CA hand clutch

I am overhaulling the Lambert hand operated clutch on my CA Allice, and I have a cracked Pressure plate. Do any of you know anyone who is parting out a CA and might sell me that part or the whole clutch. Or know where I might get one.

Larry, there is cracked, cracked and broken. Cracked is when you can see hairline crack that are short and infrequent and so small that they almost impossible to feel. These are surface crack and generally will not adversely affect the use of the plate. Then there are cracks which you can easily feel. These will wear out the linings. If you have these, you need a new one. Possibly resurfacing might save some plates like this. Of course if the cracks get big enough to appear broken, it is also useless.

Those hair line cracks are not a problem. If the there are wear grooves from the lining, you should it resurface before reassembly. Resurfacing will probably remove all of these tiny ones.

Denny
thank you for your reply. I was replacing the brake pads on,and the clutch actuator which was all broken up and needed new springs etc. while I had it apart I thought I would reline the clutch disc pads which were nearly to the rivits.. The new pads were thicker and when in the process of tightening the three allen head screws the pressure caused the pressure plate to crack in the three areas where the screws hole is because of the pressure from the disc balls. I talked to a welder and he said we could try welding the cracks with nicol rod, but I though it would be better if I could find a used ressure plate. Thats where I am at at the moment. I don't know about puting a new facing on. How is that done ? Any thought would be apprediated.

Denny
These cracks are broken all the way through, but the plate is still holding together. Thanks

On Sat, Sep 5, 2009 at 7:09 AM, Denny Springer <[email protected]> wrote:

Larry, I just bought a CA on Monday. Here is the unusual part. I owned this CA from 1994 to 2001 at which time, I sold the tractor for $1750. I bought it back for $612. The tractor looks like hell and ran on two cylinders. The plugs were not even finger tight - two plugs had no gaskets. Plugs two and three were hopelessly fowled. I cleaned the plugs and put ring gaskets on those two plugs. It easily fired up and runs quite a bit better than when I sold it 8 years ago!

The live power clutch did not work when I got the CA the first time. The problem was the plate and balls for engagement. There was also some problem in the plates - interference with the clutch case prevented it from disengaging. I had to adjust a spot or two on the plates and add a couple of shim washers. It works better now than when I sold it.

I think that the part in question can be welded. If it is cast iron, which I suspect since the ears broke off, I've welded cast iron with some success with a wire feed. The big issue is not the weld material but instead heat. You need to get the cast iron quite hot before welding and weld it with fairly high temperature. I use either an acetalene torch or a map gas bottle with a propane nozzle. I simply try to get the weld area close to red hot but not quite. Then weld as quickly as possible. I welded a broken swing needle on my baler two years ago and it is still working fine. One thing, use a grinder to make a fillet on the break line. I try to get a V about 1/16 to 1/8 wide and at least 1/16 deep. Do one ear at a time.

I don't know anything about nickel. I am an engineer and did study metalurgy. My training and my experience is that nickel doesn't like any metal but nickel. No amount of heat will permit soldering. No amount or type of flux will permit soldering. I've never tried welding and I probably never will. On the other hand, there are folks out there who do it but I've never heard anyone brag about how good it works. Maybe your guy knows something others don't. I sure will be interested in your results. Brazing seems to me to have a better chance which is done with a brass alloy. Neither nickel nor brass will have the strength that steel will have. My wire feed uses steel wire with a flux core - after heating up the part, I weld at the highest heat setting and fasting feed rate. It takes two to do this - one for heating and another for welding. Weld immediately when the flame is removed.

I was playing with my "new" CA yesterday and didn't have time to respond. The tractors are at my ranch which has no internet.

What have you got to loose? The welding shouldn't take more than an hour.

Denny;

Thanks Denny;
I will give it a try as I dont think I will be able to find a used , or iven a new part. I'll let you know how it turns out.