Dexta single clutch, tractor won't go into gear

[pat777]

Hello to all. This is my first post in the forum. I took ownership of a fordson dexta a few months back now and I have been using it without any problems for the past few months. I have a transport box and I have been moving topsoil and gravel etc around the garden. So a couple of weeks ago I was out in the garden with the transport box in tow. I had been doing a good bit of maneuvering back and forward into the top soil pile, that had been sitting for a while and had become quite compacted. During some of this maneuvering the tractors back wheels had been going up on to the top soil pile and it had been off level.

I had just emptied a load of topsoil and went to put my foot on the clutch pedal and it felt different to normal, and low and behold it would not go into gear and I just experienced a grinding sound as I tried to put it into gear. Anyway to cut a long story short, after multiple attempts trying to get the tractor to go into gear, I eventually succeeded and got it back to my garage. When I pushed the clutch in and pressed the brake to try and stop, nothing happened so I had to pull the emergency stop lever to stop.

My mechanical knowledge is fairly limited, however I endeavored with the help of my father, (who has more mechanical knowledge but has never worked with tractors before) to split the tractor to have a look inside to see what was going wrong. So when we split the tractor we noticed that one of the release lever yokes had lost its tension due to the clevis pin having jumped out of place (no cotter pin was found). So we thought we had the problem resolved and took the clutch off and put the clevis pin back in place and put everything back together. Again long story short, we put the tractor back together and it was still displaying the same symptoms, grinding from the gearbox when attempts were made to put it into gear.

Link to fordson dexta manual with cutaway view of single clutch. http://tractorspares.ie/Manual%20Part5.pdf

Unfortunately we did not take any pictures when we had the tractor split as we thought we had resolved the problem. However whilst searching topics on the subject of the dexta clutch within the forum, I came across this thread with a picture, which gives a good indication of the condition of the housing on my own dexta, so I presume some seals will need replacing.



Link to other thread discussing oil in clutch housing. http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... hp?p=25465

One other thing, the main drive shaft seemed to have a lot of play in it, I wasn't sure if this should be the case in order to make realigning the tractor easier or is there a problem with it.

So I guess we will have to split the tractor again. Can anybody give me some advice as to what may be causing my problems. Any and all advice much appreciated.

Cheers Pat

[pat777]

Here are a few pictures of my dexta and also a "tool" we made up on the wood lathe for centering the clutch back on to the flywheel.








Link to previous threads discussing dexta clutch with useful information.

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/ubb/F ... 01115.html

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... 36&p=36481

http://www.fordsontractorpages.nl/phpbb ... 931&p=6205

Ford clutch alignment tool

[Dunggatherer]

Hi Pat, i see a lot of black stuff in your clutch-housing.
And you state you will need to replace some seals.
I suspect you have a sticking clutch-plate.

I had one once, and took off the entire clutch, pressure plate and all.
I put it in a big plastic bin and added a gallon of "cold-degreaser".
Let it soak for a week and the clutch was clean and working again.

Of course i replaced the crankshaft-seal too.

Good luck!

Rob.

[pat777]

Hi Rob

Thanks for the reply, the clutch plates had a black coating of black dust on them, however it felt dry as opposed to oily. The picture above is actually another members bell housing, however mine did look very similar to it. I'm planning to split the tractor again soon, so I will take some pictures when I do. That's a good tip about the cold-degreaser. Was there a particular brand that you would recommend. I'm in Ireland so perhaps the same brand will not be available here.

I was wondering were the release lever adjusting screws not in the correct position also and I was wondering could this be my problem. There was some wear on the release lever adjusting screws, again I probably need to take a photograph so that others could comment properly on their condition. Is it possible that the clutch release bearing is not making contact with these adjusting screws. I know the manual says that these are factory set and should not be adjusted but has anybody ever attempted to adjust these adjusting screws themselves?

Cheers Pat

[pat777]

Fordson Dexta clutch test

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggOj3jN-kcc

Can anybody tell me what measurements the engineer is taking in this YouTube clip. When he is measuring the gap between the clutch plates with a feeler gauge he says the gap is two thou or 0.0508mm. Is this the correct gap for the clutch plates?

Cheers Pat

[Dunggatherer]

Umm yes it is possible that the clutch will not release enough when the "bolts" or the release bearing are worn.
If your clutch seems free of oil, that's the first thing i would check.