440 drive line question

[JOHNSIGY]

Hi Fellows.
I'm a school bus mechanic with a great idea of owning a 440IC. Any how my question is , I have had the friction plate rebuilt and it's now a ceramic plate, I also had the pressure plate done at the same time. When I installed it the fingers of the pressure plate stuck out so far that when I put the engine back togethere with the tranny the throw out bearing would release the plate. I made sure that the throw out bearing was as far back as possible, so I adjusted the fingers on pressure plate myself using a couple of wrenches and a depth guage. So now tell me the bad news, how bad is this idea? It's seems to push dirt ok, but when I get to a big pile of dirt it stops moving and I hear bad noises out of the reverser tranny area which I think is a completely different problem. Thanks for any ideas and help.
Jonsigy

[sam]

hi,
Your reverser may be slipping on worse stripping. I checked to see if my main clutch was slipping by pushing on something solid or use the brake with the inspection plug out of the reverer. Oil didn't go every where so i figured it was the clutch. Problem is if your reverer is slipping I don't know if it will still slig oil out.
sam

[JOHNSIGY]

Sam,
Thanks for the info I'll give a try as soon as it quits raining and it gives me a couple of days of dry weather.
Johnsigy

[Lavoy]

The engine clutch pressure plate needs to be set with a clutch gauge once installed to get the fingers to the correct height. That does not mean that you don't have something else slipping, but it could be.
Lavoy

[JOHNSIGY]

Lavoy,
I should just pull the pressure plate back out with the friction plate and send it back where I had it rebuilt and tell them what the problem is and have it done right. Thanks for your input. While I have your attention let me ask you one question . If this crawler is running correctly should I be able to put the blade aganist a unmovable object and the tracks well keep going and just start digging in or not ?
Sigy

[Lavoy]

Actually, if you call them, they will tell you it is already adjusted correctly. The catch is, it is adjusted to a spec on his bench, which may or may not have any realationship to your crawler. The gauge I spoke of is used to set the pressure plate fingers so that the are correct for your flywheel.
Yes, all things being equal, it should spin the tracks, or kill the enigine. You either have a slipping engine clutch, reverser, or both track clutches. For a quick check on steering clutches, pull the bottom cover, or if you have a PTO, put it in gear, and then do your test. If the PTO shaft or stub shaft in the back cover is turning and the crawler is not moving, then it is your steering clutches.
Lavoy

[JOHNSIGY]

Lavoy,
Thank you for the information that you give us guys , its helps us immensely , and keeps us plugging away on these old girls.

Sigy