch, and what you have to do to wear one out. While I was first tackling those mounds of dirt in 6 foot high weeds I was moving very cautiously, unsure of what I might drive over. I was also babying the box blade a bit to see how it would go. For much of this time I was on and off of the clutch quite a bit.

Is there a better way to do that? To control your motion? Using the throttle was too jerky and didn't seem like a good option. With the clutch I felt like I had pretty good control over things, but I was afraid I'd burn it up. Will that tear up your clutch or is that exactly what it's for?

I suggest you use a lower gear and judiciously use the throttle (use it...you'll get smoother action soon enough) and your tractor's differential lock (if equipted). Also, the hand throttle helps. You've just got to figure out the combination of actions and adjustments that work in your situation. And, a lot of that is trial and error.

Moving slowly in high weeds makes a lot of sense. I don't do it...I'll mow the high stuff before any loader work (just did that this summer, BTW). I want to know what under that stuff before I do any type of work.


BTW, if that toothbar hasn't arrived yet..can you hold off untill it does? At least, for the loader work?

Heed what those folks say about not riding the clutch!

 

[Spiveyman]

Yeah, yeah, yeah That was kind of a "tell me what I already know" type of question. Just needed to hear it from some TBN legends. My first gear is a real crawler (not that it's all that different from anyone else's 1st). That's probably the best answer for me when doing stuff like this.

Sandman - thanks for the "foot rest" comments. I actually catch myself doing that, then my foot gets heavier and heavier until I have the clutch pedal pushed down ever so slightly. The other thing is that one time my foot was slipping over the clutch as I approached a fence, right when I really needed to hit the clutch/break I rolled over a hole and my foot slipped right off the clutch. I almost made a new gate in that fence. It my foot had been firmly placed on the floorpan I'd have been in much better control. So, roger that - it's not a Harley, don't rest your foot up there on the clutch.

Roy - just curious but how does the diff. lock help with this? It does have one, and I did have to use it to get out of a hole I dropped into. Maybe that's what you mean there. Also, I wish I could have mowed that mess before getting into it, but there was no way to do that in that kind of terrain. I didn't go into it blindly though. I walked a grid over the whole thing back and forth before I made one tire track in there. I noted 3 big rocks that I would have to avoid and deal with later, I noted the really bad holes/dips, and found an old feed trough frame half burried in there. As for the tooth bar... yeah... might ought to hold out for that thing, but I was being very cautious not to over do it with the FEL. Shouldn't be a problem now though. I'm sure it will be in before I get the 3ph fixed.

 

[sandman2234]

When pulling a fully loaded boxblade in the loose sand we have here, if the rear wheel starts spinning, instead of digging a hole to China, step on the differential lock and engage the other wheel. That will double your traction and allow you to continue moving without raising the boxblade to dump off some of it's load. Try not to do it at high speeds, just as it first starts to break traction. A little practice will improve your skills at this.
David from jax

 

[Spiveyman]

Gotcha, that trick I used. The deal with using the clutch was more to ease my way through the high weeds the first time making sure I didn't go flying into anything stupid. As I started getting the mounds down and loosening up the dirt, there were several times on the way back up hill that one wheel would start to spin a tad, and that's exactly what I did, stepped on the diff. lock and off she went! That is an awesome feature.

 

[EasyEd]

Hey All,

Spivey I leaned toward it being Goldenrod as well as the leaves were a better match as were the inflourescences (flowers) actually but as I couldn't see whether there were dissected/divided leaves and could not see the flowers close up I could not rule out Ragweed.

Either way good luck with the allergies. Timothy pollen is hard on me.

-Ed-

 

[3RRL]

Spiv,
If I were on rough but soft terrain I can leave my tractor in differential lock, unless I plan on using the turning brakes. I try to pick a low enough gear that allows me to go at a comfortable controllable speed for the terrain, at lower rpms. That lets me crawl through unknown areas safely without having my foot on the clutch. IMO, the only time you would use the clutch is to start and stop or change gears/direction. Almost all the work you do will be "in gear" with no slipping the clutch at all. This is the preferred way once you figure out the gear needed and rpm to match for your task. It's a little different than on a car.

