John Deere 301a only goes backwards

[Harry in Ky]

The two parts in your photo. One appears to be the front portion of the forward clutch pack assembly. Yes/no? The cover next to it fits over the shaft and the seal in the cover rides on the shaft back near the point where the shaft and flange/housing meet. Correct? If that's the case, then where does the splined end of that shaft with the pilot stub go? Seems to me there must be excessive room for that shaft to move in that direction.

The bushings where the sealing rings ride are replaceable. I have a book covering a 2440 with reverser transmission and it shows the bushings, showing the I.D. of the bushing for the forward clutch to be 2.130 to 2.133 inches. Its says bushings are replaceable, but offers no specifics about special tool, adapters, or machine work required.

 

[somanytractors]

The two parts in your photo. One appears to be the front portion of the forward clutch pack assembly. Yes/no? The cover next to it fits over the shaft and the seal in the cover rides on the shaft back near the point where the shaft and flange/housing meet. Correct? If that's the case, then where does the splined end of that shaft with the pilot stub go? Seems to me there must be excessive room for that shaft to move in that direction.

The bushings where the sealing rings ride are replaceable. I have a book covering a 2440 with reverser transmission and it shows the bushings, showing the I.D. of the bushing for the forward clutch to be 2.130 to 2.133 inches. Its says bushings are replaceable, but offers no specifics about special tool, adapters, or machine work required.

So that one allows for .003 wear. I'm positive this is way past .003
The shaft is the front clutch pack. The end you cant see has the 2 metal rings on it and slides into the housing where the bushing is shot. Then the cover goes on over the end with the spline on it.
The splined end goes into the main clutch on the flyweel.
I really hate to part this thing out. Everything works great other then the reverser and I'm really starting to believe it's just this bushing. I was looking at it yesterday and I can see where the back ring was actually riding past the holes where the oil comes in.
I'm going to call the dealer today and see if maybe I can get that bushing. If so I'll see if I can get it out. I believe if I can get that replaced and put new rings in it it will be fine. The clutches don't look half bad. I can get the cover fixed or make a steel plate to go inside it.
If I cant get it from the dealer I'll try some of the other resources. Wont hurt to leave it sit for a few more days.
If I cant get the bushing and replace it, there's no fixing this. Unfortunately, where I live getting something into the machine shop is a nightmare, probably easier to get a kidney transplant. I do have a lot of different pullers though.
Thanks for your help

 

[somanytractors]

The two parts in your photo. One appears to be the front portion of the forward clutch pack assembly. Yes/no? The cover next to it fits over the shaft and the seal in the cover rides on the shaft back near the point where the shaft and flange/housing meet. Correct? If that's the case, then where does the splined end of that shaft with the pilot stub go? Seems to me there must be excessive room for that shaft to move in that direction.

The bushings where the sealing rings ride are replaceable. I have a book covering a 2440 with reverser transmission and it shows the bushings, showing the I.D. of the bushing for the forward clutch to be 2.130 to 2.133 inches. Its says bushings are replaceable, but offers no specifics about special tool, adapters, or machine work required.

Here's a couple more pics.
This is the backside of the hub that the front clutches are in.

The small part at the end is about 2.3 so maybe it is the same as the other tractor.
The larger part is roughly 3.5. As you can see, it has a large groove. That's where the oil goes through to get inside the hub to work the pressure plate. On each side of that groove is a metal ring to keep the oil in.
Next pic is the housing where this goes.

There's a brass bushing for the smaller part of the shaft (2.3"). It probably needs replaced too, but what's causing the problem is the big insert in front of it where the 2 metal rings ride. It has some pretty deep gouges from the rings and the groove from the back ring is all the way up to the holes where the oil comes through on its way to the groove in the hub. I'm positive this is whats stopping it from working. It's pretty obvious that the oil can escape behind the rear ring. I'm going to call the dealer today and see if I can get that insert. If I cant then there's no saving it. If I can, I'll see if I can get it out.
If so I think I'm looking at the insert, rings, and bushings.
I got my fingers crossed.

