Cleaning a Steering Clutch

[KMTKMT]

I discovered a leak in the input side of the bucket control valve on my '73 450B crawler-loader the other day. How did I discover this, you may ask?

When I was trying to maneuver the machine into position to do some digging with the backhoe, the right steering clutch began to slip. I tried the 'denial method' to repair it but, once again, that method failed. When it got to the point where the right track stalled whenever I pulled on the left stick, I climbed down from the machine and, using my x-ray vision, stared at the right rear side of the machine until it occurred to me that I don't have x-ray vision. Fortunately, it didn't take x-ray vision to see the thin but steady stream of hydraulic fluid leaking from the bottom of the side door of the hydraulic cabinet onto the track.

When I opened the side door of the hydraulic cabinet, I discovered that the J-D engineer(s) who designed the hydraulic reservoir structure had included a tiny (approx. 3/32" high / 3/8" wide) drain hole at the lower rear corner of the inside panel. This drain hole is so ingeniously placed that any fluid that passes through it lands on the forward end of the small inspection cover that gives access to the clutch and brake adjusters. Said fluid then runs from there to the outside of the clutch housing where it runs down the side directly into the side cover plate that gives access to the brake band adjuster. Clever, eh?

So. I checked all of the bolts holding the 2 cover plates and discovered that, while the bolts in the top plate were tight, the ones in the side plate weren't (my bad: I recently adjusted the steering and brakes and I guess I didn't adequately tighten these ones). Next, I made some epoxy putty and plugged that stupid f*&%$@g drain hole.

I then removed the top cover plate and threaded the tube from my oil extractor into the hole but there didn't seem to be any oil. I tried the drain plugs on the bottom of the steering clutch housing but they don't appear to be there, so perhaps any oil that got in has already drained.

My primary question is: I've seen a couple guys on YouTube talk about cleaning a 'lightly' oiled clutch pack by pouring a solvent into the clutch housing (although neither of them have made a tutorial on the procedure) and then operate the machine until the clutch feels like it's working again. Assuming that this will work, what should I use as a solvent? The guys that have mentioned this have suggested E85 (N/A in my area) and kerosene. Can anyone suggest whether this will work and what to use?

How much should I put in? Should I completely immerse the clutch pack or fill halfway or ??

[Lavoy]

It won't work to any great degree.
Lavoy

[Stan Disbrow]

Hi,

I am afraid you need to pull the final drive and replace the fiber discs. There are threads here regarding various cleaning methods, but none of those really work out. You can clean the steels if they measure thick enough still. And, buy the parts from Lavoy. There are all manner of junk parts available that wind up being a new set of troubles.

Stan