Case LA Clutch

Notice that the clutch on our 1947 Case LA is stiff. Notice when it is cold that it will not lock in the engage position. When running and warms up it will almost lock in the the engage poisition. I open the handhole cover and noticed that on the shaft there is a coupler tampered and than a flat spot at rear of it. Is there an adjustment missing or anything that i am missing. Any help would be helpful.

Thank-you

I don't really know about Case LAs , but if you look in the access hole, you should see a threaded device of some sort for adjusting the clutch. It may be a small threaded sleeve behind the throw-out bearing, or a large threaded ring next to the flywheel, with holes or notches around the perimeter for locking purposes. The thing that can make a over-center clutch stiff to operate, is if the throw-out bearing slides on a sleeve, the dead grease can get gummy and sticky. This is assuming that the linkage isn't damaged or frozen, and that the fork freely rotates in the clutch cover or bell housing. Get a can of Blaster and hose down the area around the throw-out bearing. The clutch lining is too far away to get penetrant on it, don't worry about that. The best advice I can give you is start by finding an I.T. manual for you tractor. One tip that may help is that be prepared to adjust the clutch more than once in the same day. This is because when you start banging away at the adjustment, all that clutch dust neatly stored in the flywheel is going to fall down between the clutch plates and make the clutch adjustment feel tighter than it really is. The book will give pounds of effort required to engage the clutch, but I like to set them up just enough so it clicks in easy. If you pull a plow and it slips, go one more notch. Don't get carried away. Excessive engagement pressure is hard on the throw-out bearing and makes the machine harder to operate.