JD 50 clutch

[Rogerg]

I have a 1953 JD 50 and the clutch is very sensitive when you engage it. It is hard to engage the clutch and move the tractor without a jerking motion.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Roger

 

[John51]

Put new washers under the nuts. They are a special concave washer available from Deere.

 

[tim s]

The pully bearing is bad, and could have the crank shaft worn some too since the bearing runs directly on the crank shaft, the pully bushing should be changed also, be sure to pack the new bearing with grease before instaling..the washer thing will help,,some,,but you need to get to the base of the problem first..

 

[gtx1967jewison]

there are a whole bunch of things that will make these clutches jumpy, two are listed here. in my experience i doubt the worn bearing theory but it can if REALLY loose. grooved t-bolts, oblonged locating hole/pin on the operating sleeve, broken &/or glazed disks, oil on disks, loose drive disk on crank, badly worn dogs, dog pins, throw-out fork, etc. grooves worn in the t-bolts & oblonged holes in fixed disk seem to cause issue the worst or most frequent. the bolts can be rotated 1/2 turn replaced, operating sleeve pin can be replaced & sleeve hole welded up & redrilled, new dogs, drive disk or friction disks, etc depending on whats found upon TEARDOWN & inspection. have fun its not that bad & good luck.

 

[Kurt_JDB]

Roger,

I had this same problem on my "51 B. Turned out that the splines were bad on the crank, and on the clutch driver. This resulted in the clutch driver not being square to the rest of the clutch and the crank. So it would grab terribly when engaging

So you might want to inspect the splines. I think you will also get the same result if the three clutch adjusting nuts are not evenly adjusted.

Kurt

 

[Rogerg]

Thanks to everyone for your reply. I will check out everything you suggested.

Thanks Again,
Roger