It was probably a combo of several uses. I had one large SYP tree that I had to fall down hill and was asking the tractor to make a very hard pull on that tree required some serious efforts. Another was when using the bucket on the edge of a woods road digging soil for fill material I got pretty aggressive and noticed the clutch friction lining smelling. I was only using the buckets edge to catch maybe 10-12" of mostly loose weather material then gradually would gather enough to fill the bucket for a trip to a nearby build site. Not unusual use really.
In neither instance did I feel like I was being abusive to the tractor at all, just hard work IMO. My main uses are maintaining a 1/2 mile steep private road using a Landpride box scraper, a small pasture I bushog annually, garden prep and around my self-use only WM sawmill logs and lumber and skidding logs for my own use.
I bought it @ 120 hours from a non-farmer Highway Patrolman in KS who maintained a short driveway and some light construction use such as the large pole building it was stored in to prep the concrete pad, etc.. The guy waxed and babied it as it were. I also store it inside and as a retired pro mechanic ex-auto tech shop teacher, helo mech, late a motor pool mechanic and industrial and car and MC mechanic I'm very good to my machines.
The clutch on this Kioti is highly generic and crosses over into many, many brands in that size clutch assy. The guy I chose to replace mine is a 74 yr old retired lifetime JD mechanic and the do custom work in his shop such as huge supercharged competition tractors, injection pumps, many large 100hp+ farm tractors around there-so on.
He had a camshaft in his lather when I was last there-serious mechanic. He put back in my Kioti a clutch disc with friction pads vs. a circular friction disc. He says they are far better friction wise and longer service life. He also never uses rebuilt clutch parts as he's seen too many early failures, etc.. There are clutch parts assemblies on ebay for ~ $100, Chinese at that. These were pricey USA parts from sources he has used for years.
I expect a parts mark-up to retail and him to profit when I ask for a turn-key job as this was.
I was charged $900 labor for clutch replacement which included a fluid service engine oil & hydraulic-I had the filters & oil. This tractor requires hood and fuel tank removal so even more work than some.
When I moved the tractor from a school parking lot where we off loaded it, the change in clutch function was noticed immediately from even when I bought it at 120 hours! This new clutch is far stiffer pressure on the pedal! It also bites firmly but it's new of course. A huge difference and no softness whatsoever. It always pulled well before until it didn't. The old friction disc was badly burned and had worn to the rivets. The pressure plate was all intact but center springs were weak. Current hours are @ 365- maybe a bit more than I'd stated previous, so I've put 225 hours on it since 2017 when I bought it in KS.
yanmars: How long do you say a clutch should last on a 38hp utility tractor?
In neither instance did I feel like I was being abusive to the tractor at all, just hard work IMO. My main uses are maintaining a 1/2 mile steep private road using a Landpride box scraper, a small pasture I bushog annually, garden prep and around my self-use only WM sawmill logs and lumber and skidding logs for my own use.
I bought it @ 120 hours from a non-farmer Highway Patrolman in KS who maintained a short driveway and some light construction use such as the large pole building it was stored in to prep the concrete pad, etc.. The guy waxed and babied it as it were. I also store it inside and as a retired pro mechanic ex-auto tech shop teacher, helo mech, late a motor pool mechanic and industrial and car and MC mechanic I'm very good to my machines.
The clutch on this Kioti is highly generic and crosses over into many, many brands in that size clutch assy. The guy I chose to replace mine is a 74 yr old retired lifetime JD mechanic and the do custom work in his shop such as huge supercharged competition tractors, injection pumps, many large 100hp+ farm tractors around there-so on.
He had a camshaft in his lather when I was last there-serious mechanic. He put back in my Kioti a clutch disc with friction pads vs. a circular friction disc. He says they are far better friction wise and longer service life. He also never uses rebuilt clutch parts as he's seen too many early failures, etc.. There are clutch parts assemblies on ebay for ~ $100, Chinese at that. These were pricey USA parts from sources he has used for years.
I expect a parts mark-up to retail and him to profit when I ask for a turn-key job as this was.
I was charged $900 labor for clutch replacement which included a fluid service engine oil & hydraulic-I had the filters & oil. This tractor requires hood and fuel tank removal so even more work than some.
When I moved the tractor from a school parking lot where we off loaded it, the change in clutch function was noticed immediately from even when I bought it at 120 hours! This new clutch is far stiffer pressure on the pedal! It also bites firmly but it's new of course. A huge difference and no softness whatsoever. It always pulled well before until it didn't. The old friction disc was badly burned and had worn to the rivets. The pressure plate was all intact but center springs were weak. Current hours are @ 365- maybe a bit more than I'd stated previous, so I've put 225 hours on it since 2017 when I bought it in KS.
yanmars: How long do you say a clutch should last on a 38hp utility tractor?
Last edited:
