A month or two ago, I replaced a broken fiber thrust washer and the (completely missing) flywheel spacer oil seal on my 70 Diesel. I used a bottle jack as a brace from the right tire to the clutch pulley, and set the play to .008 using a dial indicator. Started and ran fine, did a little bush hogging, all ok. Had a long session trying to get the tach (Indian copy) and cable working, no problems then.
Today I fired up the tractor and while out in the woods clearing an old logging road with the bush hog, smoke started coming from the flywheel cover :shock: It smelled exactly like burning phenolic, not oil or rubber (many years of experience tinkering with electronics), so I am fairly confident it was the thrust washer which is made of that material.
By the time I was able to get back to the barn, the smoke had stopped. I haven't remeasured the end play yet but I can see the clutch pulley moving with the clutch lever (not a huge amount but definitely more than .008").
So how could I have smoked a thrust washer after carefully setting the clearance "by the book" and running the engine with no trouble? :?:
Today I fired up the tractor and while out in the woods clearing an old logging road with the bush hog, smoke started coming from the flywheel cover :shock: It smelled exactly like burning phenolic, not oil or rubber (many years of experience tinkering with electronics), so I am fairly confident it was the thrust washer which is made of that material.
By the time I was able to get back to the barn, the smoke had stopped. I haven't remeasured the end play yet but I can see the clutch pulley moving with the clutch lever (not a huge amount but definitely more than .008").
So how could I have smoked a thrust washer after carefully setting the clearance "by the book" and running the engine with no trouble? :?:
