LADY IN DISTRESS, ROCKY MOUNT NORTH CAROLINA AREA WITH 9N TRACTOR

She has taken the tractor to the Ford/New Holland dealer there and they are telling her that parts for the lift are no longer available and that the clutch is shot and several other fables about the tractor and have given her an estimate of over $1500.00 to fix it and then not guarentee anything.

She told me over the phone that they wouldn't even offer her anything at all on a trade but that one of the benovelant guys back in the shop might consider offering her maybe $500.00 for it.
These people are just trying to take advantage of a woman because they think she is stupid enough to take it hook line and sinker and pay the outragous prices for things the tractor doesn't even need to begine with.

This is the lady who paid over $3000.00 for the tractor to begin with and then installed a ZANE THANG AND LIVE THANG on the tractor herself.

The problem she is having with the tractor is that the clutch will not disengage when the pedal is depressed and I think it either just needs to be adjusted or the linkage may be broken at the shaft lever where it enters the clutch housing.

First is there anybody out that way that you know of that would fix the tractor for her? She is willing to pay a fair price to have what needs fixed. She just doesn't want to be robbed outright!
I told her on the phone just now to take the tractor back home and not let them touch it!

Please if any of you folks who are within an hours drive or so that know of someone who would be willing to take the job of fixing the tractor contact me or Judy Luvek. Judy's Email address is JUDYLEVEK@AOL.COM. I know she would appreciate the help and I would too. I'd go fix it myself if I were not so far away from her home.

This is the Lady who has 10 natural born children with no multiple births and who raises nearly all the food that they consume.

You have to admire a woman who has the ability to do things like this and to have enough mechanical ability to install the devices that she got from me. She just doesn't have the equipment or tools to repair the clutch if it needs to be replaced which I don't really think it needs.

She has a husband but he is mechanically challenged and doesn't have a clue as to what to do to help.

If the clutch is bad it's about a 1/2 day job to repair it. One of the guys on the bullboard will help you.

While the tractor is split, other things to look for include:

Starter ring gear: If it's worn at all, now is the time to replace it. $20. May need a torch to re-set the ring gear. Input shaft seal: This is an automatic replace. $15
Pilot bearing: This often is OK, but $10 if not
Throwout bearing: 50/50 chance. $20
Pressure plate: If metal of the clutch has dragged on the pressure plate, it'll be necessary to resurface it. $35

Any machine shop can turn the pressure plate on a lathe to clean it up. You should check around for a shop that will do it on a moment's notice. If one of the guys on the bullboard comes to help you, it'd be good to know where he can get it done, PDQ. If you don't have access to an acetylene torch, a machine shop or welding shop can seat the ring gear. Locate this too.

Unfortunately, your closest source of parts is probably the jerk that "diagnosed" your tractor. I'd suggest you go somewhere else and buy everything you could possibly need, then return what isn't used.

Best regards, tOTG

Thank each of you who have taken my problem to heart and wished you could help.

I realize all of us today have longer "To Do" lists than we do time to accomplish them. I am sure it would be a huge inconvenience for someone to come from out of my local area to work on this tractor. I wish I could have found someone local who was reasonable and wasn't more interested in selling me a new machine.

This is such a nice little tractor with only a minor need or two, I hate to think of it, but guess I will need to look into how to list it on Ebay and take my losses.

I have sooo much enjoyed my brief time as an "N" owner

You folks on this board are a wonderful caring group. I've never taken part in a site such as this before and have been so helped by all your messages.

Sincerely, Judy Levesque in Battleboro, NC

Let's consider.

Did the clutch just up and quit one day? If it did, then likely something did break in the clutch throwout mechanism. For that, most likely, the tractor will need to be split at the transmission joint and the clutch repaired. Most people take the long view at this point and just put a new clutch in it - splitting the tractor is a lot of work, putting in a clutch is trivial once it's been split. New clutches and all associated parts are freely available and cheap.

Noone with even a shred of conscience could charge you more than $500 for a clutch replacement, and even that is stretching it hard.

