MF 271 Clutch

[purplewg]

Long story shorter. Lol
Lost the clutch on my 2000 MF 271 in early 2018. Called a Kubota dealer and they said they service all brands. I take it to them and they replace the whole clutch assembly after a month or so. I bring it home and within 3 hours I can稚 engage the PTO (two stage clutch). Dealer says bring it back. I do and they say I was riding the clutch. I tell them I have been running tractors for over 50 years and never burned out a clutch. They finally agree to replace it AGAIN if I pay for parts. Reluctantly I agree.

I get it back about 2 months later and it sits in the barn till I can cut hay. I only use this tractor to run my big Kuhn hay mower. I finally get in the field and all is well till I disengage the PTO and try to reengage it. Grinds but I finally get it into gear and finish that cut. I contact the dealer through their web site and tell them about it but never get a response. A month or so later I go to cut hay and the PTO does not want to engage but somehow I get it in gear. Run about 3 hours and I can longer engage the PTO. Now I out over $4000 for the two clutches they put in and I have a very good tractor with no PTO.

First clutch repair worked about 3 hours. Second clutch repair lasted about 4. They replaced the whole assembly both times even though I told them they had it adjusted wrong and I felt the clutch disk was the only thing needed replacing due to 3 hours on the pressure plate but??.
So, I am wondering, is there any kind of clutch adjust I can make from the inspection hole that might help or do I need to split it and replace it again?
As much as I hate to I guess I will have to do the next replacement myself.

Thanks for any help

 

[jimmyhouser]

Long story shorter. Lol
Lost the clutch on my 2000 MF 271 in early 2018. Called a Kubota dealer and they said they service all brands. I take it to them and they replace the whole clutch assembly after a month or so. I bring it home and within 3 hours I can稚 engage the PTO (two stage clutch). Dealer says bring it back. I do and they say I was riding the clutch. I tell them I have been running tractors for over 50 years and never burned out a clutch. They finally agree to replace it AGAIN if I pay for parts. Reluctantly I agree.

I get it back about 2 months later and it sits in the barn till I can cut hay. I only use this tractor to run my big Kuhn hay mower. I finally get in the field and all is well till I disengage the PTO and try to reengage it. Grinds but I finally get it into gear and finish that cut. I contact the dealer through their web site and tell them about it but never get a response. A month or so later I go to cut hay and the PTO does not want to engage but somehow I get it in gear. Run about 3 hours and I can longer engage the PTO. Now I out over $4000 for the two clutches they put in and I have a very good tractor with no PTO.

First clutch repair worked about 3 hours. Second clutch repair lasted about 4. They replaced the whole assembly both times even though I told them they had it adjusted wrong and I felt the clutch disk was the only thing needed replacing due to 3 hours on the pressure plate but??.
So, I am wondering, is there any kind of clutch adjust I can make from the inspection hole that might help or do I need to split it and replace it again?
As much as I hate to I guess I will have to do the next replacement myself.

Thanks for any help

If it's a dual stage without independent PTO, check the clutch rod adjustment where it goes into the housing. Loosen the bolt, put a punch in there and adjust the free play where you have about an inch of free travel. Make sure that bolt is TIGHT!!

If you can't adjust the free play out, this model has a continuous running release bearing. Adjust it to spec height from the floorboard, then adjust the little bolts on the outside of the clutch pack to approximately .075" gap evenly on all of them.

Hard to do this if you have a loader, this part must be done under the tractor. There are three of these bolt/jamnuts on that pack. You will need a healthy prybar to rotate the flywheel for access to all of them.

 

[purplewg]

If it's a dual stage without independent PTO, check the clutch rod adjustment where it goes into the housing. Loosen the bolt, put a punch in there and adjust the free play where you have about an inch of free travel. Make sure that bolt is TIGHT!!

If you can't adjust the free play out, this model has a continuous running release bearing. Adjust it to spec height from the floorboard, then adjust the little bolts on the outside of the clutch pack to approximately .075" gap evenly on all of them.

Hard to do this if you have a loader, this part must be done under the tractor. There are three of these bolt/jamnuts on that pack. You will need a healthy prybar to rotate the flywheel for access to all of them.

