574 very sick?

Was disking with my 574 last night. I’m way behind getting my corn planted this year. Everything was going well which for me is usually a sign for a disaster to descend upon me. First noticed a slight vibration happening. Then began to hear a strange buzzing like noise. Decided to head for the barn as it was getting late anyway. Was tired so let it sit for the night and tried starting it this morning. I did see some oil dripping from the clutch housing inspection cover. Not a lot but some. Definite bangs and rattling coming from that area as well when it started. Had to go to work and didn’t removed the cover to look in there yet. Kind of afraid of what I might find. The engine started right up and all the fluids seemed fine. Shut her right off again. It sounds like the noise is coming from the clutch housing area but not even positive of this yet. Any guesses as to what it might be?
Tim

Wow, from your description it could one or more of as lot of things. The oil drip concerns me most. Is it a new drip? That could be coming from the engine rear main seal or the transmission input shaft seal. Not familiar with your tractor, so I don't know if there are any other things in there that could leak. (Hydraulic pump?) Now for the vibration. What I would check first is the clutch pressure plate springs. If any of them are broken that is a problem. Also, there are usually vibration dampening springs in the clutch disk. If any of them are broken or missing that could be it. Other things to check. Transmission input shaft pilot bearing in the flywheel. Is the flywheel tight? The transmission input shaft bearing could be shot.

Hi Tim, is the 574 a D-239 Diesel or gas, how many
engine hours, when was last time clutch replaced?
Was PTO in use or only hydraulics when noise
started? Is it crankcase oil or hydraulic oil
dripping? Does it have a T/A?


JimB

(quoted from post at 02:14:54 06/08/11) Hi Tim, is the 574 a D-239 Diesel or gas, how many
engine hours, when was last time clutch replaced?
Was PTO in use or only hydraulics when noise
started? Is it crankcase oil or hydraulic oil
dripping? Does it have a T/A?


JimB

Click to expand...

Jim
It’s a diesel. Not sure on the hours as the gauge doesn’t work but considerable. PTO was not engaged at the time. Hydraulics were working. Oil appeared to be engine oil and had not noticed the leak there before. No TA. Gonna take a peak at it when I get home but getting scared!
Tim

A tranny bearing was myfirst thought to

Hi Tim, my brother has a 684 same D-239 German
Diesel as your 574. It always leaked a little
crankcase oil at the clutch inspection plate. If
we were using it in one field that had a side hill
it would leak about a quart of oil in 10 hrs. At
about 7,000 hrs we had to do a clutch, pressure
plate, release and pilot bearing job. When we took
the flywheel off to have it turned, we noticed 3
of the 4 rear main bearing oil seal cap screws
were loose. We torqued them to spec and it has not
leaked a drop since and that was about 10 years
ago. Hope your cap screws haven't backed out into
flywheel.

Re vibration and noise, as someone else said
probably a clutch or pressure plate spring broken
or clutch release bearing but release bearing
should not turn unless clutch is depressed and the
same with pilot bearing.

JimB

Took the inspection cover off and fished this mess out. Not quite sure what I'm looking at yet though as I cant see where this all came from. Sure dont look good though. Looks like its going to be a big project which I didnt need right now. Any ideas?

Without anything for scale, my first guess would be the nose of your starter. Not the first one to have disintegrated like that. Engine kicks back a few times, drive gets worn and the gear teeth try to climb over, little cracks start and become bigger, one last time you start it, the nose breaks completely, but doesn't fall off until later. If you are lucky you can get all the pieces out of the housing and it won't have damaged anything else. If you aren't lucky, you may be replacing a clutch at least.

Hi Tim, I agree with Harold, starter pieces. There is nothing in the drive line that looks like your photo. Easy to pull the starter.

JimB

Yep! I can visualize that now. I wasn’t even thinking about the starter. The big chunk was rattling around on the top of the throw out bearing. Had a heck of a time getting it out from up there. Was looking up high and couldn’t figure where it could come from. One of the small pieces was stuck in the clutch springs. Ill pull the starter tomorrow and put all the pieces together to see if I’m missing any that might still be in there.
I could see some nicks in the back of the clutch but don’t think they are serious. Ill check the ring gear too. Strangely it still would start like this. It would be great if I didn’t have to split the tractor. Can I really get that lucky?
The oil leak might have been there before. I had been disking for several hours and on a side hill and it was hot. Oil level is still fine so don’t think it could be leaking too badly.
Thanks for the help guys!
Tim

(quoted from post at 15:29:06 06/07/11) Hi Tim, my brother has a 684 same D-239 German
Diesel as your 574. It always leaked a little
crankcase oil at the clutch inspection plate. If
we were using it in one field that had a side hill
it would leak about a quart of oil in 10 hrs. At
about 7,000 hrs we had to do a clutch, pressure
plate, release and pilot bearing job. When we took
the flywheel off to have it turned, we noticed 3
of the 4 rear main bearing oil seal cap screws
were loose. We torqued them to spec and it has not
leaked a drop since and that was about 10 years
ago. Hope your cap screws haven't backed out into
flywheel.



Re vibration and noise, as someone else said
probably a clutch or pressure plate spring broken
or clutch release bearing but release bearing
should not turn unless clutch is depressed and the
same with pilot bearing.

JimB

Click to expand...

JimB, I suppose the tractor needed to be split to get to the seal bolts?

Thanks
Andy