What to do about Stuck Slip Clutch

[TractorGuy]

Remove the shaft from the mower, take the bolts out of the clutch, hit flange with a hammer. It will fall apart. Then clean and sand all the parts, put it back together, and adjust.

I would NEVER loosen slip clutch bolts and run it on my tractor to try and spin it.

 

[TractorTenderfoot]

I loosened the bolts, marked the slip clutch plates and mowed heavy pasture grass with it in increments.
In Hawaii a high-protein, fast growing grass was introduced for cattle. It can grow to ten feet. The botanical name is Megathyrsus maximus, which tells it all even if you don’t speak Latin. Sounds like a Marvel Comic hero.
Back to the point.
During the test, the mower frequently slowed and I then lifted it until it resumed full PTO-rated RPM and again slowly increased the mowing load. The tractor engine stayed steady at 2600 RPM during the mower-slow events. After several cycles of what seemed likely to be a properly functioning slip clutch, I shut it down and found the slip clutch plates were still lined up, much to my surprise. The mower slip clutch was still stuck.
My neighbor, a veteran of this forum, thought it possible that my JD 2032R tractor’s PTO had its own slip clutch that was absorbing the energy, which turned out to be the case.
I will now disassemble the mower slip clutch to see if it’s serviceable or if I need to replace the plates.
I think I dodged a bullet by being saved from potential damage by the PTO slip clutch.

 

[chinawall]

If my land is essentially rock free, etc, do I really need a slip clutch?

 

[JethroB]

On my tiller I loosen the clutch bolts then jam a 2x4 into the tines & fire it up. Spring maintenance. Occaaionally there is a bang & a nearly cut 2x4. Sometimes it just slips with no effort. Tighten it back up to spec & use it the rest of the season.

It’s the “re-tighten back to spec” that baffles me. Especially with that horizontal bell shaped safety shield in the way.

 

[Fallon]

If my land is essentially rock free, etc, do I really need a slip clutch?

What happens if you find a buried root, wire, chain, etc.? A hard spot in the ground? Something needs to slip, or break. Hopefully it would be the PTO shaft, but it could be really expensive PTO parts inside your tractor, or the gearbox on your impliment that grenades to relieve stress. You could get lucky & just stsll the tractor. But I wouldn't want to count on that. If it's the PTO shaft that breaks it probably starts flailing about thrashing the back of your tractor.

A slip clutch, sheer bolts or belts are critical safety devices toy shouldn't let get into non-working conditions.

 

[Fallon]

It’s the “re-tighten back to spec” that baffles me. Especially with that horizontal bell shaped safety shield in the way.

It's a bit fiddly even if you know what you are doing. I leave the back panel on the toplink tower on my tiller off permanent so I can easily get to the clutch bolts. I think I trimmed the plastic bell shorter (possibly unintentionally) a while back for easier access to the grease zerk & clutch bolts. Not ideal but I make sure nothing is within 6' of a PTO impliment if the tractor is running, regardless of the PTO spinning or not.


I forget the spring height I'm supposed to tighten to offhand. But there are many times I haven't gotten it tight enough. Even with a cab, you start smelling it pretty quick. Let it cool down, then tighten it up a but more. I often dump water on there to cool it quicker & prevent heat creeping up the shaft to gearbox seals. That's probably pretty hard on things though.

 

[TractorTenderfoot]

I loosened the bolts, marked the slip clutch plates and mowed heavy pasture grass with it in increments.
In Hawaii a high-protein, fast growing grass was introduced for cattle. It can grow to ten feet. The botanical name is Megathyrsus maximus, which tells it all even if you don’t speak Latin. Sounds like a Marvel Comic hero.
Back to the point.
During the test, the mower frequently slowed and I then lifted it until it resumed full PTO-rated RPM and again slowly increased the mowing load. The tractor engine stayed steady at 2600 RPM during the mower-slow events. After several cycles of what seemed likely to be a properly functioning slip clutch, I shut it down and found the slip clutch plates were still lined up, much to my surprise. The mower slip clutch was still stuck.
My neighbor, a veteran of this forum, thought it possible that my JD 2032R tractor’s PTO had its own slip clutch that was absorbing the energy, which turned out to be the case.
I will now disassemble the mower slip clutch to see if it’s serviceable or if I need to replace the plates.
I think I dodged a bullet by being saved from potential damage by the PTO slip clutch.

After disassembling the slip clutch, all the parts were in good shape. I cleaned it up, reassembled it and made another rookie error when tightening the bolts that set the gap between the belleville spring and the clutch plate. For my Frontier RC2060, that gap is supposed to be 4mm. Not wanting to risk the gear box or other drive chain components, I was generous on the gap, leaving about 6mm, which was a mistake. The clutch slipped when encountering minor obstacles, like small grass mounds. One root that should have been severed by the rotary cutter caused the clutch to slip and smoke ominously. I shut it down, checked the clutch, and had dodged another bullet. It was not damaged. I have now set the gap to 4mm and the clutch slips properly when encountering a serious obstacle, but not a minor one.

 

[ROUSTABOUT]

We always run a couple of beads on them and dont have slip clutch problems. Yes I cut heavy stuff that has the front of tractor up at 45° angle riding trees down. Still using the same tractor and cutter since 1994.

 

[chinawall]

Land Pride has a short video on YouTube.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

Remove the shaft from the mower, take the bolts out of the clutch, hit flange with a hammer. It will fall apart. Then clean and sand all the parts, put it back together, and adjust.

I would NEVER loosen slip clutch bolts and run it on my tractor to try and spin it.

I would NEVER beat on the flange of any of my slip clutches with a hammer!

As for adjusting them, you have to adjust the clutch to the hp of the tractor it's being run on, not set to some spec. in the manual.

How does your manual know the hp of your tractor?

SR