JD 60 - clutch works but tractor won't move in any gear.....

Hello, I have a JD 60 (S/N 6046466) with live PTO. last year on occasion after stopping / switching gears, the tractor would not move again regardless of which gear I put it in. I could freely move shifter amongst all the gears with clutch engaged or disengaged - no movement, no grinding the gears, nothing. Its as if there is a intermittant "disconnect" between the pulley clutch and the transmisison, always brought on when shifting - not all the time but intermittingly. Tractor pulls great, no clutch slipping, then stop to change gears / direction and sometimes success (tractor moves per new gear shifted to), and sometimes tractor won't move in the chosen gear or any gear for that matter. fuss with it for a while, move shifter back and forth into and out of all the gears, shut off tractor, shift through all the gears, start back up, no improvement, etc. and then all of a sudden tractor would start moving again "business as usual" when clutch released. works great for awhile, sometimes even when changing gears / direction and then the next time randomly, same problem. tore clutch down, replaced suspect parts, same problem persists. Now its getting more frequent. Over the weekend the 60 was pulling my 7' drag offset JD Killiefer disk. started bogging down so pulled back on clutch lever (healthy snap to it per manual), shifted from 3rd to reverse, push clutch lever forward to back up tractor to close disk, and....engine lugged down briefly as pulley started turning then engine smoothed out as Deeres do, but tractor did not move. shifted multiple times between 1st and reverse and still no movement or grinding gears, etc. tried it several times over next hour, including putting tractor in and out of gears with clutch lever forward (Go) and back (stop)and even engine on / off) but still no movement. With clutch disengaged (lever fwd) and trans. in neutral, I could start to make the engine turn by hand turning the pulley. so this tells me clutch pack is grabbing the fiber disks and thus turning the crank. Tractor (Trans & clutch) works great until the next or several next times later of shifting gears and it then may or may not move the tractor. its killin' me. Suggestions?? Thanks so much!

Have you tried adjusting the clutch tighter?

I don't think you have a clutch problem (unless the clutch is not adjusted properly). It sounds more like your shifter gates are worn in the transmission or out of adjustment so that you think your shifting from one gear to another as the shifter moves into the proper position but its not moving the gears on the intermediate shaft so your actually between 2 gears. This happened a lot on my old 60 before I replaced the shifter gates. Since reverse and 1st across from each other in the quadrant have you tried going to 2nd position in between 1st and R . It seemed to line everything up on mine and then it would go into any gear I chose. Its a cheap and easy try next time you're on the tractor to see if it gets you by until you replace your gates. If this trick has no improvements to yoursitusituation then I would take the clutch apart to make sure you don't have a loose friction disk or something binding in there.

Yep shifter or shifting rails problem

Hello All,

Thanks so much for your comments! Much appreciated!

Here's my replies - hope this reaches all 3 of you -
1. With engine running and clutch handle forward (pulley turning), I can freely move the shifter between 1st & reverse "holes" with no problem or gear grinding. Per advice offered, I will try engaging clutch (lever back), move shifter to the middle (neutral) spot between the 1 & R holes, then disengage clutch (move handle fwd), but because I can easily move shifter in between 1 & R with no resistence, or grind gears, or tractor inching or lurching, it seems there's no gear to "catch" in 1st, Rev. or even in between them. In past instances I can freely move shifter between all gears with clutch engaged and disengaged, and after a few (or a bunch of tries), all of a sudden everything is working again, but can't seem to find the specific action(s) that make iot "normal". However, in this latest episode, I can move shifter easily L to R between 1 & R. Going in and out of these 2 "holes" no problem, BUT I cannot move shifter all the way down to be able to move the shifter left or right to catch the 2 gears below the 1 & R gear slots above. My huch is the gears in the below slots are not meshing right to allow me to pass the shifter down to possibly catch either gear below 1 & R, or go over to another vertical neutral passage to move shifter into other gears in the pattern. Normally a guy might bump the clutch handle to spin the gears to improve alignment to be able to put shifter in desired hole (similar to double-clutching). However, the gears may not be able to move a little to allow meshing and shifter movement into a hole or pass through to other hole because the wheels starting digging down in the soft soil as my drag disk started bogging down so 60's wheels started spinning; hence why I pulled clutch lever back, moved shifter to reverse, pushed clutch lever fwd. but no tractor movement. Now wheels are in the nice "craddle" they dug from spinning a few times (but not buried to rim line) and they can't be roicked back or forward.

2. Yes, clutch is adjusted "tight" so it snaps nicley. I adjusted each of the 3 bolts a fraction of a turn, checked clutch to snap, kept going. Got to the point where clutch lever would not snap so backed off all 3 nuts just 1/2 - 1 castled nut "valley" (maybe 1/16 inch) and it snapped again. so I adjusted the clutch as tight as I could - just before it would no longer snap.

3. Rails and shifter worn? replace? parts? I see on E-Bay there's a NOS John Deere 60 AA6323R Second & Fifth Gear Assy Lock & Shifter Shaft, but appears my problem could be 1 & R? or posibly all the locks and shifter shafts because when the problem normally occurs, no gear works, then all of a suddem it starts working. wish I knew which actions of moving shifter throughout the pattern and mixing in engaging and disengaging the clutch. Tractor is 6 hours away. I go work on it thsi weekend, but still not sure what the culprit(s) is / are.

Thansk again All, I welcome your replies per latest clarification.

Andy Carlin

Hope you don't have too much trouble with the repairs, and I don't have that problem Ser. 6041800. Thanks for the update

Actually don't just move the shifter to N go with it into 2. There are 3 gates in there and going to N only lines up 1 or 2 of them ( can't remember right now without a picture). Also you might need to slip the clutch or roll the tractor slightlyto go into a gear.