Oily 40C Steering Clutches

[dmlinton]

Greetings! I finally got the right track pin out, removed tracks and went to work accessing my 40C steering clutches presumed to be worn out.

BUT, upon removing the housings, the clutches and brake bands are very wet with oil. Kind of explains why they do not work. The wettest one is the weakest one.

It is clearly transmission oil but I cannot figure out how it got into the clutch housings. Any advice? Is this a result of overfilling the transmission with oil? A few years ago, I found a lot of water in the transmission oil - drained and replaced it. No sign of water in oil in steering clutch housings though.

What it the proper course of action here? Clean up (degrease) the clutches and brake bands and put it all back together?

Thanks in advance.
- Dennis

[PowerStroker]

you should clean it all up as you mentioned.
as to how it got in there????????????

[JD440ICD2006]

Most folks say that once the disk have had oil, you will NEVER get it all out no matter what you do. You get most of the surface oil out, but when you use it and they begin to warm up, more oil that cannot be gotten out comes to the surface and you are back where you started.
I would make sure I know how the oil got in there, fix that, and then put all new disk. Otherwise, you will get real good at working on the rear end section of your crawler by virtue of how many times you take it apart and put it back together.

[CELSESSER]

dennis,
There are only 2 ways the oil can get in there. One way if it is truly transmission oil is through bad seals between the transmission and clutch housing and the other is from bad pinion seals between the final drives and the clutch housing. Some people replace both when repairing clutches.
As to what JD440 was saying, he is referring to the fiber disks retaining oil. Clean everything well, replace the offending seals,put in new fibers(check the steel disks for flatness and wear), check the throwout bearings and if in doubt replace the pressure plates, use the proper gauge to set the pressure plates.
Whichever side it is comming from check to see if the bearings are ok since a shaft that is wobbling around is often what will take out a seal.
I suppose one other way oil could have gotten in there is through the access holes, someone putting it in there to free stuck clutches?
Do you have service and parts mannuals? If not get them!

Chuck

[Lavoy]

If it is coming from the trans, look in the throwout tube, there will be a layer of oil in there. If the oil is behind the brake drum, then it is from the pinion shaft in the final.
Fiber discs can not be cleaned, you will never remove all of the oil, and once they heat up, it will come to the surface again. The brake band might work, but will still likely get an oil film on the surface as the band heats up.
Lavoy