1966 350 Only the right side wants to drive

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Thu May 01, 2014 7:51 pm

Now we have a new problem. we thought we were all ready to load her on the trailer and take her to Pa on Saturday to start fixing the road our cabin is on but a new issue has surfaced.

All of a sudden, it seems that only the right side track wants to drive. I changed the oil and filter in the reverser but I cant see that being an issue with only one side.
Forward or reverse on the reverser, only the right side seems to want to drive. I can let the left steering handle all the way out and no movement. Any thoughts?

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Thu May 01, 2014 8:23 pm

i looked at your other posts and you have a 350 straight (dry clutch)..is there any free play in your left lever? one of 3 things is happening ...1 you have no free play and the throw out bearing is holding the clutch released (check and adjust)....2 clutch fibers are wore to the point that there is no more pressure on the clutch pack and it is slipping...3 the clutch pack is oil soaked and slipping or the centers of the oil soaked fibers have ripped out

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Thu May 01, 2014 10:48 pm

jtrichard wrote:i looked at your other posts and you have a 350 straight (dry clutch)..is there any free play in your left lever? one of 3 things is happening ...1 you have no free play and the throw out bearing is holding the clutch released (check and adjust)....2 clutch fibers are wore to the point that there is no more pressure on the clutch pack and it is slipping...3 the clutch pack is oil soaked and slipping or the centers of the oil soaked fibers have ripped out

I will have to check Saturday when I get home from work. I know the left stick has probably half the throw of right stick

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Sun May 04, 2014 2:04 pm

So, it turns out there was nothing wrong with anything related to driving the left track. The issue is with the foot brake. I figured out that all works normal except if you step on the foot brake. If you step on the foot brake and put the machine in gear, the right side track will still drive while the left side holds still.

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Sun May 04, 2014 2:27 pm

ALL is not well/normal if all your doing is stepping on the main brake pedal and the left track stops with out killing the engine... your left clutch is slipping like hell ...there is no differential in the ring gear if one side stops (A) the the clutch is released or slipping or (B) a shaft is striped /broken .... get a heavy load in front of it and pull the RIGHT lever and see if the left side stops.... check all adjustments by the book

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Thu May 08, 2014 10:46 pm

jtrichard wrote:ALL is not well/normal if all your doing is stepping on the main brake pedal and the left track stops with out killing the engine... your left clutch is slipping like hell ...there is no differential in the ring gear if one side stops (A) the the clutch is released or slipping or (B) a shaft is striped /broken .... get a heavy load in front of it and pull the RIGHT lever and see if the left side stops.... check all adjustments by the book

Still trying to understand what controls what with the brakes and clutches but we figured something is out of adjustment since you only have to pull the left stick a little and the right stick almost comes back to you. We will have to try adjusting all that the next time we get up to the cabin where it is now. Do you have directions for adjusting the clutches and brakes?

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Thu May 08, 2014 11:44 pm

see below

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Thu May 08, 2014 11:51 pm

you have to use a service manual and follow it to a "TEE" .....the way the clutches work ..is you pull the lever back about half way and the clutch releases and then farther to apply that brake to stop the track and make the turn ...sounds like you don't have one here is a place also john deere has both down load and paper i don't know what they get price wise... http://www.davenporttractor.com/p-121-j ... m2063.aspx

TexasJD · Post by **TexasJD** » Thu May 15, 2014 6:08 am

Straight 350 service manual in PDF downloadable is $118.00 and is likely 600+ pages. I highly recommend you get the parts manual as well. If you just have to have a hard copy burn the PDF to a disk or USB stick and let the local office supply make you some hard copies.

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 5:40 pm

JPignatello wrote:
jtrichard wrote:ALL is not well/normal if all your doing is stepping on the main brake pedal and the left track stops with out killing the engine... your left clutch is slipping like hell ...there is no differential in the ring gear if one side stops (A) the the clutch is released or slipping or (B) a shaft is striped /broken .... get a heavy load in front of it and pull the RIGHT lever and see if the left side stops.... check all adjustments by the book
Still trying to understand what controls what with the brakes and clutches but we figured something is out of adjustment since you only have to pull the left stick a little and the right stick almost comes back to you. We will have to try adjusting all that the next time we get up to the cabin where it is now. Do you have directions for adjusting the clutches and brakes?

