154 clutch dragging

[A/C guy]

As a temporary fix, I adjusted most all of the free play out of the clutch linkage. With the pedal fully depressed, I get a gap at the top of the clutch of about 30-40 thousand, but there is still enough drag to try and move the tractor forward when starting. I think the transmission is tilted up slightly in the front so that the bottom is still slightly compressed. 2. The clutch pedal bore (where it pivots on the rod supporting the brakes) is worn oblong and moves a little without moving the fingers of the pressure plate.

As soon as mowing is over, I plan to take it apart and check all the transmission mounting bolts and spacers between the transmission and the frame cross brace and shim if necessary to square up with drive line. I'll pull the clutch pedal and have it bored and sleeved to get back to a good fit on the brake pivot shaft.

New clutch brake buttons, new clutch flywheel bushing. Inspect disk, pressure plate and splines on drive shaft. Throw out bearing has about 3000 hrs. on it. I can slide the drive shaft forward enough to disassemble without moving the engine.

Am I missing anything? anything else to check, replace or do?

[BigBill]

The clutch pedal should be fully up, when adjusting the throwout brg and pucks. Throwout brg at .090” clearance from the fingers to the throwout brg. .010” the pucks to the flywheel.

[A/C guy]

Thanks. I'll know more once I'm sure mowing season is over and I can tear it down. I'm thinking the transmission is tilted up in the front causing a gap at the top of the pressure plate/disk and none at the bottom when the clutch pedal is depressed.

[outdoors4evr]

Sounds like a new pressure plate may be in order.

[BigBill]

Warped pressureplate or worn fingers?

[A/C guy]

OK, I finally got everything torn apart. Lots of worn parts. The hole in the clutch pedal where it pivots on the 1" shaft is worn egg shaped. Fortunately it has a removable sleeve. Having a new sleeve machined to fix that. The splines on the clutch disk are almost gone and the splines on the drive shaft are badly worn as is the hole in the front end to the drive shaft. Pressure plate is most likely original and seems to have a lot of slop in the pivot points. The fingers move some distance before the pressure plate itself moves away from the clutch disk. Replacing everything except the transmission flywheel.

The dragging problem was actually caused by extreme wear in the drive shaft splines. There was a wear notch or bump on the splines that kept the clutch disk from floating forward when the pedal was depressed, so it still made contact with the transmission flywheel.

[outdoors4evr]

Sounds like time for a new driveshaft too. HamiltonBobs has wonderful new driveshafts!

[A/C guy]

Drive shaft is on order from Hamilton Bob. Replacing everything except the transmission flywheel.

[A/C guy]

OK, got my care package from Hamilton Bob. The new pressure plate has a set of spacer washers (0.070") that they recommend putting between the pressure plate and flywheel because of thicker clutch disk. The new disk is about 0.020" thicker then the old one (old one probably had 0.020" wear) from about 15 years ago. I'm going to use the spacers unless someone can come up with a good reason not to.

Thanks.

[A/C guy]

Reassembly with the new parts: First I found the clutch brake buttons were about 0.005" bigger the the holes in the holder. Spent two hours sanding to get a nice slip fit. Lightly lubed everything and fit everything into place. Struggled with the pressure plate bolts, but finally got them all started. Torqued up everything and lastly tried to put the 5/15 bolt through the front of the drive shaft. The hole doesn't quite line up with the hole in the drive collar. Ground a taper on a 5/16 bolt, like a drift pin - no go. Rotated the drive shaft 1/2 revolution- didn't help. Am about ready to run a 5/16 drill bit through everything to make it fit like any good redneck.

[brose1958]

Spitballing ideas.... Push the clutch pedal in?
Loosen the driveshaft coupling bolts, install front driveshaft bolt then tighten coupling bolts?

[A/C guy]

No, driveshaft is free floating - can rotate it and move it fore and aft. The problem is that the hole in the new driveshaft appears to be slightly off center. I can line up the holes on one side, but then the holes on the opposite side don't align. Guess I'll call Hamilton Bob in the morning. Hate to think of sending it back, but it may be the best option.

[brose1958]

ok, now I understand the misalignment clearly. I was thinking fore and aft not top to bottom (or side to side). Reaming it out would work, but not the correct answer. Maybe the original shaft hole was wallowed out for a reason? I agree with see what Bob has to say first. I have a new clutch for my 185, but have not started replacing it yet.

[Jim Becker]

Align the two parts as closely as possible and note which direction the hole is off. Give the shaft a half turn and do it again. If the misalignment moves from one direction to the other, the problem is the shaft. If it remains the same, the problem is the other part.

[A/C guy]

Ok, Jim, I pulled the drive shaft out where I can get a good look. Did as you said, hole in the shaft is definitely off center, not the coupler. Called HB, he wanted me to use a smaller bolt (1/4"). In all fairness, he said if it ever failed he would replace it. However, I've had two of the 5/16 bolts fail over the years. Already had a machine shop making a sleeve for the clutch pedal, so I had them drill the coupler and shaft for a 3/8" bolt. They did a great job for a few $$. Everything centered and no slop in the holes. Starting to put everything back together finally.