1968 JD350 Drott 4 in 1 loader arrived.Sticky clutches FIXED

[kilohertz]

Hi guys,

An exciting day here on the farm with a new addition to the family...a 1968 JD350 arrives, with the Drott 4 in 1 in pretty decent condition. Hasn't really run much in 3 years, just started once in a while, has a stuck right clutch and puffs a little grey/blue, but the fuel is 7 years old and is probably stale. Been in the previous family over 30 years with just light farm use. This is the ad picture and I will have some more details and pictures as we tear into her. Of course a change of all fluids and filters, more detailed UC inspection and clutch/brake adjustment..maybe some fresh fuel and we'll go from there. Paint when it gets to be spring..should be a fun machine on the property.

More later, and I'm sure some questions.

Cheers

[notmeu]

Kilohertz, That's a nice looking machine! I'm sure you will get your use out of it on the farm! Better tighten up that left track!!!!

[Al Swearengen]

That looks pretty sweet from here!

[kilohertz]

And the fun begins...she's here and off the deck truck and may be out of fuel...or something else. Only runs for 30 seconds then dies. It ran fine for 5 minutes when we first looked at it..so it can't be too serious. Fuel level, tank screen, main filters, transfer pump screen or IP input screen. Did I miss anything? Once I get it running well, we can look at the leaky hydraulic line, tracks, stuck clutch etc. Looking forward to using it this year. Will be great for getting firewood, trees etc. from the back 40.

Cheers for now.

[kilohertz]

Well that was easy!! I cut off the lock on the fuel tank, checked the dip stick and it was dry....okay. Opened the fuel line at the valve and nothing came out so I rinsed the tank and let it drain into a white margarine container and it looked clean. Filled it up, bled the lines and she fired right up. Put a little ATF in the fuel and in the crankcase...ran it around the yard to warm it up and loosen things up and the blue smoke went away and the power slowly came back. She hasn't been worked at all in 3 years, just started once in a while. The throttle cable is really stiff, and doesn't have full range of travel so I need to get that fixed so I can get to full speed.

Oh, and it has power steering! Cool. So now, the right clutch...it is still stuck. I pulled the cover and it is dry in there. Nice looking actually, not damp or rusty. I can see that there is some freeplay (excessive) but the vertical clutch shaft (bellcrank) that pushes on the throwout bearing is moving fine, and there is about 1/2" of movement before the bearing contacts the pressure plate, so I don't believe the fiber disks are swollen with moisture, just the clutch pack is stuck together, steel plates to fiber plates. So from what I have researched, put the machine against a tree (or my other 350 ) and hold back on the levers and see if the plates will break free. I can't get at my other machine right now so I held back the levers, and held the foot brake and tried it but nothing. I didn't want to jar it too much for fear of breaking something...until I heard back from the knowledgeable folks here.

So, knowledgeable folks here, what can I try to unstick these plates?

Thanks!

Paul

[Lavoy]

The more the gap, the more likely they are moisture swelled which brings the fingers away from the throwout bearing. If you are going to try and break them loose, you need to get that freeplay out of there.
Don't beat on it too hard, lots of expensive stuff to break if they don't let go.
Lavoy

[kilohertz]

The more the gap, the more likely they are moisture swelled ... you need to get that freeplay out of there.
Lavoy

I forgot to mention, that I did remove the slack before I took it for a spin. I will play with it tomorrow and keep you posted. Lavoy, I know you have basically said to others in the same boat, they're toast, just replace them, which I may have to do, but since I have some time, and little money, and there is still 2' of snow on the ground, I will give it the ol' college try first.

Thanks!

Paul

[Lavoy]

If you have enough adjuster left, you could set it out to the point that the clutch is always disengaged and just run it to see if it lets go. This will be a little hard on the throwout bearing, but if you have to go into the clutch, you would be putting a new one on anyway.
Lavoy

[kilohertz]

Well WOOOOO HOOOOO!!! It works! I can steer both left AND right again. It was a completely organic repair, no chemicals or artificial stimulants were used.

I started it this AM and drove it to the bottom of the driveway and just went back and forth with it, feeling the the brakes grabbed better in reverse, I just held the right stick with brake hard on, while in reverse and within a minute of this, she jumped and turned...YEAH!. Ran it down the road working the clutches and before you know it, I was out of freeplay. I had to shorten the clutch rod 3 times to gain back the clearance and then adjust the brake. Boy it was sure out once the clutch freed up. I set it up the best I could by feel, and also noticed that the power steering yokes are out of adjustment, and must have been setup incorrectly when this problem arose. There are lots of dirty finger prints on the clutch adjustment pages of the service manual it came with.

Anyway, it steers great and that is one major problem fixed. Still have an issue with the IP I think, seems like the governor is not working 100%. It takes a while for the engine to get up to full power once there is a load placed on it. After about 15 minutes of running it, it seems to get better. Not sure if that is IP or engine condition or ??? Oil pressure is right up, and it stops blowin' smoke after it warms up. Your thoughts?

Thanks for the assistance all. So happy it all worked out this well.

Here is a picture of my Dad working the clutches on the road.



Cheers

Paul

[Labparamour]

Nice looking little machine. So good that the steering issue was relatively easy to fix.
Sorry, can't help with your engine issue.

[Lavoy]

Make sure the fuel tank vent is not plugged, replace fuel filters, primary pump bad, check small stuff like that first. If still no results, then you may need to look at the injector pump.
Lavoy

[kilohertz]

Just to follow up, after a few days of running it around, I found the right clutch slipping. Went thru the adjustment procedure again and found I couldn't get the fingers off of the release bearing, even with the adjustment rod off. Took a few minutes of studying it then realized one of the power steering cylinder yokes was way out of adjustment. Shortened up the yoke on the threaded rod and bingo, everything fell into place.

So those of you who have power steering, I suggest you set up your power steering cylinder yokes FIRST before doing your final clutch adjustment. I don't recall this being mentioned in the service manual as the power steering is in it's own section, completely separate from the tune-up and adjustment section.

Cheers