Crankshaft play on JD60

UncleCarl

Member
Okay guys I'm doing some clutch work on my John Deere 60. I was looking around on YouTube and someone said that a person should have no more than one sixteenth of an inch of play when you engage or disengage the clutch. (The amount of play in the belt pulley that moves in and out) Mine has about 3/16 of an inch. Is that anything to worry about? And if I need to put a new bearing in the end of my crankshaft is that hard to do?
 
Crankshaft end play is to be .005"-.010" and is controlled by shoving the flywheel on the crankshaft farther.
 
Okaaaay.....Thanks Mike M. So that means the guy in the video I saw must just be measuring play in the clutch system itself. Okay, thanks. Any words of wisdom on clutches?
 
Just a note of caution for some reason those model 60's have a very bad tendency to have bad clutch driver splines which lets it go too far onto the crank. This model has very little room for error in there and if it goes back on too far onto the crank things get tight in the clutch area fast. Not letting them any free travel for disengagement.
You can check crank endplay at the belt pulley but you have to have the clutch fully engaged and then you can work the lever back and forth thus moving the crank. You can't pull it back so far as to disengage it though. Maybe that is what they were doing ?
 
A new clutch bearing would do nothing for the 3/16, and sounding the alarm at 1/16 only works on a NEW tractor, not one that's been at work for 50 years. You might take notice of that guy and expect every such statement to be impossible to reach in reality. The slack you see is due to missing iron on the clutch drum and clutch driver plus wear on your clutch disks. And I've seen 1/2 inch with zero issues - it's rather a non-point if you ask me. Unless it makes an awful racket of course. Some do advise to go in there and put some real grease on the roller bearing though, I see nothing wrong with that advice. But it's something I've never done myself unless I was already in there for something else first. You will have to remove the clutch driver for that.
 

There is crank end play and there is pulley movement when the operating sleeve cams the dogs over. Don't confuse the two.
Pull the flywheel cover and use a dial micrometer. Crank end play should be 10thou. 5 thou is too tight and will wipe out the washers .
 
Mike most of the time when the pulley ges to tight, the gear on the pulley has worked part way off the pulley making it run up tight on the live gear on the crankshaft if this is the case put the pulley in a press and push it back on. i see this far more then bad splines
 
I'd release the clutch then remove flywheel cover and see how much in and out movement present. I always loosed the flywheel bolts tightened the large nut till friction bind then back off till free movement. It's not rocket science.
 
I've always adjusted crank end play the shop manual way, SM-2004.

Remove the flywheel cover and set up a dial indicator against the back side of the flywheel.
Engage the clutch and then move the clutch lever back and forth WITHOUT disengaging the clutch.
This will move the crank from side to side and tell you the end play. Adjust the flywheel in or out
to get .005 to .010 inch on the dial indicator. Tighten flywheel bolts to 275 lbs.
 
I have seen just the opposite around here in Ohio. Plenty of bad crank splines on the clutch and flywheel side on lots of models.
IIRC I only had one (maybe 2 ) that the pulley gear had worked off and I think that was a 720D ?
 
Okay thanks Lee. That sounds like good advise. I think the video I watched greatly mislead me. I'm working on the clutch now. Afterward I'll pay attention to the crank play. I honestly don't think it's going to be an issue but I'll have to dial gauge it and see.
 
Okay thanks Mike. I'm hoping to have an experienced old JD mechanic come out and look at things to see how it looks. If feel more comfy with someone who has knowledge greater than mine.
 
Pete: I whole heartedly agree with the manual and your procedure....however I know you realize that a lot of folks don't have dial indicators and the experience in their use. I was using the farnyard approach...I've found that backing the big nut off around 1/2 turn or freeing up produced acceptable results. One doesn't want it binding the thrust washer which I know by now would probably be flattened some due to the excess clearance. I'm sure you'll agree there is hi tech and no tech way of obtaining results.
 
But then - a dial indicator is a pretty cheap tool. You don't need a $500 dollar one - I think the one I bought was under $50. I've found a lot of uses for it since I bought it.
 
Dial indicators can be found used on ebay pretty cheap. I picked me up one for $10 to have around the house in case i needed it
on the 60 or one of the motorcycles. It came with the magnetic base & all.
Arnie
 

PJH.....Harbor Freight has a 25% of one item on labor day....I may see what their dial gauges are selling for. I'm sure it wouldn't be that bad....
 

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