Tiller Slip Clutch: is it working to protect my L2501?

[cmcramer]

I "conditioned" the slip clutch on a year old LandPride tiller just as the manual says to: loosened the eight spring-bolts holding the friction discs tight, engaged the tiller to see if they 'slip' and are not corroded together, re-tightened the spring bolts. My question is: how can I tell if the slip clutch is 'slipping' as I am tilling along? If a rock or something is jammed in the tines..... Will I hear the load on the engine lighten? Will I smell 'burning' as the friction discs slip on each other? Will I hear squealing? Feel the load on the entire tractor change?

If I understand the slip clutch operation properly....it ought to prevent the engine from stalling if tiller is hung up on a rock: true? Can engine stall out anyway, even with a properly operating slip clutch?

Thanks for the help to a beginner !

 

[amigauser]

Old thread on topic here
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/314067-how-can-you-tell-if-2.html

 

[JWR]

I "conditioned" the slip clutch on a year old LandPride tiller just as the manual says to: loosened the eight spring-bolts holding the friction discs tight, engaged the tiller to see if they 'slip' and are not corroded together, re-tightened the spring bolts. My question is: how can I tell if the slip clutch is 'slipping' as I am tilling along? If a rock or something is jammed in the tines..... Will I hear the load on the engine lighten? Will I smell 'burning' as the friction discs slip on each other? Will I hear squealing? Feel the load on the entire tractor change?

If I understand the slip clutch operation properly....it ought to prevent the engine from stalling if tiller is hung up on a rock: true? Can engine stall out anyway, even with a properly operating slip clutch?

Thanks for the help to a beginner !

Not really. The purpose of the clutch is not to prevent engine stalling. The slip clutch on the tiller will protect several things when you hit a big root or rock. You are unlikely to see the engine stall when you hit something. With no slip clutch or shear pin you stand a nasty chance of breaking something -- the tiller drive, the U-joints, the PTO on the tractor, related gears, etc. Stalling the tractor is the least of your worries ! The slip clutch will not be slipping until/unless you hit something (though quite often you will hear a "squeek" when you engage the PTO which is the sudden application of power causing a momentary slip.) No, it is not constantly slipping as you go along tilling. If it were you need to tighten the slip clutch. In my experience with a 24hp Kubota driving a tiller by far the most likely thing you will hit is roots big enough to shear a shear pin or cause slip in a slip clutch. A smaller root will result in momentary slippage, a large root will halt the whole thing with squeeking while slipping AND bogging down the engine. In my experience with a correctly set slip clutch (and you have set it right per the Landpride instructions) you will almost never run for more than just a moment with squeeking or slippage. If you do, it is time to quickly shut of the PTO and back off of the offending object be it a root, rock or whatever.

 

[carmedic310]

If something gets caught in the tines and actually stops them the slip clutch will smoke.Shut PTO off as soon as you can.Smoking slip clutch means you are overheating the friction material.If You hit something when tilling and it doesn't get hung up in the tiller the slip clutch will slip just untill the load clears you wont usually even notice it

 

[JRobyn]

^^ Agree. There will almost always be either noise, or smoke, or smell. Often all three. Depends on exactly what kind of contaminants may be on the clutch plates and their condition.

Although, that said, my wife one time bushogged for about 2-3 hours with the hog clutch set WAY too loose and slipping like crazy. She did not notice anything, but the hog sounded slightly "off" to me from across the field, and when she circled around and I checked it, it was SMOKING hot.

Let it cool and snugged it up. Still haven't replaced those plates and it is still working fine despite the abuse.