Old Tractor Clutch Stuck...Any Tricks? Ferguson TO-20
 

I just acquired this Ferguson TO-20 tractor a week ago. It has been sitting for many years and I really do not know anything about it. I rebuilt the carb, replaced ignition components and replaced the alternator (it was seized)

Got it running today and the clutch would not disengage. I jammed it into gear and putted around riding the brakes to try and get it freed up. I then decided to try dropping the bucket and get a scooper full. I have done this several times and cannot get it unstuck. I was surprised how the little guy would dig in even in 3rd gear. It felt a lot stronger than 20hp.

Any old farmers tricks? There really is no cover to pull and beat on it and I dont feel like splitting it apart. For what I got in it if it needs a clutch its no big deal but I really dont have the right stuff to support all the weight from splitting it.

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Man, if its that bad then you may just have to split it. You tried all the right tricks. At least the ones I know.

yep, split it. It'll give you a chance to clean some stuff up and inspect the clutch. Usually you can free them up and reuse them but depending on how hard it was ridden (the bucket loader says alot) you may need to replace it or have it ground.

If you split it, think about putting another ring gear on the fly wheel while you're at it. Watch for a low spot in the teeth. They're prone to wearing out in a small area due to the fly wheel wanting to stop in the same spot 'cause of the engine compression. The early version of bendix helps the gear to wear fast too. E-bay and yesterdaystractors.com are way cheaper than the dealer.

I was looking it over real good and it doesnt look terribly bad to split it. I just need to get it on the level in the driveway ( shed has gravel floor) and 2 decent floor jacks. There is a little cover on top for the neutral start switch that I just pulled and can see right in there. I took my prybar and hammer and beat on it but I didnt have a chance to see if it will free up yet.

Clutches are pretty cheap for this thing, I was surprised. They must have been pretty popular, there is still a ton of stuff available for it. I really do not know a lot about old tractors but I am getting a pretty good education with this one.

We had a Ford 4600 that seized up due to moisture causing rust and we were able to get some penetrating oil down to the input shaft through an inspection hole and then just ran it/drove it for a while with the clutch disengaged and it finally worked itself loose.

I also had a similar experience with a Ford Ranger and discovered that the clutch friction material had broken off from the clutch plate and wedged between the clutch plate and the pressure plate in a way that made it impossible for the clutch to slip regardless of clutch pedal position so you may also have a mechanical lock due to part failure.

Have you tried blocking the clutch pedal down, placing the trans in the lowest gear available, and then tugging on the tractor with another vehicle?
Sometimes you can snatch them loose.

Make sure you try pulling it both directions several times to rock the rust loose (if it's stuck because of rust).

I had something similar brought in to the shop a couple years ago, only it was a little newer, we tried everything, finally just split the tractor, ended up beating on the clutch disk with a 10 lb maul to make it let go...

You can separate it in the shed even with gravel floor.

I'd remove the loader. Have a solid piece of lumber, could be a bridge plank of even 3/4" plywood to lay under the center of the tractor and 6'-8' long. Crib up the front with solid lumber. 4"x4", or such (in a boxed pattern). Do NOT use any cement block of any kind, when they fail (and they will) someone gets hurt bad.

When you unbolt everything you can slide the rear portion of the tractor backwards if you have a good wide, solid piece of wood to roll your jack on. You won't need to roll it very far. Just enough to get in with some elbow room!

Your 20
 

I love tractors. Thought I would share couple pics of mine. First the clutch, try putting on the brakes hard or back up against a wall or building, you have to keep the drive wheels from turning, then start it and get ready to put in the clutch if it breaks loose. Hose it down with liquid wrench first if you can find a hole.

Well I soaked the clutch with 1/2 can of WD-40 2 days ago. I just went out with the truck and yanked it in reverse and 1st gear with the clutch pedal blocked down. Didnt even think of breaking loose and all I did was bend my drawbar into a U shape.

