1950 Farmall M Clutch

[Meangreen]

Took the Farmall out for a quick drive on Saturday and when I went to park it in the shed at the end of my ride, I pushed in the clutch pedal, it felt soft, and the clutch wouldn't fully disengage. It was acting like it was still trying to grab and I had the tractor in 1st gear. Was able to get it out of gear and push it into its spot. I imagine the clutch is probably worn as I have had the tractor for 15 years and never messed with it. I will note my ride included a couple steep hills and the clutch didn't feel like it was slipping at all.

So I'm looking to replace it. From what I gather I can either split the tractor and replace it or leave the tractor together, drop the belly pump and replace it that way. My questions is, if I drop the belly pump and replace it that way there is probably no way to replace the oil seal and bearing, correct? I would imagine the only way to do that is split the tractor. Thanks for your help.

 

[matthies]

Get the book out and adjust it first, then drive it again.

 

[Meangreen]

Get the book out and adjust it first, then drive it again.

Thanks, I'll look into that.

 

[used red MN]

Thanks, I'll look into that.

As far as adjusting it if it has a 1/4” of free play there you can adjust it till the cows come home at it will still slip. I don’t know the exact book setting but I would set it at an inch from the platform stop. Now if no free play is present than yes that can hold it partially disengaged.
Edit to add: when dropping the belly pump the flywheel can’t be removed, so no rear main access. I also know that some of the later clutches are a larger diameter and cannot be changed by just removing the belly pump.

 

[Jim Becker]

The original poster didn't say anything about it slipping. His problem is it only partially releases. Definitely try an adjustment, but the problem is probably a broken release finger. It could also be something happened to the throwout bearing. Dropping the hydraulic pump will give an easy view to verify the problem. If a bad finger, it needs a new/rebuilt pressure plate.

 

[used red MN]

The original poster didn't say anything about it slipping.

Oops, thanks for pointing that out sorry about that. The Info I gave applies to clutch problems, but not necessarily to his. In his case to much free play would be a possible cause.

 

[the tractior vet]

Took the Farmall out for a quick drive on Saturday and when I went to park it in the shed at the end of my ride, I pushed in the clutch pedal, it felt soft, and the clutch wouldn't fully disengage. It was acting like it was still trying to grab and I had the tractor in 1st gear. Was able to get it out of gear and push it into its spot. I imagine the clutch is probably worn as I have had the tractor for 15 years and never messed with it. I will note my ride included a couple steep hills and the clutch didn't feel like it was slipping at all.

So I'm looking to replace it. From what I gather I can either split the tractor and replace it or leave the tractor together, drop the belly pump and replace it that way. My questions is, if I drop the belly pump and replace it that way there is probably no way to replace the oil seal and bearing, correct? I would imagine the only way to do that is split the tractor. Thanks for your help.

Well several things may have happened here , (1) a clutch release arm pin may have come out and now only two arm's / levers are trying to release the pressure plate . ( man we know all about that . ) (2) a disc damper spring broke out of the clutch disc and is now jammed in the pressure plate , (3) one of the release arms/ levers broke and now coming off the clutch disc. . Back in my youth we learned all about clutches. First experience was with my 1961 Ford Sunliner with my vary first wild engine build . We built a F E block 390 from a new bare block piece by piece doing things nobody had ever thought of . I was building either one of the fastest cars in my area or the biggest bomb . To build this we used a drop forged crank out of a H D truck engine not something that was just drop in and work as it took a ton of machining every thing used took lots of work to fit. I was working on making a sort a stock looking 390 401 hp tri power the biggest baddest of the year . For a cam we went way wild with a vary expensive Crowler double full roller just new out for 1964 . Roller cam bearings , roller lifters and needled and roll rocker arms with a totally out of this world .625 lift on a 1.76 rocker ratio . Most Ford V 8's of the time had a hard time of cranking over 6 K . The 427 La Manus (sp) was pushen over 7 K and at the time SUN instrument offered a 7 K tach . Schiffer (sp) offered a dual disc rev lock in 11 inch and back then Lakewood did not exist but thru Ford ya could get a NASA Car bell housing it was suppose to be better . Welp one day i hjad off from work due to a rain out on a job and i was going to go see a couple buddys . Cursing west bound on U S 62 some gra7y haired old lady pulled out off a side road inft. of me poking along , So i was going to WAKE HER UP and pass her or should i say blow her off the road . From forth down into second flipped the two electric fuel pumps in flat footed the go pedal opening up all 6 barrels and out around her i went , i glanced at the tach and it was PEGGED at 7 K and i went for a full power shift into third and when i stabbed the clutch things got ugly fast as the pressure plate exploded going thru the socalled NASA CAR scatter shield promptly removing the master cylinder from the fire wall , slicing thru the steering column . making big dents in the hood , floor pans and putting big holes in the pavement and causing sever need for shorts change . No steering no brakes the car stayed straight but the road curved to the left a little and i ended up in a hay field stopping on the E brake . Lucky i knew the farmer . The walk of shame to his house to make a call . Called my buddy and he came and a trip to the junk yard for a used steering column and a master cylinder so we could at least tow it . . More damage was found on the block the lower two ears were GONE on a new highly machined block . We fixed that by welding two steel chunks on drilled and tapped . a new NASA CAR bell Housing . a new different dual disc clutch ratted for much higher RPM's . And a NEW Sun tach that now went to 10 K and we saw that 390 push it on the strip thru 64-first part of 66 . Then came the Road Runner in 68 my first new car . I was done with drag racing as it had changed and i saw the direction it was headed and my check book was not going to keep up , The Road Runner like all MO Par's with four speeds in 68 and early 69 dinned on clutches doing the same thing your M is doing on them it was the fulcrum eye bolt one would snap and the clutch would drag . At that time in my life i was a Chrysler Plymouth mechanic and i worked on the performance end of the line up . I never ran my 68 on the strip , had a had full of street races but my main thing back in 68 was FOX hunting . And i6t never failed that i was on a date way out of town and the clutch on the Road Chicken would DROP KICK ME and i would limp it home and fix it on Sunday so i could get to work on Monday to do two to three more clutch jobs that week . I had that job down to pat one hour and forty five min's in and out road tested . On the road Runner i put 19 clutches in it , it did not matter they were all BORG and Beck plate's , Chrysler , Zoom , Schiffer all wer4e the same and all drop kicked ya Till on Clutch failure on a date with a super fox up in Cleveland screwing up a well planned night i had to LIMP home and NOT spend the night and on Sunday morning the only clutch and pressure plate anywhere was a Perfection American rebuild , clutch pressure plate pilot bearing and throw out bearing for 19.95 a 3250 PSI Hemi plate . Well i needed it to get to work and joked with the guys at the parts store Bill's Auto Parts in Youngstown Ohio this sucker will not make it a week . Last clutch i put in the Road Runner and i put well over a 100 K on that clutch. Yep we know clutches . Your issue may be as simple as a 3/16ths headed pin around and inch or so long and a cotter pin.