Thanks Jimmy. Not sure why I am not getting notifications for responses. Checked my profile. Anyway, yeah I have a loader but I can remove the cross support and get to the inspection hole. I will sure give it a try when I can get to it. Thanks

 

[purplewg]

I know it has been a while but wanted to do an update. After the second failure I had to resort to the old interweb and started blasting the dealer as I had called and never got a return call. They didn't like my comments on the web so they contacted me. I called and spoke to one of the owners. He asked what they could do. I said fix my tractor. He said bring it over. I did. Two and half months later I finally got it back. They said they ran it on a PTO dyno for 4 hours and all worked ok (after another clutch change). I brought it home, hooked up a tiller, ran it for 4 hours and now it will not go back into PTO. Just grinds. I called them and they had the field service guy in the area and he stopped. Wasn't happy. lol He worked on adjustments for about an hour and started scratching his head. He said he can spin the PTO clutch with a screw driver so it should be free and not grind. I noticed the pto shaft is VERY hard to turn even with the pto disengaged (it wasn't with the factory clutch in it). I know the lift arms run off of hydraulics on the PTO side as when I depress the clutch pedal all the way down the lift arms do not move until I let up on the clutch a little. My other Massey is the same way so I assume that is normal. Now, I am wondering if something in the hydraulics is causing this condition. I don't have an internal parts break down so I am sort of guessing at how stuff works in there.

The service guy left scratching his head and said they had bought a service manual for this tractor so he was going to go study it and my suggestion as to the hydraulics being involved somehow. This service guy put the last clutch in so he is very familiar with it now.

 

[DLTTrekkers]

Did they replace both the rearmainseal and the gearboxinputseals ? Oil on clutchdiscs ?

 

[purplewg]

Did they replace both the rearmainseal and the gearboxinputseals ? Oil on clutchdiscs ?

No the clutch housing is dry as a bone. No leaks. I did study the parts break down and it clearly shows the hydraulic pump running off of the PTO clutch shaft so the hydraulics is not involved either. The servie manual says if the PTO spins with the clutch fully depressed, the PTO clutch is not releasing. 3rd clutch assembly. Maybe they need to put an OEM part in it.

 

[DLTTrekkers]

Next Q ! Is the clutch a dualstage clutch or a IPTO
?

 

[purplewg]

Next Q ! Is the clutch a dualstage clutch or a IPTO
?

Sorry it took so long to reply. Tractor still not working but I have had other things needing done. It IS a dualstage clutch.

I got a chance to look at it yesterday (dealer still hasn't called back on their next move) and I did what jimmyhouser had recommended. "If it's a dual stage without independent PTO, check the clutch rod adjustment where it goes into the housing. Loosen the bolt, put a punch in there and adjust the free play where you have about an inch of free travel. Make sure that bolt is TIGHT!!

If you can't adjust the free play out, this model has a continuous running release bearing. Adjust it to spec height from the floorboard, then adjust the little bolts on the outside of the clutch pack to approximately .075" gap evenly on all of them."

My clutch rod going into the housing does not have a place to put a punch but does have sort of a square on the outside. I put a big cresent wrench on it, loosened the pinch bolt and adjusted the pedal height BUT just the weight of the clutch pedal assembly pushes the release bearing right up against the bolts on the outside of the clutch pack. It seems there is no way to get that .075 inch gap as the clutch pedal weight just rests on the release bearing pushing it in against the adjustment bolts. I would have sworn I say a gap there before the last clutch swap. What stops the release bearing to you can make that adjustment?

Free play? lol yeah this clutch pedal assembly will swing right up to your chin almost. lol About 4 inches of free play. My other smaller 451 Massey has a similar setup but it has about an inch of free play only.

Man I have never run into something like this before and apparently neither has the dealer.

 

[purplewg]

Just another update. It went back to the dealer in Mid April. I made them come get it this time. I received an email from them yesterday stating they had ordered an OEM clutch, flywheel, and input shaft. They said they had consulted with several Massey reps and this what they recommended. I am in the wait period again with hay season about to start. I told them if they want they deliver it, I will put a hay mower on it and they can run it just to rule me out. lol I might have a bit of experience since I have ran tractors of all kinds for over 55 years. lol