I am just going to split it. Its better off as I want to use it for mowing 5 acres this summer and I will know what I got then. I need to locate a air cleaner assembly for it. I was thinking of making a intake out of tubing and putting a K&N filter on it. I would really like to find the oil bath set-up so I do not have to rig up some eyesore.

Thanks for the help guys!

[dummy] We said penetrating oil, not hand cleaner!!! j/k

Seriously, WD-40 is good for some things but soaking rust loose isn't one of them.

Splitting the tractor may be the best bet in the long run because then you can clean up the internal rust. Leave the WD-40 to displacing water and cleaning hands.

That thing must be welded as I have been able to loosen up quite a few by tugging on them.
Last year I picked up a 49 Massey Harris from a friends relatives pasture that had been sitting there since 73. I took my old 350 Farmall to drag it on my trailer with. I dug some nice ruts dragging that thing till it broke loose, but it did break loose thank goodness.

Could even be a pice of an old bendix that broke off in there found it's way into the works. The early versions were flimsey.

when you park the tractor for any length of time block the petal down to prevent the clutch from sizeing

Just out of curiousity... you sure you got all the linkage between the peddle and the clutch?

#1.... The WD-40 was free. :cool: I didn't acquire a free can of PB Blaster until tonight. Stocking up on general supplies, we are allowed to bring home partial cans of stuff as long as we don't abuse it.

I am 100% sure I have the linkage working correctly because I can see the TO bearing moving. I actually bent the drawbar into a horseshoe I was yanking so hard. It was to the point I was afraid I would break tranny parts so I quit for now.

While I have everyones attention, what's good stuff to use to flush the hydro system for the bucket? My old farmer neighbor told me to use diesel fuel. I think I am just going to get a 5 gal bucket of light weight hydro oil and run it through but he said I must have money to burn.

hey I'll take a look around for that oil bath air cleaner I might have one or a neighbor might.

That would be great! Just let me know what you want for it.

Diesel works fine.

Have you seen something specific in the fluid that you're trying to flush out or just freshening the fluids?

On my old dozer, I just drained everything that I could and then put in fresh fluid and filters. If you're concerned about moisture, check out a product called TransTune by SeaFoam. It's good at removing moisture from the system.

As far as pulling the tractor to break the clutch loose, it's not so much a matter of how hard you pull as much as rocking it back and forth to break loose the rust between the shaft and clutch spline.

Good luck with it.

Most stuck cluches are not rusted tight to the input shaft. The are stuck too the flywheel and sometimes nothing will break them loose until you split the tractor and physically pry it from the flywheel. Been there and done that. Just did it with a Massey 165, main clutch was rusted to the flywheel and was stuck pretty good, PTO clutch was oil soaked. Nothing we did, field work, pulled it back and forth with another tractor to try and shock the clutch loose would do it.

If you can access anyplace to squirt some KROIL onto the clutch/flywheel area you may be able to get it to break free. Soak them good, you have nothing to loose, I'd order a gallon on line, and you'll have enough to last a long time.

I've soaked steering clutches on a couple of small Cats for a few days and was able to free them up. That's a series of disc and plate that all have to slide in some pretty fine notches.begfor they work properly

You might get a suprise, when you split it. The clutch froze up on dads old 8n ford, and we couldn't get it free to save us so we gave up and split it,when we got it apart, there was about a bushel of mouse nest in there, they had watered down the clutch,and flywheel, so bad, that it might as well been welded together.[tapdshut]

Well, she broke loose yesterday. I had a wood block wedged in to keep the clutch pedal down and I was using the bucket to scrape up some green bryers. I hurried up and hosed out the clutch with 2 cans of brake clean to try and get the pb blaster out.

By the way, diesel worked great to flush out the hydro system. The new oil looks great and it helped me find 2 leaking hoses that didn't leak with hydro oil but did with diesel. Need to get them replaced.

Thanks for the help guys.