656 Clutch Adjustment

[Hrusty]

I need a little help!  

Here's the back story:

2 summers ago our local IH dealer put a new clutch and flywheel in my 656.  The tractor gets used very little, primarily for haying 10 acres once a year.  Amounts to less than 25 hours a year, so less than 50 hours since the new clutch was installed.  As part of the service notes on my invoice the dealer states that after the clutch was installed:

"Started tractor and could not get into gear.  Found that the clutch will not fully disengage.  Checked and found the housing is worn in the transmission and now that there is more material on the clutch and flywheel it has too much play and will not push in far enough.  Welded in a piece to extend the clutch rod and now it works"

 

Now to my current issue:

When I was haying this summer I noticed that the clutch was slipping...Not what you want to see with a brand new clutch and so few hours.  Anyway, I went to adjust the clutch according to the directions in my manual.  First step is to set the free pedal on the main clutch.  Manual calls for 1-3/4".  I had less than an inch. The manual I you need to rotate the clutch operating lever "D" counter clockwise to increase the free pedal.  That would mean I need to turn the clevis to shorten the clutch rod.  Problem is that there is no adjustment left in the clevis.  It is as short as it gets.  The manual goes on to say that proper free pedal will provide 1/8" clearance between the clutch release levers and the release bearing.  The clearance on my tractor is no where near 1/8", it is maybe the thickness of a piece of paper, not much more.  

Am I understanding this correctly? It would seem that the only way to get my free pedal back is to remove that section of clutch rod that the dealer added.  Any thoughts are appreciated!

For some reason I was having troubles getting pics into this post so I added some links to the images from my Google Drive.  Hopefully that will let you guys see what I'm talking about.  I will try to post pics again later.

Pic of Procedure From Owner's Manual

Pic of Operating Lever D

Pic of My Clutch Rod With No Adjustment Left

Pic Closeup of Clevis On My Clutch Rod

 

Once I can get the free pedal set correctly I'll move on and adjust the torque amplifier

[brahamfireman]

I just worked on a 656 that was like that. I ended up shortening the small bolts inside the ckutch on the fingers to get it back to where I could shorted the clevis on the rod.

Then I did the TA and it was barely in spec. Make sure the TA isn't messing up your clutch adjustment. 

[Hrusty]

Were you able to shorten those clutch finger bolts through the inspection cover on the bottom of the tractor?  

[snoshoe]

Might as well undo the clutch rod repair. Situation only gets worse as clutch wears. Can be done but finger adjustments are difficult to get even while it is in there and probably not enough range for the life of the clutch.

[HydroTek]

Need to check clutch pedal with the TA pulled back into low
-- an inch of pedal clearance is good -- any is better than none at all

Then set the TA lever so it has an inch of clearance at the front (high)

Then set the lever in the TA linkage where it interfaces with the clutch linkage 

Usually can't go "by the book" on adjustments because of the shaft wear in the housing
-- when everything was new , those book adjustments would work
-- but not on an older tractor 

Often need to weld a piece of 3/8" key stock on the front of the TA lever where it contacts the clutch lever 
make the adjustment so the TA and engine clutch function properly together

[Hrusty]

34 minutes ago, snoshoe said:

Might as well undo the clutch rod repair. Situation only gets worse as clutch wears. Can be done but finger adjustments are difficult to get even while it is in there and probably not enough range for the life of the clutch.

Do you think the problem the dealer had with the clutch not disengaging will return if I cut that section out and return the rod to original length?  I am not a clutch Guru, so pardon my lack of understanding.

[snoshoe]

Screw the clevis out until end of rod is flush with inside of clevis. Measure how much rod you need to remove to get pin in and remove that much. You will still be able to extend some if measure is not exact but as clutch wears you have to be able to shorten. Also need to get jam nut back in there or threads will wear out.

[brahamfireman]

1 hour ago, Hrusty said:

Were you able to shorten those clutch finger bolts through the inspection cover on the bottom of the tractor?  

Yes, it wasn't fun but what's a guy to do.

[brahamfireman]

12 minutes ago, snoshoe said:

Screw the clevis out until end of rod is flush with inside of clevis. Measure how much rod you need to remove to get pin in and remove that much. You will still be able to extend some if measure is not exact but as clutch wears you have to be able to shorten. Also need to get jam nut back in there or threads will wear out.

Problems I've run into doing that is the clutch rod pivot gets so far counterclockwise that that TA won't adjust right. If the clutch is that wore only option is to adjust fingers. If fingers are seized your way works but how do you get the TA to adjust right? 

[snoshoe]

1 minute ago, brahamfireman said:

Problems I've run into doing that is the clutch rod pivot gets so far counterclockwise that that TA won't adjust right. If the clutch is that wore only option is to adjust fingers. If fingers are seized your way works but how do you get the TA to adjust right? 

Clutch rod is already mutilated.  Just trying to get it back to usable length. As someone else mentioned. Not uncommon to have to weld a spacer on top of ta clutch finger to make it work. Also just as common when replacing one clutch or the other to have to knock the spacer back off.

[snoshoe]

Besides if you look at the pictures. His ta finger is pretty low. Don't expect any problems there.

[brahamfireman]

9 minutes ago, snoshoe said:

Besides if you look at the pictures. His ta finger is pretty low. Don't expect any problems there.

Couldn't see pics first time,  yes I agree, shorten rod back to original length. Looks like TA adjuster bolt is at the bottom of slot which is good.

[Hrusty]

You guys are awesome!  Lots of good info here. Thanks everyone!

Ok, I'm going to try to shorten the rod back down to its original length and then we'll take it from there.  I'll also get a jam nut on there.  I didn't notice it was missing until today.  That's how it came back from dealership after the new clutch.

 

 

[HydroTek]

Get that inspection cover off the bell housing and see if the throw out bearing has any room left to move toward the transmission housing -- before you go messing with the length of the clutch rod

if the housing is so sloppy at the pivot , then time for a bushing there 
same for the pedal -- how sloppy is that mess ?

[Hrusty]

15 minutes ago, HydroTek said:

Get that inspection cover off the bell housing and see if the throw out bearing has any room left to move toward the transmission housing -- before you go messing with the length of the clutch rod

if the housing is so sloppy at the pivot , then time for a bushing there 
same for the pedal -- how sloppy is that mess ?

Thanks for the info!

Had the cover off this afternoon to check the space between the clutch fingers and the throwout bearing.  The throwout bearing still had room to move, so I'm hoping things will work out???

I ended up buying a used clutch rod that I can use to get me back down to factory length.  I'm hoping this will give me the adjustment I need.

I will hold on to the "dealer modified" longer rod in case things don't work out with the OEM.

The pivot point doesn't feel too bad, but there is some slop in the pedal.  Will look at bushing that soon!