Anyone familiar with Steering Clutches on T-340?

We had steering clutches relined to correct thickness per shop manuel and installed them and adjusted with the guage I made per Instructions in manuel. It steers but you have to pull lever back quit bit, i think it's not turning until the brake locks up. Acording to the owners manuel it says it starts to turn when you pull lever and if you want a hard turn you pull lever all the way back to lock the brake. My son and i have both studied this manuel and think it is adjusted correctley. any one have a better idea on this that has had one of these apart. Thanks for your help.
Gene
 
I'm not familiar with the machine, but I am familiar with lining brakes as I used to do a lot of bands for the older cranes. That said, even if the material is the right thickness, it may be the wrong material. Different materials have different coefficients of friction, meaning that one will grab more, or less, than another for a given amount of surface area, or force applied.

What this means to you is that if the material you used isn't right, it might not be grabbing as much as it should when pulled lightly against the drum. Instead, under a light application it slips more than grabs, and doesn't begin to really grab the drum and hold it until it's pulled really tight.

Another thing I could suggest would be to insure 100% that everything is adjusted correctly. If the linkage is off, the brake may be applying before the steering clutch releases completely and allowing the machine to power through the brake.

That being said if the steering clutch/clutches don't release, then the machine will power through the brake, until it is creating enough friction to over-ride the machine and allow it to turn. I just went through that same, basic scenario with a customers D6. In that case I had to rebuild the clutches because somebody had added washers on top of the springs, along with rebuilding the steering valve, and replacing the seals on the release piston. Hopefully yours will turn out to be something more simple than that, but it's something that needs to be checked.

Good luck.
 
I would bet my right arm you do not have the fingers on the clutch adjusted. You need to be clutching BEFORE you brake.. Take it and put a heavy load of dirt in front of blade. Pull the levers HALF WAY back if it does not stop you need clutch adjustment.
 
I must be missing something. Neither of our T340's have steering clutches. They have a type of planetary steering in which the brake pads grip a brake disc and that is what causes the crawler to turn. I can not think of any way in which the crawler can turn other than engaging the brake as there is no clutch to disengage.
Lavoy
 
I can remember changing out brake discs on a loader way back and unless the dozer version is different it was what we call here a diff steer,the machine had a differential and a brake for each side,no steering clutches,the machine will not steer till the brake comes on,a lot of that size crawlers have that type steering,if I remember correctly the final drive unit had to be removed to get into the brake.
AJ
 
In my IH Service manual I have they call them steering clutches and steering lever that you pull, it is a planetary system with a sun disc for each side that these 2 clutch pads go against & hold until you pull lever and it releases clutch on sun disc, then the planetary takes over and turns crawler in a slow turn, to turn sharp pull the steering lever all the way back and it locks the disc pivot brake system (this is the same as a 340 farm tractor brake system)that is in the final drive housing. thats the way it's supposed to work, we have rebuilt both systems and it don't seem to turn until you lock up the back brake. Fort Wayne Clutch said they used the same material that was on it before. I thought someone on here has had one of these apart and made it work after, i'm about ready to pull top off again and check it again. Thanks Gene
 
Hello there.

I just started to use my T340, I noticed that if I am not pushing a load, it turns really slow by just releasing the differential brake (the steering clutch). If I am pushing a load, and I release the right clutch, it will nicely drift in that direction.

It is my understanding that if your undercarriage is rolling nicely, it will not turn sharply unless you use the brake function of the lever - I could be wrong; it is just what I have noticed.

Best of luck!
 
I've adjusted mine a number of times over the years. YOur understanding is correct that at partial pullback the power all goes to one side through the planetary system, and at further pullback the brake engages on one side to keep that track from being pulled along at all, thus making the turn sharper. Make sure you're doing the first adjustment, the clutch, with the steering arms pulled all the way back. The linkage for the brake is a little trickier, and I had to get it by trial and error because of warn parts, rather than by the specs in the manual. I assume you have the instructions for the first adjustment, using the adjusters with the locknuts on them down low by the bottom of the seat on each side.
 

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