MF 165 PTO Clutch gone bad?

I've been using the tractor to cut the weeds out of the horse pasture and to hopefully give the grass a chance to take over. All was going well until today. Today, when I attempted to engage the PTO all I got was a grinding noise like I had no clutch at all. I noticed that when I bought the tractor (less than a month ago) it took the slightest bit of pressure to engage the PTO and it made a slight grind sound as the gears engaged. I just babied it with a little palm pressure on the PTO handle and it didn't bother me. That is not the case now. I adjusted the clutch pedal to get a little more travel. My transmission gears for the engine worked before, but are better now and at first the PTO problem was solved. Next attempt about an hour later showed the probem had not changed. When the gears are engaged the PTO works fine. The problem is getting it to go into gear. It will not go into gear when I move the PTO lever forward or backward. If I push the clutch all the way down to engage the PTO clutch it also makes a noise that doesn't sound right (kind of like a quiet u-joint bearing tring to grind/pop a little. I ordered and received my shop manual from this site. Looking at it I have to split the tractor in two to get to the clutch. However I'm not sure which transmission I have and the manual is not as user friendly as my Honda shop manual to help me. I thought the manual was for my tractor alone, but there are other tractors models in there and many options to choose from within each model. Pictures are a little hard to read being a copy of the original MF manual I assume. My tractor has a high/low range stick shift lever on the right. The left transmission lever has a reverse and 3 gears. there is also a lever on the lower left of the dash that says hi/low but it is faded and I can't really read it (looks like a lawnmower throttle)... not sure if this is part of the transmission, but from reading other posts I think it controls it somehow -- it doesn't seem to do anything when I change it around but is mechanically hooked up the the transmission housing and I see physical movement of a pin that enters the transmission housing. The tractor does tend to accelererate when going down hill and the engine does not hold the tractor back. Looking for any help on how to tackle this. Tractor has 4000 hrs on it and the guage still works. Not sure if there is one clutch unit that has two clutches in it or if there are 2 different clutches in two different areas of the tractor. Also, once the tractor is in two pieces, what else should I replace while I'm in there (In a car I would replace the pressure plate, clutch and throw-out bearing). Splitting the tractor does not seem hard but the manual is a little hard to read when it comes to the disassembly of the clutch housing on one of the options presented (not sure if that is my unit or not).

Also, at first when I got the PTO to engage the bushhog lifted on the 3 pt hitch and wouldn't go down (that never happened before)... I don't think I had the PTO fully in gear because it only did this when the lever never really engaged all the way. when fully engaged all worked well. 3 poing hitch also works fine with PTO in neutral. For now I'm going to engage the PTO prior to starting the tractor.

this is a little long, but I wanted to reveal everything I know. thanks again for your help

I got lucky and didn't have to split the case. I adjusted the internal secondary clutch adjustments from the access panel and then played with the external linkage a little and the PTO once again works.... couldn't have done it without the help of this discussion group!

Very Respectfully,
Dean

But here's one more bit.. if you're not getting any engine braking going downhill, your Multi-power is in the "low" position. Engine braking is available in 'high' only.

The speed difference between the high and low settings isn't wildly noticable... (about 15%) so your muli-power may indeed be working and you may not be noticing it.... especially if the tractor is new to you.

This is a probably a good thing to know before you take things apart as it may define the scope of what you need to do inside the cases.

To find out for sure, go find a hill with the multi-power lever it in one position, see if you get braking...then try the other position and see if you get any engine braking.

Another way to tell is that the tractor is a lot harder to shift when at rest with any 'load' on the transmission at all.

I've heard (but not read myself) that having a working multi-power is somewhat important as there are components of the transmission that don't get enough lube if you are stuck in the 'low' position..(i.e. you've got to run in high every so often to make sure oil gets to the right places).

Hope this helps..

bbott