Farmall Cub Rockford Clutch Question

Hi. I'm new to this website and may be in the wrong place, so if I am someone please straighten me out!

I bought a '53 Cub that hasn't been run in about ten years. While working on it I noticed the clutch pedal was almost laying down on the stop, so I adjusted the clutch at the pedal to about 1" free play. I got it running yesterday and when I pushed in the clutch I got a very unpleasant noise similar to gring gears, only I wasn't touching the shifter.

I went underneath and pulled the inspection hole cover. I could see that the lock nuts on the finger adjusting screws were loose and the screws themselves were backed WAY out. The noise was the throwout bearing fork hitting the locknuts as they went by.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the finger adjustment screws being backed out is the reason that the pedal was low to start with and properly adjusted finger screws would probably make the world a much better place to be. But, how to get them adjusted?

I do not want to split the trctor at this point because it is located 30 miles from my house and is in a storage building with no electricity or lights. Does anyone know of a procedure for adjusting the finger screws on a Rockford clutch through the inspection hole and with the tractor unsplit?

It can be done. I did it on a Loboy, which is 8" closer to the ground, and it had the mower deck on it at the time. A bare Cub should be an easy sit-up job.

IIRC you need a stubby screwdriver and a 7/16" combination wrench. Over on the farmallcub.com site they describe making a gauge out of a stick with a screw in it for setting all three fingers to the same height.

Many thanks for the information!

Do you know where abouts on the farmallcub.com site that gauge information is located?

The reading you want is 1 1/4" from the surface of the mounting plate to the center of the web on the forks. It's not a hard job - just a little tedious.

Thanks Bigdog. I'll be over there Wednesday night re-installing the starter and will take a shot at the clutch while I'm there. I'll let you know how it goes.