Frequency for slipping a clutch a rotary cutter, tiller, etc.

[devodad]

Just wondering how often you guys slip the clutch on your equipment. Is this an annual necessity or is it ok to go longer

 

[5030]

I slip all mine at the start of the season, every year.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's ok to go longer. Mainly because I have no idea what "slip the clutch a rotary tiller, cutter, etc." means. .

Please help me understand what you mean by "slipping the clutch". I can't believe that I'm the only one confused by this question. Apparently, I'm the only one dumb enough to ask . . .

Thanks!

 

[CH4Ohio]

I slip all mine at the start of the season, every year.

Ohhhhh. You mean manually defeating the friction clutches on each piece of equipment using a pry bar? Sorry. I didn't get the meaning.

I have to admit that I'm seriously delinquent in my maintenance program. The only time I've ever done that is when I was replacing the friction discs and adjusting the spring tension. I didn't realize it was required as a maintenance item.

 

[DK35vince]

I slip mine the beginning of each season, they sit under a roof.
If out in the weather, more often may be needed.

 

[5030]

Ohhhhh. You mean manually defeating the friction clutches on each piece of equipment using a pry bar? Sorry. I didn't get the meaning.

I have to admit that I'm seriously delinquent in my maintenance program. The only time I've ever done that is when I was replacing the friction discs and adjusting the spring tension. I didn't realize it was required as a maintenance item.

it is if you read the instructions that come with the clutch pack. The only one I don't slip is the enclosed one on my disc mower as it's almost totally enclosed.

I'll back off the spring pressure, spin them and retorque the clamp springs.

 

[CH4Ohio]

Wow. I think I've missed the boat on this, but on the other hand, it gives me chills to think about loosening the clutch springs on my hay baler and messing around with it when its working properly. Never mess with a baler that's working properly.

I've never "slipped the clutch" on my haybines, balers, tedders, tillers, bush hogs, flail mower, rakes, etc. Never had a failure due to it being locked up. Was I just lucky?

I'm honestly asking. I don't know. Just didn't realize this was something that I needed to do . . . Any advice?

And just to clarify, I've seen it mentioned in the manuals about checking the clutch by using a pry bar to "slip" it. I've not ever seen any requirement to annually loosen all the springs and move it and then reassemble and check for correct tension. Again, please help me understand exactly what we're talking about here.

Sincerely . . . Thanks.

 

[5030]

I loosen mine to make it easier to slip (shorter bar). You get a frozen slip clutch and wad something up in say your square baler, you'll wish you slipped it. Only implement I own without is my NH round baler. Slip (friction) clutches are there for a reason and that reason is to mitigate equipment damage should an event happen that locks the driveline. Protects your pto from excessive shock loads too.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I loosen mine to make it easier to slip (shorter bar). You get a frozen slip clutch and wad something up in say your square baler, you'll wish you slipped it. Only implement I own without is my NH round baler. Slip (friction) clutches are there for a reason and that reason is to mitigate equipment damage should an event happen that locks the driveline. Protects your pto from excessive shock loads too.

That makes sense. Thanks. I just thought that properly adjusted, those clutches "slipped" a little during normal operation so thy wouldn't be frozen in position. You guys have me rethinking that now.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[LouNY]

I had to replace a fairly expensive 100 hp rated pto shaft because the pto slip clutch didn't give,
spiraled that pto drive shaft and yanked it off the tractors pto breaking the pto coupling in the process.
We got lucky as there didn't seem to be any damage to the tractors pto system. It's been two years and it still works good.
After that we do go through and check all the dry disc style, we loosen the bolts, mark the disks and plates then engage the pto
and disengage and check that tha marks have moved if not put a load on it till it does slip and squeal or smoke then retighten and go to work.

 

[nybirdman]

Slip clutch maintenance is done every spring on my equiptment;only takes a few minutes and could save some big expenses.

 

[devodad]

Ok. Thanks guys. Sounds like it’s an annual event

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's ok to go longer. Mainly because I have no idea what "slip the clutch a rotary tiller, cutter, etc." means. .

Please help me understand what you mean by "slipping the clutch". I can't believe that I'm the only one confused by this question. Apparently, I'm the only one dumb enough to ask . . .

Thanks!

Ok, I went on YouTube and found a bunch of videos about slipping a slip clutch on equipment. No pry bars used.

 

[DieselBound]

Two reasons for checking:

1) Clutch wear- adjust springs to compensate for clutch wear (if lots of stressing happens the clutch will be slipping just as it's supposed to do, but that means it'll wear a bit of clutch material [less measurably the surface it compresses against]);
2) Clutch disk and surface will tend to weld themselves together if sitting through a lot of heating and cooling cycles and being exposed to moisture- I've had to take them apart and clean them up (I'm now thinking about removing all my shafts and storing them inside when out of season).

As has been stated, generally at the start of a season is when you want to do the operational check.

 

[oosik]

Hey - I'm on the other side. One PTO implement - Wally BX62S. It has a shear pin. I've sheared it a couple times - so I know it works OK.

 

[DieselBound]

Hey - I'm on the other side. One PTO implement - Wally BX62S. It has a shear pin. I've sheared it a couple times - so I know it works OK.

Yeah, every time I have to mess with the slip clutch on my NX's BH I miss the shear pin on my B7800's BH. But, during operation the NX's BH gets serious work and I know that that slip clutch is (mostly) silently breaking and reinstalling "shear pins"

 

[Poopdeck Pappy]

I slip all mine at the start of the season, every year.

Same here. I figure they've sat all winter and are bonded to each other. So I loosen up the springs, make a mark across the slip clutch with a white marker and engage the PTO at idle. Once they slip (as shown by the mark), I tighten the springs back up to specs and figure I'm good to go until next season.

 

[mo1]

The equipment manual should have that information inside, or if the slip clutch is actually part of the PTO shaft, then the PTO shaft manual should say how often the clutch should be slipped. The manual on my rotary cutter says to slip the clutch by loosening the bolts to relieve clutch pressure and then engage the PTO to slip the clutch every 6 months if it hasn't otherwise slipped in the previous 6 months, "more often" if it is stored in a humid area.