So we were up in Pa this weekend. We adjusted the left side brake and clutch. There is no more adjustment left on the ball pivot but there is a little free play in the stick now. Seemed to be working at first but when I started trying to push some bigger loads, it started to act up. The left side would stop driving. Seemed that if I held the clutch pedal up tight that it tried to work a little on the left side. Very strange because sometimes the left side seemed to drive strong when turning but other times it just seemed to slip. Then this morning when we went to use it, the reverser wouldn't engage. Eventually it worked in reverse and only forward after taking it out of gear and then putting it back in gear. It also has a new terrible whine in reverse. Is there something in the final drive that can cause the left side track to pull in after playing with the right side stick?

jtrichard · Post by **jtrichard** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:10 pm

sounds like your left clutch pack is wore down to its limit as for reverser that is a different problem reverser wont effect left or right separately only forward and reverse you have two problems

original possum · Post by **original possum** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:27 pm

Will the left side control handle pull back a lot before it gets firm or is it firm right away? Also. if holding the clutch pedal firmly up makes a difference it should show in both tracks, not just the left.

Tigerhaze · Post by **Tigerhaze** » Mon Jul 21, 2014 7:30 pm

A straight 350 has mechanical ("dry") steering clutches. The steering clutches are mechanically activated by the steering levers very similar to a pedal activated manual clutch in a car or truck. The operations of the steering clutches themselves have nothing to do with the reverser or vice versa. There is a such thing as power assist steering on the 350s as an option, but simply makes the levers easier to pull- think of it as a mechanical clutch on a car that has a hydraulic reservoir to assist pushing the throwout bearing into the pressure plate. You could confirm that by pulling your seat and seeing if you have hydraulic lines going to the steering levers.

There is also fully hydraulic ("wet") steering clutches on the 350Cs but the age of machine you gave would not have those.

The steering clutches are also independent systems between the left and right side (other than their common linkage at the brake pedal); thus the right stick cannot affect anything on the left steering clutch/brake or vice versa. However it could seem like the right stick is stopping the left track if your left steering clutch is slipping and you apply brake to the right side.

Remember that this is not just a clutch system but also has an integral brake system- they work together to provide both clutching and braking and have to ba adjusted so they don't conflict with each other. The adjustments for adjusting steering clutches/brakes require certain steps be performed in a certain order- if you don't follow them as JTrichard said then you will have terrible problems with clutch slipping and/or brake band interference. Did you follow those steps in the manual? If you didn't that is the first place to start; if you did then you have additional issues with linkage and/or the steering clutches/pressure plates are shot.

While you were doing adjustments did you see any fluid on the brake bands or in the clutch housings? If so then you have a seal leaking (usually from the final drive) that will cause the clutch pads and brake band to slip and will require replacement after fixing the leak. please not that the final drives on these have their own fill and check plugs and have nothing to do with the reverser fluid.

I don't know a lot about the reversers, but if I had to guess at why your reverser is whining, it could be low on fluid. Have you checked the fluid level? Again in a straight 350 there is no connection between the reverser fluid and the steering clutches or final drives. I know others on here have additional information about the reversers- there are likely pressure checks you can perform in the service manual.

There is a torsional isolator in front of the reverser that can also go bad on these but the symptoms I have heard about are generally a loud rattle/vibration that gradually gets worse and not a whining sound.

I would highly suggest getting the manuals for your machine- we are not trying to nag or sell books for Deere but some of the questions you ask indicate a lack of understanding the basics of your machine.

JPignatello · Post by **JPignatello** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 8:19 am

Thanks guys for the quick replies. We did adjust the brakes and clutches according to the manual. This corrected the action on the left stick which originally would barely pull back compared to the right stick. We know the left brake is a little loose right now (the stick pulls back almost to my chest to hit the brake) because we didn't have a bolt with enough threads to replace the bent one. These adjustments seemed to get the proper function but I guess we are going to have to tear it down and do steering clutches. I know the brake/ clutch linkages are independent except from the foot pedals which is why I was curious how tapping the right stick would seemingly kick the left track back into action. Probably just a fluke from change in tension in the drive train. I probably should have asked about the reverser in a separate topic but I was trying to get my questions out quick in between runs at work. (Summit Fd) Do you guys know what years use the same reverser so I could start searching for parts or a complete unit? Lavoy, can we get steering clutches and or reverser parts from you?

Post by **Lavoy** » Tue Jul 22, 2014 9:44 am

Normally have all the steering clutch parts on hand, on occasion am sold out of one component or another, but they all come in on a regular basis.
I have reverser discs on hand, other parts short delay to order.
Lavoy

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1966 350 Only the right side wants to drive

1966 350 Only the right side wants to drive

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