MF50 clutch

Replaced the clutch and throw out bearing. Tried to adjust the clutch petal but some thing is wrong. The throw out bearing does not engage the clutch. I took off the inspection plate and found that the throw out bearing is about an inch or more from engaging the clutch at the at rest position. The petal shaft bottoms out before the clutch is disengaged. I cannot figure out why the throw out bearing is so far away from the clutch. Any ideas on this would be appreciated.

Assuming you have the two stage clutch, after the pressure plate is assembled with the pto clutch plate in place (assuming the 9" spring pressure plate was installed correctly and remained seated properly during reassembly) and it is installed on the flywheel, there are two different adjustments that have to be made prior to putting the tractor back together. One involves adjustment of the 3 bolts located in the pressure plate to set the gap between these bolt heads and the three tabs on the secondary pressure plate. If memory serves correctly this is a gap of .080". The second involves adhusting the height of the bolts in the clutch release levers to a specified height. We always used a special gauge tool to do this. You will need an I&T service manual or the equivalent to know how to do this. It may give you the specific dimensions of this tool, not sure. If the lever bolt height is incorrect, there will be to much gap between the lever bolt heads and the throwout bearing. When installing the clutch and pressure plate I assume you are using the specified alignment tool that slides through both clutch disks and into the pilot bushing.

Another possibility is when rolling the tractor back together, it should go together easily. This takes some work making sure the gap between the bell housing and engine is even side to side and top to bottom. A dowel bolt through the engine bolt holes and screwed into the bell housing is a big help in keeping the 2 halves aligned. When rolling it together the main drive shaft will engage the main clutch plate first. You will need to use a large screw driver or pry bar to rotate the engine to line up the splines on shaft and clutch disk. When lined up properly, it will slide together easily until the pto shaft comes into contact with the pto clutch disk. At this point insert a suitable size punch into the hole on the tractor's pto shaft. Place the pto shift lever in the engine pto position and turn the shaft while pushing the rear half of the tractor forward. This will align the splines of the pto shaft and disk. When aligned, you can feel it in the shaft.

If you use bolts to force the tractor together it will bend the main clutch plate and/or the pto clutch plate causing your problem. Hopefully this is helpful.

It is a two stage clutch. I had it rebuilt by a reputable company in South Bend, Indiana. They told me that no further adjustments would be necessary when reinstalling.
I do remember having quite a time of it getting the two halves back together. Sounds like I will have to split it again to see what is wrong. Thanks for your input.

The release lever bolts have to be adjusted after installing the clutch assembly onto the flywheel as the flywheel is used to gauge their height. They cannot be adjusted on a work bench to the correct heigh as the amount of wear to the clutch face on the flywheel varies from tractor to tractor and this adjustment compensates for that. After you get it apart you may also find the main clutch disk was warped during reassembly. Before putting it back together again, file the edges if the splines enough to remove the sharp edges on them on the pressure plate side. This will make it easier to get the shaft to slide into the clutch disk. Also make sure the main clutch disk is installed with the correct face toward the flywheel. Hopefully the disk is labeled on the flywheel side.

Your suggestions are well appreciated. I will add a post with the outcome. Thanks again

And it could be as simple as the pedal is lose on the shaft, then you don't go anywhere... but if this was done recently, bring it back- for no charge. He did something wrong, and my bet it fell out of adjustment. Call him before you mess with it.