engine clutch frozen

[Dave T]

After about 15 years of not jacking the clutch open for winter storage it finally bit me. I had my 440 dozer out about 6 weeks ago and the clutch worked fine. Yesterday I get it out and it is stuck tight. I've banged it back and forth with the direction reverser. I know that doing that can be very hard on the reverser,[clutch peddle down] run into a few things that don't move and and here I am with a stuck clutch. Has anyone got any good ideas as to what I might pour in the bellhousing to see if I can soak the clutch loose? If it doesn't work I'm going to take it apart anyway. I thought maybe mineral spirits as it will penetrate well and evaporate out good if I'm lucky. Any ideas?

[jtrichard]

i dont see how the clutch could stick like that from sitting in only 6 weeks you might have another problem and most anything you pour in there will screw it up and you will have to replace the disc ....just my thought

[whiteclipse16]

There are some inspection covers on the bell housing. Take one loose and shine a light down in there and make sure all the linkage looks ok and that your pushing the pressure plate fingers.

[chet]

I didn't block soon enough, and got bit this fall too. I got lucky, drove mine around for about an hour or so, and it freed right up.

[Dave T]

I can look in the vent holes in the bell housing and see the pressure plate release. The clutch plate is stuck to the flywheel. The clutch plate and pressure plate mount into a recess in the flywheel so there is no access to try to pry or bump the clutch plate to free it. At this point I am waiting on a nice day to take the dozer out for a work out and see what happens. I'll let you all know the results.

[jtrichard]

block the clutch pedal down all the way run it like that for awhile i would think it would break loose in short order

[mnwoody]

I have a 2010 that sat inside for 9 years with the motor tore apart when I bought it. I rebuilt the motor and started to drive it when I realized one side was stuck. I was in the process of backing it into the garage to tear it apart to fix the stuck clutch when it suddenly made a big pop and I had steering. I would just drive it for a while and hopefully it lets loose. Good luck.

[Dave T]

Took about an hour but the clutch finally broke loose. I ran it for about an hour yesterday and it started to act up again. I'm guessing that some damage was done somewhere [Lose of free travel on the clutch pedal]. Just another project to put on the list. Oh well, spring is here in central IN, 53 deg. at 5 am, it is going to be an interesting weather year, but only time will tell. Thanks for the help and input.

[DukeofDeere]

I am suspecting you may have the throwout bearing carrier sticking or possibly the sleeve that it rides on is damaged. Just my thoughts. I have seen a few damaged when the engine is removed per the manual recommended out a couple inches then up to remove the hydraulic suction tube. the drive shaft is still connected and oops ...damaged.

Duke

[Dave T]

I ran the dozer yesterday as I had about 90 tons of white rock to spread, My son said we should soak the clutch down with brake cleaner. I did and the clutch worked great, full blade of white rock, no problems spreading the rock. At this time it seems that I got lucky.