Farmall C grinding gears

I have a early farmall c than has one heck of a time with the transmission. when I step the clutch in I have to "grind" the gears (or PTO). After the tractor is in gear I can change gears w/o any problems. Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

It takes 15-30+ seconds for the gears in the transmission to stop spinning once you step the clutch. If you move the gear shift lever to the far right and then push it away from you there is a sort of transmission brake at that spot. This works on both of my C's. These transmissions do not have syncronizers so you have to be patient with them.

They all clash some, the nature of the beast. Easiest first recommendation is to count off three or four seconds after depressing teh clutch pedal and see if that cuts down on it -- gives the input shaft time to spin down to a stop after the clutch is released. Could be too much free play in the clutch pedal, but just as or more likely a dirty pilot bushing.

Checking and adjusting free play is easy if that's what it needs. The arm of the pedal should be 1-7/16" in front of the edge of the top deck when you begin to feel the tension of the bearing hitting the clutch fingers. The adjustment is by turning teh clevis on the rod that connects the pedal arms to the short arm on the torque.

If that's all in adjustment, next most likely is the pilot bushing. Test for that needs a helper. With clutch pedal properly adjusted, the motor running at or near idle, drive train in neutral, PTO in gear and the clutch disengaged, see if the PTO shaft is turning. If it is, it's likely the pilot bushing. Engage the clutch so that the PTO should be turning anyway, then throw the clutch back out and see how long it takes to stop. If tow or three seconds everything's probably fine. If it keeps turning with clutch released, it'll most likey be the pilot bushing.

The other thing that happens often is if the clutch had been stuck at some point, sometimes a piece of clutch facing will break off and be jambed between the flywheel and pressure plate. This will try to keep the transmission spinning. I have personally never had a pilot bearing drag enough to cause gear clash but I have had clutch pieces cause a problem.

If the tractor starts well, just start it in gear, with the clutch down, and every shift is from gear to gear. Same goes with engaging the PTO. If you have it in gear when you engage the PTO the gears will not be spinning. You may have to slip the clutch a little to get the PTO lined up.

Can you externally grease the pilot bearing in a C like you can in an H or M?

Nope. It's a bushing, maybe Oilite, maybe plain bronze. Goes in dry and no more access to lube. I know they'll get cruddy eventually anyway, but I think sometimes a lot of the problems with them are caused by people lubing them befoe assembly so that they accumulate a lot more crud and sooner, and getting stickier sooner than they would have if put in dry.

My H had the clutch sticking due to a leaky rear main seal. The clutch disk was bound up. I had to start in gear as it got worse. You can try to dead head the hydraulics if so equipped and break it free.