 

[john_bud]

Sandman - thanks for the "foot rest" comments. I actually catch myself doing that, then my foot gets heavier and heavier until I have the clutch pedal pushed down ever so slightly. The other thing is that one time my foot was slipping over the clutch as I approached a fence, right when I really needed to hit the clutch/break I rolled over a hole and my foot slipped right off the clutch. I almost made a new gate in that fence. It my foot had been firmly placed on the floorpan I'd have been in much better control. So, roger that - it's not a Harley, don't rest your foot up there on the clutch.

Spiveyman,

I've seen new clutches toasted in under 50 hours by foot resting and partial engaging to slow things down. DON'T DO IT. Think $2000 - $3000 to split the tractor and put everything back to the way it is supposed to be. I'm guessing your's ain't new, so treat it with care.

Drop a gear and go stupid slow, it's cheaper. Also you can drop the bucket down to 1-2" off the deck and that will find rocks, stumps and most debris.

There are also 2 new reflexes you have to hone. At the first sign of bush hog trouble, stomp the clutch and pull up the 3pt. It's fun watching a newbee mow their first granite rock. They don't know whether to s- or bake a cake!

 

[Spiveyman]

If I were on rough but soft terrain I can leave my tractor in differential lock, unless I plan on using the turning brakes. I try to pick a low enough gear that allows me to go at a comfortable controllable speed for the terrain, at lower rpms. That lets me crawl through unknown areas safely without having my foot on the clutch. IMO, the only time you would use the clutch is to start and stop or change gears/direction. Almost all the work you do will be "in gear" with no slipping the clutch at all. This is the preferred way once you figure out the gear needed and rpm to match for your task. It's a little different than on a car.

I've seen new clutches toasted in under 50 hours by foot resting and partial engaging to slow things down. DON'T DO IT. Think $2000 - $3000 to split the tractor and put everything back to the way it is supposed to be. I'm guessing your's ain't new, so treat it with care.

I'm starting to pick up on a theme here... like DON'T USE THE CLUTCH THAT WAY!!!! OK, I'm going to install a "dog collar" type device that will shock the bajeezes out of me every time I hit the clutch. Then I'll only do it when I really HAVE to. And yep, it ain't new, it's a 1991 with 4070 hrs when I bought it. Luckily I probably put less than 2 hrs on the thing the other night, and only about 30 min (clock time) was in that creeping through the jungle mode. Once I made the first swipe and survived I stayed on it steady.

There are also 2 new reflexes you have to hone. At the first sign of bush hog trouble, stomp the clutch and pull up the 3pt. It's fun watching a newbee mow their first granite rock. They don't know whether to s- or bake a cake!

HA! I'm not much on baking. I've only mowed once so far, and only replaced one sheer pin. I'm batting 1.000 Once I figured out that you need to engage the PTO at low RPM, everything went reasonably well. More stumps than rocks in this neck of the woods, and what we have is limestone. However, I do have problems grabbing the right lever when I want to raise/lower the 3ph. There are 2 levers for the 2 rear remotes. The outside one has the FEL hooked into it and is in the rear detent position. The inside one is for the other remote and floats just past that detent. Right next to that further on the inside is the 3ph lever. I bet I dropped that remote lever a dozen times meaning to drop the 3ph lever while working.

Hmmm.... is there any chance that could have affected the 3ph? It has the quick connect deals on it, so I don't think that would cause a loss of fluid. It's killing me not to be able to get out there to tinker with the 3ph until Saturday.

 

[john_bud]

Don't think that the remotes have anything to do with the 3pt issue.

My assumption is that you may have lost the hair clip keeper and pin that holds the shaft between the lower arm and rock shaft. The 3pt is then unbalanced and would probably bind when lifting - unseating the relief valve and making the noise you mentioned. That's a pretty simple and cheap thing to deal with. I have a small tool box on the kubota and have many extra clips, pins, even cat1 pins w nuts in there. They come in real handy. I know you will post some nice pics of the 3pt so we can see what the real deal is.


On engaging the PTO, drop rpm's to a couple hundred above idle, put in the clutch, engage lever, ease out the clutch, raise rpm's and go.

jb

 

[jbrumberg]

That is what I was referring to and/or at least trying to describe in Post #7. Jay