Drive Line Pproblem

[bill18163]

My neighbor has a 26 HP Cub Cadet 7260 manual trans 4x4. A few days ago he was running it out behind his pole barn not doing anything strenuous. Just driving slow and moving along. He said he heard a "bang" somewhat below his feet in that area and the tractor stopped. It will not start. When starting it will clunk and not turn over. It's acting like the drive line is frozen. He thinks it's the clutch but I would rather diagnose it to be sure. How would you go about figuring out what is wrong with it? I towed it to his garage so we can work on it and it rolled right along just fine but I didn't ask him if he took it out of gear or not and I don't know if that would make a difference. I'm looking for a way to figure out what's wrong.

 

[Roadworthy]

I'd start by figuring why the engine won't start. You say it will crank but not turn over. Does that mean you can energize the starter which rotates the engine but it won't start? If that's the case it sounds like at least two things wrong.

 

[bill18163]

No it doesn't crank at all. It is not turning over. When you turn the key to start it the starter engages but can't turn the engine over.

 

[CobyRupert]

When he heard bang and tractor stopped, I assume you mean the engine quit? Not just tires stopped turning, right?

If you rolled it to the garage, the transmission (clutch, driveline, etc..) is able to disengage from the motor and shouldn’t prevent the motor from turning over.
Does motor oil look ok?
Is there a crankshaft bolt on the front of the engine you can get a wrench on to see if the engine turns. Sounds like it doesn’t want to.
Maybe time to drain the motor oil and see if there’s any signs of metal or shavings that were liberated with the bang.
Hopefully not, but sounds like the engine might be seized when internals went bang.

 

[dodge man]

Do a search on this forum, a couple of people with past issues may help. A couple of posts make it sound like it could be a serious problem.

 

[bill18163]

We got it to turn over today. It cranks but not a full fledged crank. It's like the engine is having a hard time turning over. Also, when it is cranking you can hear a clunk now and then that seams to be coming from the clutch area. The clutch pedal has a tremendous amount of free play. Like maybe 6" and there is no adjustment left in the adjusting rod. I didn't measure it. My thoughts. When you push in the clutch pedal there is resistance all the way till the pedal bottoms out. What I mean is that when you engage a clutch it will reach a center point with resistance all the way to that center point and after reaching center it will get a little easier to push as the clutch disengages. This clutch has resistance all the way to when the clutch pedal bottoms out on the tractor frame. You can't push it in any further and there is no more adjustment on the rod. I am thinking that the clutch may be worn out and when you try to start the engine there may be some friction there but not full engagement because the tractor doesn't jump forward when you try to start it. We never did get the engine started. It turns over but doesn't start. But it doesn't turn over normally. Also, there is a clunk at times from the clutch area when cranking.

 

[Kernopelli]

It appears that there is a clutch inspection cover on the bottom left of the trans case. Open it up and see what you can find. If you have to split the tractor, do not fret. I have split several similar size Mitsubishi made tractors by myself and it is a breeze. My best advice is to get it on a hard surface so you can roll the front away from the rear. Two guys can remove the loader, subframe, split the machine, put a new clutch in and have it back together on a Saturday.

 

[bill18163]

We did split the tractor and found all kinds of problems. One of the three throw out bearing levers had an adjustment height bolt gone. It had fallen down into the housing. So only two throw out bearing fingers were working. The internal gear teeth of the first clutch were all worn bad. The second clutch was in good shape. We replaced the throw out bearing. We had to take the flywheel off because the flat plate on the back of the engine was very loose. It's retaining bolts heads were all worn down from rubbing on the back of the flywheel. We replaced engine rear seal. We safety wired all of those rear bolts when we put it back together. Anyway, it's back together but now we can't get it started but that's another problem I have mentioned in another post that I started today.