If, on the other hand, the clutch has slowly gotten more and more balky - hard to get into gear, won't disengage smoothly (or at all) - you may be looking at nothing more than normal wear. You can adjust this for yourself in 10 minutes. You will need a pair of pliers and a 1/2" AF open-end wrench.

Look at the clutch pedal mechanism. The pedal pivots on the brake shaft, and has an ear sticking down from it. A shaft runs from a clevis attached to that ear, forward to a lever sticking out the side of the transmission, where it attaches with another clevis. The rod is threaded into the clevis at the rear end, and the rod and the clevis are locked together with a locknut on the threaded part of the rod.

Start by loosening this locknut.

Next, look at the clevis at the front end of the rod. It's attached to the lever with a pin, that's secured with a wire cotter through a hole in the pin. Use the pliers to close the cotter, then remove the pin to allow the shaft to come free.

You can now shorten the shaft by screwing it into the clevis at the rear. This will have the effect of taking up the wear in the throwout bearing and associated parts of the clutch mechanism. To shorten the shaft, turn it clockside as seen looking along the shaft from the front of the tractor.

I would start by turning it 4 full turns, then reattach it to the lever using the pin - don't put the cotter back in, you don't need it just to test it. You may need to have a helper hold up the clutch pedal while you hook it back together.

Try that and see if it gets better.

If it's better, experiment with shortening it another 4 full turns. If it doesn't make it any better, you may have a worn-out clutch, which does require replacement.

If that improves matters to where it's driveable, post back and we;ll cover how to secure the adjustment and check that you haven't over-done it.

As to hydraulics, you have been told a bunch of baloney. Hydraulics are easy to fix and the parts are readily available and cheap. It's just hard & dirty work, which may explain the reluctance of the delaership to do it for you.

Best of luck with it.

llater,

llamas

$570 for a clutch and pressure plate?

Hmmm.

A lightning check with the first supplier that popped up on this page showed that a complete clutch and pressure-plate kit will cost $168.50, and that's retail - dealer cost will be lower.

In a well-equipped shop, a clutch job cannot take more than 4 hours. Even at $50 an hour, you're still only looking at $370 plus tax and incidentals. A front seal? I think they mean a rear main seal. If there's no evidence of oil leaking from the clutch housing, this is unnecessary. Even if it is required, the seal is about $20 and the work to replace it is trivial when a clutch job is already being done.

That was the shirtcuff calculation which led me to mention the upper limit of $500. To me, $570 is an excessive and unreasonably-high figure.

My alarm bells really start to ringing when you tell me that they are charging you $150 for an estimate. That is, quite simply, immoral if they have done no disassembly or other investigation beyond looking at it and some simple, external tests. They're asking you for the equivalent of 3 hours of labor, and you brought them a tractor whose basic problems are self-evident, and which you had already diagnosed.

If it were me - and it is not me, and you must decide for yourself what is right - I would pay the estimate, and then stop the check, or reduce it to some nominal amount, like $25 or $30, and tell them to sue me for their "estimate". Then turn them in to your state consumer-protection agency. This is sharp practice of the worst and most blatant kind.

For the rest of their diagnosis - well, their track record is not so hot, so far, is it? I would let your own experience be the judge - they may say it has hydraulic problems, but you cen decide for yourself whether those problems are real in the context of your use of the tractor. And there are very few - if any - hydraulic problems - in fact, I can think of None - that will get much more expensive to repair if left alone. If the hitch is leaking down, for example - well, you can decide whether it leaks down too much or not. If you let it be until it leaks down too much (by your judgement) the cost of repairs will be identical then to what it is now.

I will put the word out to JohnToTG to come here and comment. He's been in the tractor-repair business for years plus ages, and he will have a reasoned comment about what this should cost. He may also be able to recommend a small operator in your area who will do this for a reasonable price.

Hope this helps, good luck with it.

llater,

llamas

Still makes me fighting mad that someone would try to take unfair advantage of a person like yourself.

kevin

:-)
Tyman

:-)
What do you think bg?
Any spare time?
Tyman