Clutch soaked in oil

I split the tractor to rebuild the engine. I noticed the clutch was soaked in oil, and there was ton of thick oil in the bell house (is that the correct name?). Where is it coming from? I am guessing it came from failed crank shaft sealer. Could it be coming from the transmission side?

Oil in that area can come from both the engine and the transmission side as you describe.

However, I would agree with your assessmnet that the engine crank rear seal is the source of oil on the clutch.

Jeff

You want to check the bottom of the bell housing to make sure there are two cotter pins in the bottom that are a little loose so they are able to jiggle around and keep the two holes open so the oil can get out and not onto the clutch, otherwise you can end up with this same problem again.

Oil can come from both locations, but lots of oil is most likely from the transmission. The seal on the main drive shaft is often bad, but until you either slosh enough oil or take a fairly steep downhill grade you won"t get much in the clutch housing. This is a very common problem. While you have the tractor split it is a good time to change it. A service manual really helps with this fix.

You say it is thick oil, that sounds like it is transmission/hydraulic oil. If the oil is not black but maybe brown or yellow in color it is transmission oil if it is black it is engine oil. Engine oil will be from Rear Crankshaft seal, remove flywheel and the housing behind, take care fitting new seal that you don't damage the sealing lip. If it is transmission oil, look at the front wall of the Transmission in the Clutch housing and look for oil from any of the plates attached to the front, tighten them or fit a new gasket if necessary. If there is no leak from there it will be from the main drive shaft into the Transmission, there is a small seal just in front of the front wall of the Transmission. Remove the Thrust Bearing and the cross-shaft, remove the 4 screws holding the housing with the shaft inside to the front of the transmission, it maybe stuck but just give it a knock with your hands sideways and it should come off. If the shaft where the seal runs is damaged in anyway it will damage the new seal, but you can fit a repair kit to the shaft that the seal can run on.
Make sure that you use the correct oil in the Transmission/hydraulics, it should be 15W/30 Multi-grade, as you would use in a gas powered engine, not a diesel.
John (UK)[email protected]

I'm not sure what tractor you have and far be it for me to match wits with the fellers on here, but I was going to suggest the oil is coming from the steering housing above. It seems that every one of them leaks oil into the clutch housing. I rebuilt steering box and went so far as to braze the weep hole shut in the bottom of the steering box plate and it still leaks. I should have used RTV black silicone on the gasket but I didn't. I think I'm going to squirt it full of JD cornhead grease and force the GL-1 out the top of the fill hole. Maybe that will stop it.

Irv

(quoted from post at 17:22:34 08/09/10) I'm not sure what tractor you have and far be it for me to match wits with the fellers on here, but I was going to suggest the oil is coming from the steering housing above. It seems that every one of them leaks oil into the clutch housing. I rebuilt steering box and went so far as to braze the weep hole shut in the bottom of the steering box plate and it still leaks. I should have used RTV black silicone on the gasket but I didn't. I think I'm going to squirt it full of JD cornhead grease and force the GL-1 out the top of the fill hole. Maybe that will stop it.

Irv

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I have to20, the steering box is leaking badly, so I will fix that as well. Thanks for the feedback, never thought about that.