2606 can't stab engine

Hello guys. Been trying all afternoon to stab my rebuilt engine into the bell housing and no go. Can get it within an inch and that's it. Been trying all kinds of things. Loosen up the pressure plate bolts and no go. Took the cover off the tranny and can turn the gear until the engine gets an inch away. Tried to wrench it down but it won't go the last inch. Worked the clutch pedal a few times. Shifted the forward/reverse lever a few times. Can't really get a bar on that shaft in the tranny. Tried rolling the forward/reverser back and forth while trying to stab it. I can wiggle the engine back and forth and up and down and it doesn't want to stab.

Any ideas? I guess tomorrow I'll pull the pressure plate and clutch off and see if I can lay them in there and bolt them up later. Only other thing I can check is to see if they sent me the right pilot bearing or not. The throwout bearing seats in there. I don't see anything to hold it other than friction by the seal. Thanks.

Check the pilot bearing. You might have a 966/1066 pilot bearing which has a smaller ID the one you need.

I know on the bigger tractors you can hang the pressure plate and clutch on the input shafts and put the engine in and bolt it up through the bottom. I recently tried on the 560 and we couldnt get it to go, had to bolt the clutch to the flywheel first.

After you check the pilot bearing and it is OK take the clutch apart, flywheel stays on engine. Make sure the bolts that hold the
pressure plate are tight yet, or put nuts in under the fingers so the springs are compressed. And hang everything that comes loose
onto the input shafts. Stab the engine and then from below when everything is supported well thought the hole in the bottom put the
bolts in. The first time the clutch is depressed will drop the nuts if that is what you did or on the last time around torqueing
the pressure plate down remove the restraints from the pressure plate. Much easier.

Check for the slightest burr on the shaft end. If it is just barely felt it will keep it from going together. Also check the length of the shaft against the position of the pilot bearing. Might be to close to the end of the crank. check the flywheel and pressure plate will fit with the clutch in and is the disc in backwards?

Ok. There was something else odd I found when tightening the pressure plate. Each finger had a little key about 1.5 inches long and around a 1/16" square. There was one wedged along side of each a finger. 2 fell out and 1 I took out. Trying to get pics to post. Not sure where the nuts would go under the fingers. Thanks

(quoted from post at 14:41:01 03/07/21)
Ok. There was something else odd I found when tightening the pressure plate. Each finger had a little key about 1.5 inches long and around a 1/16" square. There was one wedged along side of each a finger. 2 fell out and 1 I took out. Trying to get pics to post. Not sure where the nuts would go under the fingers. Thanks

Click to expand...

Those pieces of key stock is what the clutch rebuilder use to hold the fingers compressed so you are able to hang the clutch on the shaft of the transmission allowing you to bolt the PPA to the flywheel after the engine is bolted together. Some PPA had nuts under the fingers and some used key stock. Here are a couple pictures of a 560 going together.

do you have a pilot shaft? also you are lining up 2 splines. i always have to pressure pate bolted to the flywheel and use a pilot shaft.
never had a problem yet. you need the halves square to each other and the same distance top and bottom. why do it the hard way. dont you
compare old brgs. to new ones and try it on the shaft first. same with the disc,.. make sure it slides nice on the shaft. and that last inch
can be the big pto spline not lined up, as that is your last 1 inch. need to eye ball both splines so they are straight .

Thanks guys. Once you explained it to me it was as Easy as a Sunday Morning. I loosened up the pressure plate bolts and inserted the keepers under each finger. Try to stab it once that way and no go so I took the plate and clutch off the flywheel, slid them on the shaft, and it pushed right up.

I guess they needed to include an instruction sheet for us dummies that those keepers were in there in case the installer wants to put them on the shaft instead of the flywheel. When I bolted it up to the flywheel yesterday and they fell out I thought maybe it was something put on at the factory for shipping or left in there by mistake. I was more worried about them falling down inside the plate springs or if I had the correct alignment then I may have never known they would be loose in the bell housing.

Did some painting on the axle and bolster. Now I just need to figure out how those bolt up. I think I roll the axle underneath and then probably bolt them together and then the bolster bolts to the front of the engine. Found my old fan bolts that went missing also.

Then I can push it into the barn to finish it and get it running this week. Machine shop will loan me their hand pump and tank they use to pump oil through the galleys before starting it. I can use it to pump hytran through my new hydraulic pump I installed.

I didn't have a shaft to line it up but had this homemade thing made out of sockets on a bolt and then eyeballed it and it looked centered to me. I gave the pilot bearing to the machine shop when they surfaced the flywheel and it didn't occur to me that they could ship a wrong one. So I never got a chance to compare them cause I bot the clutch kit after the flywheel was already at the shop. But I checked it first thing today and it was the correct bearing.

Sorry I started out doing things the hard way when I had to park it under a tree to pull the engine to begin with using a 4 ton comealong for a hoist. It was slow going. The IH manual doesn't really say much about clutch installation.

After what you said about not having a clutch alignment tool, I am 99.95% sure that the clutch disk was a little out of line. Eyeballing it just doesn't work. All it takes is a fraction of a fraction and it won't go together. Loosen the pressure plate or push the clutch pedal and it's all over. Been there done that.