JM 284 Think my clutch needs adjusting? ?

[chris85]

Chris,

You said, "I clamped down the clutch pedal and adjusted the fingers until I could see the inside disc stop moving (sorry not sure what this part is called)."

I have never heard of adjusting the clutch pack with the clutch pedal depressed and I'm not at all sure you can even get a rational adjustment with the clutch pack under tension like that. Greg might know more about this, but it seems wrong to me.

No question, it is wrong; I am really at the end of my rope with this. I did the original clutch adjustment as outlined in the owner's manual and with the assist of the very helpful folks here to no avail.

If I take this from the top it began with the gears beginning to grind all of a sudden, (the clutch was not doing anything). After inspection of the pedal and linkage I found a broken bolt where a roll pin should have been securing the clutch arm to the shaft that controls the fork.
After replacing the bolt with the proper pin the shaft did not seem to be moving. After dropping the FEL I was able to see that there was slight movement but only enough to make up the gap between the release bearing and the fingers, I am convinced this is where the trouble lies. The shaft and the fork barley move and while I have nothing to compare it too I have to think that it should in order to compress the fingers and engage the clutch.

 

[greg_g]

I doubt worn friction discs are responsible for gear grinding. There's only about 9mm of friction material to wear down before you start hearing rivets scream. And that 1.2mm spec I identified above is supposed to take up the slack for worn main drive discs anyway. It's either an adjustment still out of spec, or a mechanical failure you've not yet identified. So if everything we've pointed to you LOOKS and/or measures to be within spec, the problem would seem then to be something you CAN'T see. That has me going right back to the clutch fork roll pin(s). Unfortunately, inspecting and/or replacing them means splitting the tractor.

Grinding while trying to to get a tranny INTO gear is usually due to incomplete clutch release. That is usually due to incomplete clutch travel. And bad roll pins and/or incorrectly adjusted stop bolt affect clutch travel. Make sure also that there are no bent pedals, rods, levers as well - as that sort of damage will shorten travel as well.

//greg//

 

[erj]

I would do everything possible to be absolutely sure that the problem is not in that outer pin area - especially if someone had a bolt in there.
Look back at Rich's suggestions for marking, etc. You should be able to scribe a line across the shaft and clutch arm. When the clutch is engaged, etc this line should continue to be straight.
If not, fixing that is easier than splitting tractor.
RonJ

 

[chris85]

So, I took all of the advice given to me here and some from a couple other sources and let me thank you all.
I was this close to splitting the tractor fully believing the fork pins broke and that was binding up the whole works. When a very helpful and knowledgeable person said "I would bet anything that shaft the fork rides on is just rusted and froze up". So I got the "Blaster" out and my torch and began soaking the ends down letting it sit then adding heat and then more penetrating oil and some movement of the shaft began. After 24 hours of this I have regained full motion of the fork so I went back in and adjusted the clutch properly. All is working fine now.
So I guess my lesson here is when hearing hoof beats I should consider it could be zebra's.

Thanks again for all the help and suggestions.:cool2:

 

[greg_g]

Well now I'm confused. Given all the times you mentioned/indicated/suggested seeing stuff moving inside, how would that even be possible if the release arm shaft was frozen? I'd have thought that such a glaring fault would have stuck out like a sore thumb back on page one (?)

That's just downright aggravating (!)

//greg//

 

[EE_Bota]

Well now I'm confused. Given all the times you mentioned/indicated/suggested seeing stuff moving inside, how would that even be possible if the release arm shaft was frozen? I'd have thought that such a glaring fault would have stuck out like a sore thumb back on page one (?)

That's just downright aggravating (!)

//greg//

I just reread the entire thread, and I am confused too.
I would have thought that once the broken bolt was replaced with proper pins, if the main shaft was frozen, the clutch petal would not move.

At least the OP has a working clutch again, and that's good. The advice given is good advice, so that's good too.