Farmall H clutch takes a few seconds to release

primerk5

Member
I've had this project tractor for quite a while and recently started working out some of the bugs it has again.

The clutch seems to engage just fine. But when I push the clutch pedal to come to a stop it has a delayed release it seems. You can see it well with the belt pulley.

I have not pulled the cover yet to investigate what things look like and I know there is a grease fitting in there for the bearing.

I'm pretty sure the clutch is wore as it seems to slip some in 5th when on soft ground.

Any thoughts on what is going on so I know where to look?

Thanks
 

If this is happening while the tractor is setting still, it is normal. It takes awhile for all the tranny gears to stop spinning.
 

No you can feel it happen as its moving. You push the clutch in and it keeps moving under power for a few seconds and then you feel it release.
 
(quoted from post at 08:08:23 11/24/15)
No you can feel it happen as its moving. You push the clutch in and it keeps moving under power for a few seconds and then you feel it release.

In that case, I would suspect the pilot bearing. There should be a grease zerk for it.
 
I've had that happen before when the clutch disc got oil on it. It got to the point you had to stamp
the brakes to get the clutch to break free. Sam
 
The clutch on my H did the same thing, the rear main seal was leaking and gunked up the recess where the clutch disk fit. It was real scary, I had to load the tractor onto a trailer to bring it to my place to fix it. My dad put up with it for a while, glad he did not get hurt, or hurt someone.

I wonder if you can pull the lower cover and spray brake clean on that area to clean it up?
 

Well, I think the rear Main is leaking on mine as well, so maybe this is the problem. I had read on one and only one forum thread that you could replace the rear main without splitting the tractor. Is there any truth to that? Everything else I looked at read like the tractor had to be split.
 
(quoted from post at 09:31:45 11/24/15) I would probably do the split so you can clean the gunk out of the flywheel

Where you from?

In modern view it says Westminster, MD.

I agree, you have to split it.
 
Yep I'm in Maryland. The split will have to wait to spring. This is a project that I've had sitting around a bit waiting on attention. I had aquired some parts I wanted to get things they way i had envisioned it so I decided my last project for the year would be it and getting it in one peice instead of sitting on blocks with no tires. I'm going to try to find my original post from when i got it and i'll post updated pictures and story for you all to see.
 
You could also have the hub of the clutch disk hanging on the spline shaft. That could be caused by it being gunked up, rusty, or worn splines on the shaft. Any of those problems can be dealt with without splitting the tractor.

I'd take the cover off the bottom and do some looking before splitting it.
 
(quoted from post at 09:47:09 11/24/15) Yep I'm in Maryland. The split will have to wait to spring. This is a project that I've had sitting around a bit waiting on attention. I had aquired some parts I wanted to get things they way i had envisioned it so I decided my last project for the year would be it and getting it in one peice instead of sitting on blocks with no tires. I'm going to try to find my original post from when i got it and i'll post updated pictures and story for you all to see.

As Jim Becker said, there is no need for splitting the tractor. The entire operation can be done from underneath.
 
I had this problem on my Dad's 300. You could start the tractor in gear with the pedal down and everything was fine until you needed to stop the first time. You would practically have to jerk the trans out of gear to get it to stop sometimes. When I split it I found two problems. The clutch was shot and fell apart when I took the disc out. The other problem was that the pilot bearing had spun on the input shaft. It had been like this long enough that the bevel on the end of the shaft cut a matching bevel in the race of the pilot bearing. This allowed the nose of the input shaft to contact the rear of the crankshaft and keep the tractor moving. I would never have believed it possible if I hadn't seen it with my own two eyes. Good luck with your project.
 
A broken clutch plate can also cause the problem of the clutch never releasing. Fragments of clutch lining can get wedged between the pressure plate and flywheel and keep the clutch disc from turning free. I would expect that was the problem rather than the tractor being driven by the pilot bearing. You can't get much torque through that small of a radius.
 
I supposed the broken disc was possibly causing it but I replaced the input shaft in the tractor because it had a significant wear pattern on the end of the shaft matching the one in the end of the crankshaft. Like I said, I would never have believed it had I not seen with my own two eyes. We have no idea how long it had been like this either.
 

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