Ever Clutch Toasted !!

[clinter36]

Finally got the tractor apart and Ever Clutch removed. I will try to take some better pictures when reassembling for a write up on splitting the tractor.

Splitting the tractor was fairly straight forward and it came apart without too much trouble. Once the tractor was split, I removed the Ever cluch hydraulic control unit and a few brake linkages then unbolted the clutch housing (ever clutch housing) case and removed it with an engine hoist.

Its amazing how great of condition the gears and bearings seem to be in.

Take a look at the close up picture of the Ever Clutch. You can see the warped and discolored plates on the left this is the side that is dragging. I am hoping to disassemble this EC unit further this afternoon and get the new plates and clutch discs ordered.

 

[clinter36]

Here are the pics from the 1st post

 

[clinter36]

I disassembled the E.C. this morning. Take a look at the pictures of how warped the plates are.

I am going to order 5 new plates and 5 new clutch disks (reverse side only). Most of the clutch discs on the bad side arent even that bad. Two of them are worn near the outside. So, based on this observation I am not even going to disassemble the forward side. Pulling the outer bearing and large snap ring is a pain, and I dont think its worth while.

I will say, they werent kidding when they call this thing Ever Clutch. The clutch discs appear to be bronze and obviously put up with a fair amount of abuse in this case. After spending some QT with this unit, I am quite impressed with how well its built. The bearings are all NTN and suitable size. Its actually a beautiful machined unit. The only issue is the warping of the plates.

FYI for all other wet clutch tractors - Take Care Not to Feather or Slip the Clutch! It has a different feel than a regular clutch and you wont get the typical clutch burning smell like a dry clutch.

 

[KeithInSpace]

Mmmmmmm...Toasty! Not knowing thing 1 about your machine, I'm impressed with you tackling the fix, with how beautiful everything inside the tranny looks, otherwise, and just how screwed up that clutch appears.

Have fun! Many, many, many dollars saved, I would figure.

 

[magicheater]

I'm impressed with you tackling the fix,

Double on that statement!!! Thank you for sharing these photos, I now know what my tractor looks like on the inside! I am not sure I would have tackled that project myself.

 

[rbargeron]

Put me in the "know-nothing" column too - I didn't know the clutch discs were bronze! I've had BMW car automatics apart and I assumed the construction was similar. So much for that. So which parts have lost thickness, the plates or the discs or both?

 

[crashz]

clinter36,

Could give us some details of tyour machine? I assume its a Grand L with shuttle shift. What was the symtoms? Curious to know what happened and what could have caused the clutch damage.

Thanks!

Nevermind - I found the other thread you had started along with your research. Great job!

 

[clinter36]

There is a fairly long writeup in the Ever Clutch Follow up post that started this whole adventure. But the basic story is that the tractor is a L4850 with the Ever Clutch - wet clutch. The clutch was dragging ....not coming completely out of reverse.

I am completely guessing here, but the previous owner primarily used the backhoe. He re-built a 1700s farm house including rebuilding the foundation, and rebuilding the main post and beam structure. There is a chain hook welded on to the backhoe bucket and I am sure that it moved its share of beams back into the house. What I am saying is that I think the machine spent a fair amount of time in reverse, and it was probably inched up a hill loading material into the house or crawling up the hill to dig rocks out. The clutch peddle was probably slipped a lot which created too much heat for this system.

Im not positive, but I believe the clutch discs are made from sintered bronze. Here is an interesting link machining sintered bronze

I measured the best looking clutch plate of the group which measured .104 thick. The worst portion of the worst plate - and this was only a small area near the outside of the plate measures .097. Factory spec for the clutch discs are .098 to .106. I could probalby resuse all of the clutch plates and get years of service out of the tractor, but since I have come this far, they will get replaced. The metal plates mesure .069 for the worst to .071. which is interesting because the spec is .061 to .065

There is a pic or the best plate on the right next to the worst plate on the left.

 

[dstig1]

I wonder if that extra thickness is from metal transfer from the clutch discs? Did you mic them or use calipers?

-Dave

 

[clinter36]

I just used calipers to .001". There may be a couple of reasons for the thicker metal discs. The heat could have changed the metal - crystallized it and it grew a little. There could be micro warpage that does not let the caliper sit flat to the metal. Or, there could be some excess bronze particles from the clutch discs.

As a side note, purchasing the parts for this thing has been a nightmare. There are serial number breaks and the parts diagram has conflicting information. I think I have the correct parts on order, but its hard to tell for sure.