John Deere B clutch

I have a ?51 B with a smoking clutch, being a Ferguson expert I am not sure what?s wrong

All answers excepted

Sincerely,
Mr.Ferguson

Does your clutch operate properly? Does it slip or fail to pull properly? If the clutch operates as it should, you could be getting some smoke due to blow by in the engine. Engine smoke from worn rings etc. will vent through the clutch mechanism. Not really a problem unless it gets very severe.

Pappy is right. Excessive engine blow-by caused by worn rings.

You have to hold the the clutch in order to stay engaged

More better information is what was needed. Pappy's first question was does the clutch operate properly and this one is not operating properly as it needs adjusted desperately.

Push the clutch lever forward and remove pulley cover. Find under the cover three castellated nuts with cotter keys locking the prior adjustment. Remove the cotter keys and count how many flats or turns it takes to snug them up with only weak wrist action on a ratchet wrench. Reinsert the cotter keys after adjusting turns in to be the same for all three bolts. Pull back on the clutch handle and there should now be a pop over action which is designed to engage the clutch without having to hold it. The strength of the pop over action is dependent on how tight or mean you were with the wrist tightening of the three bolts. If you are too strong here, you can easily have a clutch that is too hard to operate. Main idea is to turn in the nuts on the adjusting bolts evenly, but not so tight that you can't disengage the clutch with moderate effort and at the same time have a firm lock up of clutch parts for mostly hands off operation. Some people like to do this adjustment with a small torque wrench at maybe 30 foot lbs. and this insures that each bolt is sharing the load evenly which is the ideal situation. If pop over is too weak then increase the torque used. It is a matter of taste some like a strong clutch and others are fine with a light touch as long as it doesn't slip and smoke.