steering clutchs

[willy wagon]

looking at a 440 crawler that does not run. how will i know if the steering clutchs are stuck? also will this render it incapable of moving untill they are free? like winching it onto a trailer? it has sat for quite a while, outside.

[Tigerhaze]

If the steering clutches are stuck, the crawler will still be able to roll- the drive on each side will just not be able to be disengaged if the crawler were running.

Your bigger concern should be the brake bands. If they are too tight or rusted against the drums then it could keep the crawler from rolling. If that is the case, there should be inspection ports on the steering clutch housings to see if that is the case and potentially release the brake bands enough to allow it to roll.

You should be able to tell pretty quickly if it will roll- just take out of gear and try to pull with tractor or similar. If on a hard surface, it should roll.

You can always drag the crawler with brakes locked onto a trailer if the winch is strong enough (I've had to do that), but it is pretty hard on the winch and trailer.

[willy wagon]

thanks a lot for the info.