Free up a stuck CUB clutch?

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good afternoon: My 1958 CUB LO-BOY has a stuck clutch, meaning when I am driving along in any gear, when I step on clutch pedal, the tractor keeps pulling. Clutch does not release. A shop owner suggested I drive around a field (or whatever) in second or high gear, possibly applying the brakes, while holding the clutch pedal down continuously. He said sometimes it works, saving you the money of splitting the tractor. Has anyone tried this method of unsticking a clutch? Thoughts, opinions?
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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[old]

BTDT that many times and yes some times it works and other times it doesn't. Works even better if you can put as much load on it as you can when hold the pedal down and drive till it frees up or it gets dark. LOL

 

[Janicholson]

Driving around in gear is a good idea. blocking or roping the pedal down makes it a bit easier. The clutch is not directly behind the engine, it is farther rearward and separate. There may be some access to the system, I don't know if sheet metal can be removed for access. if so removing the bolts holding the pressure plate to the disc would allow access to the driven disc. Jim
clutch info

 

[Jim Becker]

Are you sure it is a stuck clutch disk, rather than a failed throwout bearing?

A stuck clutch may be addressed as already described.

A failed throwout bearing won't push the fingers as needed to release the clutch. You can drive around the rest of your life with your foot on the brakes and it won't fix anything. If the throwout bearing is okay, you should be able to feel the clutch pedal reach the end of the free play and still have range of movement to push the fingers. With a failed bearing, the pedal will go all the way down with no great effort. The only fix is to split it and replace the bearing.

You can look up through the handhole at the bottom of the bell housing to inspect the throwout bearing. The bearing should have a graphite block extending forward from the cast iron holder.

 

[the tractor vet]

Now let me get this straight here , you were driving along and when you pressed the pedal down it did not stop , HUMM did it go into gear when ya first started out then fail to disengage once moving ?? If this is the case then you had a failure of either the release bearing or one or more of the three fingers failed due to a pin fell out of finger broke off . , if this is the case then son it is going to be a split job . Ya maybe able to look up thru the hole in the torque tube and see .

 

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good afternoon, the-tractor-vet: That is correct; I was mowing grass on shoulder of road, I wanted to stop beside a small field road that comes in from my left side. I pressed the clutch pedal, the tractor did not stop. I went on past the field road, still mowing along, although the shoulder was too narrow for safety. I met a car coming towards me, luckily he had room to avoid me as I was halfway in his lane. So, yes, the clutch failed to disengage while in normal use. I do not recall any strange noise or feel to the clutch pedal. If I need to look into the hand-hole to see the throwout bearing, fingers, etc., I will need to remove the Woods belly mower. Thanks for taking part in discussion!
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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[DMartin9N-2N]

. Good afternoon, Janicholson; I think you are describing the wrong tractor. Mine is a 1958 International CUB LO-BOY with a four-cylinder engine. Clutch is on back of flywheel. Thanks for willingness to help.
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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[Janicholson]

Well then the linkage has fallen/bent apart and driving it is no help. (there are several Lowboys). the linkage is really bent straps and poor design. Jim
Better info

 

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good evening; Tomorrow (Saturday) I may try the idea of driving around a field with the clutch pedal tied down; that will be pretty easy to do, and see if it works. If I leave the belly mower on the tractor, I can use the mower as added load for the clutch to pull. If no help, then I may remove the belly mower so I can look into the hand hole. Long story short, the tractor shop guy told me if I can get the tractor onto my trailer and bring it to the shop, they can get the tractor off the trailer, with its clutch stuck, to be repaired. They are a Case-IH dealer. Thanks for all comments.
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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[Jim Becker]

(quoted from post at 23:40:19 11/10/23) Good evening; Tomorrow (Saturday) I may try the idea of driving around a field with the clutch pedal tied down; that will be pretty easy to do, and see if it works.

Now that you have explained what really happened, there is no way that driving around with the clutch down will fix it. The only possibility is that you do more damage. If you run the tractor any more before it is fixed, keep the clutch pedal UP.

You may have one of the linkage or finger problems like Tractor Vet and JAN described in their latest posts. But in all likelihood you have a bad throwout bearing.

You should be able to get a better idea exactly what went wrong by looking up the handhole. If the mower deck is in the way, use a mirror or hold your phone up to the hand hole and take a flash picture. Point it straight up with the camera lens near the front of the hole.

 

[caterpillar guy]

I think you are looking at a slip job by the later description of your problem. As you say mowing along and stepped on pedal and no stop. Like TV said either a finger is not working or the bearing is shot. You would be able to drive around the rest of your life and nothing positive is going to happen to your clutch. They would not be bad to split with a little tractor like that. One could almost hold it up while rolling it ahead to set on blocks.

 

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good afternoon, Jim Becker and all: I had in mind today to remove mower deck so I could look in through the hand hole on bottom of bell housing. Before removing any bolts, etc., I blocked the clutch pedal down with a stick and started the engine. With trans in neutral, clutch pedal held down with a stick, I heard a distinct click, click, click sound, maybe a half second apart. So, maybe I don't need to remove the mower to look inside the bell housing? Maybe I don't need to drive around with clutch pedal depressed and brakes on? Opinions, please!!
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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Edit: BTW, the actual clutch disc is still engaged regardless of pedal.

This post was edited by DMartin9N-2N on 11/11/2023 at 02:21 pm.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Correct. You don't need to remove the mower. You don't need to block the pedal down and drive around.

The clunk-clunk-clunk noise you hear is the fingers on the pressure plate hitting the remnants of the throwout bearing.

What you need to do is split the tractor, assess what all is wrong, and replace what needs replaced. It's a situation where since you have it apart, "may as well" replace clutch, pressure plate, throwout bearing, and pilot bearing.

The tractor does not need to have the mower removed to split.

Not sure why you think you need to remove the mower to look in the hand hole. There is plenty of room. Just get some old cushion and lay it on top of the mower and use it as a backrest, or use a mirror.

 

[DMartin9N-2N]

Good evening, B-Engineering and others: i will attempt to upload a photo showing belly mower and bottom of bellhousing. There is about 8 inches of space between mower and hand hole. Not practical to put my face down there, IMHO. Since the noise tells me the tractor needs to be split for repairs, I don't really need to see inside.
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Dennis M. in W. Tenn.
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[used red MN]

The trick is as mentioned to use a cell phone camera
with the flash, take a lot of pictures and vary the angle
so you hopefully get the right view to see what is going
on. The pictures that are of no use are easy to delete.
Or use a mirror and a good flashlight. The trick is to
shine the light at the mirror from a similar angle you
are viewing from. The light of the flashlight will reflect
up onto the area you are viewing in the mirror and
allow you to see quite well. I am a welding and
equipment inspector in a refinery, trust me it works
well. Use your wifes hand held mirror or to keep peace
auto parts, hardware and home improvement stores all
carry relatively inexpensive ones.

 

[BearGap]

I agree with the comment that the throwout bearing is gone. I have a 1950 Cub that gets used a lot and have gone through many of these since the original graphite bearing system. The ball or roller bearing replacements don't tolerate the release mechanism that pushes at an angle. When the modern replacement fails one of the pressure plate fingers fails as well, with the result that the cub clutch can't be released and in neutral it makes that regular noise. Replacements would only last a year or so until my mechanic fabricated an AC A' clutch assembly to fit as the release is more of a straight line action.