Jump to content

Unofficial Home of Old Simplicity & Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors

I relined a cone clutch today.(With results pic)


HubbardRA

Recommended Posts

Had a center PTO clutch problem on my 716H yesterday when I hooked up my Mackissick chipper-shredder. Today I pulled the whole assembly off the BGB. I replaced the pulley bearing and the clutch spring with ones from Erik Heckers. I put in a new spring clip which had come loose and caused the original problem. And I swapped out the washers with ones that were in a little better shape. When I installed the cap that held the clutch lining, there was not enough friction material left to make the clutch work. I removed it again, cleaned all of the gunk off the old lining area with brakeclean. Then cut pieces of thin leather (about 1/16 thick) to make a new lining and dry fitted them into the cap. Because of the conical shape of the lining, I ended up with 6 pieces of the lining. I then coated the inside of the cap and the outside of the lining pieces with contact cement and let it dry for 15 minutes. One-by-one I installed the pieces being very careful to line them up properly before pressing them down tightly into the glue. After getting all the pieces installed, I trimmed the slight amount of leather sticking out of the cap with a razor blade. Then I let it sit for a half hour while I took a little break for lunch. After lunch I installed the cap on the BGB shaft, cranked up the engine and started chipping tree limbs. The leather lined clutch appeared to hold as good, if not better, than any cone clutch that I have had so far. Time will tell how it holds up, but I think it will do fine. One thing that I do know is that the $4.69 that I paid for the small bottle of contact cement and the leather that was given to me by my son, made the cost of a re-line a lot cheaper than the $80 or so that it costs for a new cone clutch setup. Sorry, I was in a hurry to get this done before the temperature goes back up near 100 on Wednesday and Thursday. I did not take any pictures. I may line a couple more of the clutch caps for spares, since I have two more in the hut that are completely worn out. When I do the next one I will take pictures and post them for others who may want to try this method.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dan, I am not sure of the actual material, since I have never looked at a new one, and even then it would be difficult to determine just by looking at it. It appears to be a material similar to brake pads or auto clutch linings. In fact mine appeared to have brass particles in it. Even if you could locate some brake lining material, it would likely be too thick. The leather I used was only 1/16 thick and that fit perfectly.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I did try out the new clutch today when I chipped up a pile of tree limbs about 4 feet high x 5 feet wide x 8 feet long. Many of the limbs were between one and two inches diameter. The leather lined clutch worked great. I fed a couple of the larger diameter limbs into the chipper fast enough to nearly kill the engine on the tractor, but the clutch stayed engaged with no slipping. I'm very happy about the way it is working. The following picture shows the pile of mulch from nearly an hour of chipping and shredding. It is hard to tell the depth of the pile from the picture, but the bottom of the smaller wheels that are still mounted on the chipper-shredder sit about 4 inches off the ground. The top of the pile was flush against the bottom of the chipper when I quit. This was after spreading out the mulch about 6 times to make room under the chipper-shredder. Mulch in the pile is over a foot deep. Happy with the clutch, and very happy with the MacKissick Chipper-Shredder that I bought last year.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Happy with the clutch, and very happy with the MacKissick Chipper-Shredder that I bought last year." Good work Rod. ^ Carry on,
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rod, Picture of OWHN and our mulch pile is give you a goal to shoot for. Note the size of the pile and that OWHN is doing the work. :D




The poor picture quality is due to not letting the camera come to temperature after bringing it outside into the hot, humid weather. :(
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Roy, I don't have a pile like you do, because we spread it as soon as I mulch it. I still have more places to put mulch than I have mulch. The limbs that I mulched were primarily limbs that fell off the maple trees in my yard. There were a few other plants that I cut down around the fence and the garage.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting post THANKS!! Do you know what the leather was from? Keep us updated. Greg
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The leather I used came from a roll. I don't really know where the roll came from or what type of leather it is. It was about 1/16 thick and 2 inches wide. If someone wants to try it on one of their clutches I could mail a big enough piece to do one in a regular envelope. It doesn't take much. Leather was used for many years on friction surfaces before the more current friction materials were developed. One of the most prominent uses was for drive belts in industrial manufacturing facilities. It is a very versatile material.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure it's tough, Roy, watching OWHN work out in the heat and humidity, while you photograph from the air conditioned house.....:o)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:
Originally posted by goatfarmer
I'm sure it's tough, Roy, watching OWHN work out in the heat and humidity, while you photograph from the air conditioned house.....:o)
Sounds like Roy has things well organized....:Dsm06 Excellent post Rod, a good way to economize on repairs.dOd
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kenny/Mike, Yes, OWHN was out in the heat and humidity putting mulch on her flowers. :) But, remember, I had to run a lot of limbs through the chipper/shredder to make the mulch pile. :( I do try to stay in the AC when it is extremely hot outside. :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...