 

[Harry in Ky]

Okay, so the splined end of that shaft goes into the clutch. That means it can't go any farther forward than the pilot bearing allows. If the flywheel and pilot bearing are intact, it only leaves the crankshaft being to far forward. I'd be looking at crankshaft end play next. Maybe the problem is crankshaft thrust washers, and not really a transmission issue at all. Yes, there may be some wear in the bushings where the seal rings ride, but that's incidental if the whole assembly moves far enough that the rings don't ride in the bushing.

 

[somanytractors]

Okay, so the splined end of that shaft goes into the clutch. That means it can't go any farther forward than the pilot bearing allows. If the flywheel and pilot bearing are intact, it only leaves the crankshaft being to far forward. I'd be looking at crankshaft end play next. Maybe the problem is crankshaft thrust washers, and not really a transmission issue at all. Yes, there may be some wear in the bushings where the seal rings ride, but that's incidental if the whole assembly moves far enough that the rings don't ride in the bushing.

I finally got to the root of the problem.
I had the grandkids today so I didn't get to check on parts but this morning I moved the reverser out of the way and layed it on its back so I could look at it better. And then I pulled the main clutch and to my surprise it is brand new. So new that the print is still on both sides of it. It looks like it just came out of the box.
The pilot bearing on the other hand is missing the center piece completely. It's not there at all.
I'm guessing the previous owner replaced the clutch disc and didn't replace the pilot bearing, and to make maters worse it must have been shot and the center fell out while they were working on it. It's not here at all, not even bits of metal. It all looks good except that the center is not there.
Now I know why it's in the state it's in. Now I'm comfortable with repairing it.
I'm not even questioning the wear on the other parts so much now. If that pilot bearing was there it wouldn't be able to move far enough to be a problem.
I'm still going to look at the brass bushing in the housing in case it got damaged in all of this, and probably replace the rings too, but the pilot bearing is the root of the problem without question.
As long as I can get the pilot bearing this tractor should see many more years.

 

[chim]

There's a song about this:

 

[Harry in Ky]

No problem getting a pilot bearing. That's readily available from a number of sources. The bushing(s) are more likely Deere only parts. At this point I really doubt you need to replace them. Seal rings, yes, I would always do that. Piston seals as well since you're into it this deep. Bearings, (other than a pilot bearing) plates, discs, ETC, not unless they look really terrible. The scored parts on the forward clutch housing? I see no real problem there. Clean it all up well and put it back with new seals, gaskets, and O rings.

 

[somanytractors]

No problem getting a pilot bearing. That's readily available from a number of sources. The bushing(s) are more likely Deere only parts. At this point I really doubt you need to replace them. Seal rings, yes, I would always do that. Piston seals as well since you're into it this deep. Bearings, (other than a pilot bearing) plates, discs, ETC, not unless they look really terrible. The scored parts on the forward clutch housing? I see no real problem there. Clean it all up well and put it back with new seals, gaskets, and O rings.

The pilot bearing issue.
I pulled the outer race to get measurements to get a new pilot bearing and the center actually was in there. packed in the hole in the crankshaft behind the outer bearing race.
It had to break during assembly. The hole is too small for the shaft.
Turns out there's 2 pilot bearings for the 301a
One has an id of .59 and an od of 1.37
The other has an id of .66 and an od of 1.57
Well this shaft is .66 and the hole in the flywheel is 1.37 so neither bearing fits.
My guess is someone changed the flywheel and put the wrong one on it.
I know the clutch and everything works (other then the reverser) so I ordered the bigger bearing. When it gets here I'm taking the flywheel in to the machine shop and having the hole bored to 1.57 so the bigger bearing will fit correctly.
That should put it back to right.

 

[somanytractors]

I put this back together and it wouldn't move at all. It wasn't fully together but enough to check it out.
I checked the pressure and it had none. While checking I reached over and pulled up on the clutch pedal and there came the pressure.
I learned that on this tractor if you don't put the floor board in and put the spring on that pulls the clutch pedal up the transmission doesn't work.
When you leave the clutch out the main shaft spins and works the pto and hydraulics, but to make the transmission work the pedal needs to come up farther.
It seems fine now. Only drove it a few feet back and forth but it is definitely working. Just have to pull up on the clutch pedal till I put the floor board back in tomorrow.