Clutch stuck on Farmall C

CT8N · Aug 15, 2011

My 1950 Farmall C has a stuck clutch. I only drive it every 2 or 3 months and the last time I tried the clutch was stuck. I have had the pedal tied down for 2 weeks, tried driving it, rocking in gear, and spraying BP blaster near the throwout bearing through the starter hole.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Charles

Janicholson · Aug 15, 2011

Drive it in 3dr gear and quickly apply the brakes. Be careful!
The clutch is nested down inside the flywheel, and can't be squirted very well.
Putting it in high gear, and bumping the starter with the brakes on, and the ignition OFF can also snap them loose. Other than that it is a Split of the trans from the engine. Jim

JRSutton · Aug 15, 2011

Can be hard/dangerous to start in gear!

If you have somebody with another tractor, you could try having them tow you with clutch in, and in high gear.

Just that initial pull might be enough to pop it. if not, keep going, and try the brakes (and be sure you're pushing the cluth in).

JRSutton · Aug 15, 2011

Oh - wait - sorry, I read the response more than the original question and thought the clutch was stuck to the flywheel...

is the clutch engaged or disengaged?

After re-reading the actual question, it sounds like it's stuck disengaged - since you tied the clutch down to avoid what I thought.

But now I can't help - I'd try a crow bar through the inspection port, but have never dealt with it myself.

ih560 · Aug 15, 2011

I had a Ford truck do the same thing. I had just put a new pressure plate and kevlar clutch disc in it with a freshly machined flywheel and then it sit in the driveway over the weekend and it was very humid and rained a couple times, went to start it up monday monday and it took off with the clutch down. I tried everything to get it loose, including holding the clutch down while my wife pulled it with a tractor while in gear and it would just scoot the tires. Had to end up unbolting the transmission and sliding it back far enough that I could loosen the pressure plate bolts and pry the clutch loose from the flywheel, after that it was fine.

Bill in NJ · Aug 15, 2011

You say you have the clutch pedal tied down and the clutch will not release? Sure sounds to me like the throw out bearing is shot. Anything else and you would not be able to move the pedal. Well, maybe a broken linkage. We had one go bad on our 'C' last summer. The original bearing in those tractors was graphite. Ours shattered and flew apart. Any tell tale pieces of graphite fall out of the bell housing? Or are there pieces still in the bell housing? We replaced ours with a steel bearing. Means changing the bearing carrier also. Hope the clutch fingers weren't damaged. Cost for bearing and carrier = about $130.00 from Case/IH. Tractor needs to be split to work on clutch.

CT8N · Aug 15, 2011

Yes the clutch is tied down. No sign of graphite parts. I just shined a flashlight in there and found a grease zerk so I gave it a few shots. Everything in there looks fairly new. I will try driving again tomorrow.
Thanks All

gene bender · Aug 16, 2011

Thats not too uncommon to have the disc stuck to the flywheel. Sometimes getting it pushed from behind to get it started then push the clutch in and hit brakes hard a few times and that will usually get the clutch disc busted loose from the flywheel just make sure you have good clear distance in front

mkirsch · Aug 16, 2011

You can't see or squirt what needs to be seen and squirted through the inspection hole.

You do NOT want to squirt slippery liquid on the clutch disk or flywheel anyway!!! You'll go from the clutch never releasing to the clutch never grabbing!!!

The problem is most likely, that rust has formed between the clutch disk and the flywheel. It won't pop loose on its own sitting there. You need to drive the tractor around with the pedal down and hit the breaks to pop it loose.

If that doesn't work, it's either rusted very badly, or the pressure plate has failed. You can see/squirt the pressure plate through the inspection hole, but that's not gonna fix it.

ih560 · Aug 16, 2011

I would also like to add that on 2 separate occasions, I have seen a pressure plate split in to (making two half circles). and the clutch was unable to release because it would just separate into the two halves when you would press the clutch. The first time I seen it happen was on an M farmall during a pull when I tried to stop at the end, and the other time was a 2000 Ford Mustang GT 5 speed. I wouldn't think that is what has happened here, but I didn't think it would have happened in the other 2 cases either. Probably something more than likely just rusted in there and sticking, flywheel to clutch disc more than likely.

ccaissie · Mar 21, 2012

(quoted from post at 22:34:57 08/15/11) My 1950 Farmall C has a stuck clutch. I only drive it every 2 or 3 months and the last time I tried the clutch was stuck. I have had the pedal tied down for 2 weeks, tried driving it, rocking in gear, and spraying BP blaster near the throwout bearing through the starter hole.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Charles

I know this is late, and your problems are long past, but thought I'd share this successful story, Spring 2012, on a Super AV.

Tried banging on pressure plate cover, rocking, yanking, towing 1/4 mile in 1st gear, 3rd, 4th w/ clutch depressed, took the freeplay out to ensure full pedal effectiveness, all that. Finally, I loosened the tranny bolts, just enough to free the lock washers...maybe 1.0mm gap (thickness of a dime) at bottom, and towed it about 20' in 3rd gear w/ clutch pedal depressed, as before. Presto! All Good!

Clutch stuck on Farmall C

CT8N

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Janicholson

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JRSutton

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JRSutton

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ih560

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Bill in NJ

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CT8N

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gene bender

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mkirsch

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ih560

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ccaissie

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