John Deere H clutch

Mark Poss

Well-known Member
I still cannot get my clutch to stay engaged on my 39 JD H I have put new toggle bolts in and checked thepins and clutch dogs but it still keeps jumping out when engaged. In Pat Brownings restoration guide he talks about machining the operating sleeve as a last resort if renewing the other mentioned parts do not restore original action to a worn unit. He says to take approx. 0.030 off the outer end of the operating sleeve. What would be considered the outer end? The end toward thepulley cover or the end toward the engine? Thankyou for any help, Mark.
 
r you sure its not jumping out of gear and pulleying clutch leaver back??or does it do this in neutral???????
 
No it never did, I have tried adjusting it but cant get it to snap going in. It snaps kind of when you pull back on the lever to disengage it.
 
I believe the outer end of the operating sleeve would be the side that faces to the belt pulley.

That operating sleeve should have some kinda pin to keep it from rotating. Make sure this is not worn letting it wiggle around.

Wonder if your fork is in right ? I remember breaking something in there a brass piece ? in mine years ago from having it in wrong.

Have you tried other parts from another tractor ? Maybe swap the whole pulley from a parts tractor ?
 
I would swap the whole pulley if I could find one that was not wore out. I have talked to two other H owners at tractor shows and they told me that their clutches do not snap in either.
 
Is your pulley moving in and out of the tractor when you try to operate the clutch?

I ask because the '39 H was unique. ONLY the 39 had the driver disk fixed to the camshaft by a snap ring on straight splines. The 40 and up used tapered splines, a cap screw and heavy washer. Is it possible your snap ring is not in place therefore allowing the entire assembly to slide back and forth on the cam shaft as lost motion instead of operating the toggles and dogs to squeeze the driving disk?
 
Make sure your left hand cam bearing which is a ball bearing is not loose or shot completly.This controls the camshaft end play.
Most all H's I have came accross (and that's plenty) need one.

If you are near Ashland Ohio bring it over and we can look at it and swap some parts onto it.
 
When I got my H it was having the same problem but an old Deere engineer who helped build H's and with his own machine shop suggested machining off the operating sleeve 0.010" at a time, then trying it, then take off another 0.010" if needed and try again 'till it was OK. After 0.030" was off, the clutch functioned as it should. Now, my H is a parade/show duty type tractor, not a working tractor, but the clutch has been OK for 10+ years with this fix. I don't recall which end of the sleeve he took off.
 
I am going to try taking 0.010 at a time off of operating sleeve like Leon suggested. Ill let you know what happens
 
Hi Mike,
Do you know the actual bearing number for that left camshaft bearing. JD7169R is part no. What I looked up came out to be 6305-J. Is that correct? I bought my H 30+ years ago but the left bearing was shot. I replaced it with a motor bearing the same size but it didn't hold up well. I think it should be a deep groove type to take the thrust from the cam gear. That bearing was so bad that it damaged the timing gears, governor bearing, fan gears, cams and lifters. I was young and didn't know much about Deeres when I bought it.
 
I would check out the left side bearing and the clutch fork before any machining. See my post to Mike's answer. When I fixed the bearing the clutch was OK.
When I got mine I found the pulley rocked up-down. Pulled it out and the right bearing was OK, problem was on the left side.
 
I have replaced several but not sure about it but I bet most I stuck in a common bearing. As to holding up I don't know?
Most likely don't get ran that much.
 

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