D2 Clutch Question

[Gregness]

Well, I made up a drain plug hex tool by welding a 20mm nut to an old 1/2 drive socket and it worked great. My dad and I drained the diesel out of the main clutch compartment and started the D-2 up. The pony motor ran a little rough at first, but then ran clean and strong. We spun the diesel a good long while before adding fuel and firing her up. She runs very smooth and sounds great, tons of oil pressure.

However, the main clutch continued to refuse to break free even after sitting in diesel for a month, which sounds pretty scary- it's a shame I will have to pull the engine to sort that out, when the engine itself seems to need minimal work.

Question about the main clutch- actually I have two:

1. How in the hell does this thing work? It seems like the clutch lever does two things- separates the clutch plates and slides the clutch off a spline shaft from the trans; is this accurate?

2. If the main clutch is frozen, would it be possible to start the engine in gear any way, as the steering clutches are not connecting the tranny to the sprockets until they are engaged? This would allow me to move her onto a trailer and off, which I need to do pretty soon. It would seem that physically, there is no reason that this should not work.

Regarding the engine, it is amazing to me that this thing runs as good as it does; as far as we know, it has never had a valve job and the rings were changed once about 20 years ago. Dad says it seems clear to him that it has been losing power, though the exhaust is clear and she does sound really good. I figure she needs a valve job and a set of rings.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Greg

[drujinin]

Is yes, you could hold the steering clutches disengaged while your helper starts your engine for you then you could move from point A to point B.
Only comment is that you need to hold the clutches disengaged the whole time someone is starting the engine for you.
I trust you will not run him over?
Then he needs to shut down the engine for you as you will need to hold the steering clutches till the engine stops.
Also while you are doing this you may as well hook onto something heavy and drag it around for a long time to see if the main clutch will come free.
Again I trust you will not run over or dis-member your helper as you will be holding the clutches while he hooks you to a load.

[dpendzic]

If it was me I would try and break that clutch loose before I attempted to load it on a trailer. put the blade against a tree or chain the machine to a tree, hold the main clutch in the release position and let those tracks churn and dig a hole.

[64farmboy]

I broke the main clutch loose on my D2 by backing the adjustment off as suggested by the folks on the BB here. I then used it around the property then readjusted the clutch back to its former setting after it started slipping when used.
Just my experience

[n7gxz]

The main clutch disk (fiber) is toothed to the flywheel and gets sandwiched between the two metal disks of the pressure plate that is splined to the input shaft of the tranny. The pressure plate works with an over-center locking mechanism, no springs like a standard automotive clutch.

Also you might add your tractor info to your sig.

Kevin

[ol Grump]

As 64 farmboy suggested, back the adjustment off a ways. .say half a dozen notches to begin with and try again. Also, you might try slamming the clutch lever back and forth for a while. .with the engine not running and the clutch inspection cover off. If you start hearing some "clunks" in there after a bit that you don't hear when you start moving the lever, it may have broken loose.

drujinnin mentioned several reasons not to use the steering clutches for starting and moving the critter. The steering clutches are connected to the tranny normally. .it's when you pull 'em back that they disengage. I personally would NOT try that stunt to move or load the critter. .a comealong is MUCH safer!

[rjh-md]

Maybe I got lucky ,but when my 5J-D-2 became stuck from sitting idle ,I removed the inspection cover ,and backed off the adjustment about a turn ,and used a piece ot steel stock to catch one of the ears on the outer plate ,and extended out ,so I could hit the end of the steel rod with a 3 lb hammer to jar the rear plate .The cluch freed up after jaring the plate after several wacks!.