65 Ford 4500 backhoe clutch stuck

warddog

Member
My cousin has this 65 Ford backhoe that only has the loader on it as someone has removed the back hoe from it. It has sat quite some time as he uses it very little because of it's size. He tried to use it a couple weeks ago and the clutch is frozen. He can start it in neutral but can't shift it after starting but he can put it in gear when off. We tried to start it in gear today but it pulled the battery way down trying to start it as it moved in gear. Any ideas of how to free up the clutch without breaking it apart as that looks like a very BIG job with all that big loader/backhoe framework on it? He has put a big rock on the clutch pedal to hold it down but didn't help. He also pulled the starter and tried to spray brake cleaner into the flywheel but I doubt he got it in there very good.
 
Block the clutch pedal down. Start the tractor in high gear, jack up a wheel if you need to. Drive the front in loader into the biggest tree you can find. Have to have some speed and hold on tight. Sounds crazy, but it works every time.
 
Youre better off putting it in the front yard with a for sale sign on it. After you mangle the bucket and break the frame running it into trees, youll be lucky to get scrap price for it.
 
Block the back end of the tractor off the ground. You should be able to jump it into gear at low idle then by using the throttle to vary the speed you can work your way up into high gear. Hold the clutch down and at full throttle jump on the brakes hard then release so you don't stall the tractor. The shock load of jumping on the brakes should break it free. I usually do it driving but you need to have a lot of room to get it worked into high gear.

Mark
 
Thank you for all the replies guys. We got the clutch unlocked. We removed the starter and the spark plugs. Made a hose with a 90 degree fitting on it so we could spray brake cleaner down the back of the fly wheel to hopefully get it to reach the clutch. Sprayed some and then turned the flywheel with a screw driver and sprayed some more. kept turning and spraying until we used up two cans of brake cleaner. Had run the battery down so charged it back up and put5 a jumper on it to get a good boost to start. My cousin was headed for a BIG ole tree to run it into and we heard a big ole YAAHOOO. The clutch had came loose and was working prior to meeting up with that big ole oak tree. Maybe ole yeller heard us talking about which tree we liked and decided she better come loose or get crashed. Ole yeller is in the garage with about a 15 pound rock on the clutch pedal.
 

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