the tractor vet
Well-known Member
Ah well that is one thing i never did but my buddy did it one time . The vary first day he and i put both trucks to work . The new button clutches were just out and on or two new trucks . He and loaded two loads of fire clay and had close to a 100000 in the wagons yea we had close to fifty ton on each . We left the mine with no problems and headed west across Ohio Rt 165 from N Lima headed for the pipe plant in Mogidore . Mike had the lead . when we got to US 62 and 165 we got caught b y the new traffic light as it was NOt working like it should and did not stay green for us the full 30 seconds and Mike had to make a panic stop on that steep hill When he tried to take off that button clutch was extreamly grabby and would grab and kill the engine . And he wold miss the light . He was jumpen and hoppen and could not get it to move . He got mad and as the light turned gren he reved it up hit the jake brake causing the engine to almost die and jerked it into LOW and layed into the fuel as he did this the left ft. tire came a good foot off the ground as the whole tractor twisted and he got thru the light . I was dead on the hill and was having the same problem , I took a different route i held the truck with the hand valve and put the go pedal on the floor and started coming up on the clutch slipping it to no end then eased off the brakes and took off . From then on i had no more grabby clutch . Just glad our new trucks had the 46000 rockwells and the 1810 drive line . When you haul as heavy as we did you wanted to do everything SMOOTH and easy . Like coming up out of strip mines Once you got the load moving you picked a gear that you had ample power in and you STAYED in that gear even though while on the flats you could grab one or two more but end up dropping down a couple for the next hill you stayed where you were at . W B Coal was a killer of trucks and vary few could pull the hill coming out . Yep you could make a run on the hill even get into the high side of a 13 speed and even up to 6ths direct , BUT it woukd suck you down so hard and fast your next gear would be 3rd on the low side and the next one would be first as you had no time to go to 2nd and what 1st would get you was SPUN OUT and this is when everything went wrong , (1st) you could NOT hold the truck on the hill with the brakes and i don't care if you had brand new shoes and drum and everything was adjusted correctly YOU were going down the hill backwards and this hill cured to the left . Most would loose it and end up going over the bank you only hope was to bail out and let her go . About one per week went over the hill . Mike and i could do the hill as we had the pony power to run second and we were now five axle outfits and carried more weight on the drives . the six axles were either pushed out or pulled out by a 988 Cat loader and when it was raining or snow they they would bring the 992 and the 988 with the 992 hooked to the ft and the 988 pushing against the tailgate . The regulars had push blocks on there tailgates we did not . So it was power divider locked in and second gear and stay in the two tracks and away from the gravel . We would top the hill at 1800 to 1850 RPM . My org clutch lasted for about 325000 miles before i pulled the centers out . BUT just jerking them into get Nah drive line repair digs way deep into the piggy bank . I had a powerdivider failure and i did the rebuild myself and had just shy of two grand in gears bearing and seals. and a lost day of work . Down time will kill ya .
