Clutch??

[dtd24]

I have a 98 John Deere 1070. Absolutely perfect machine for my property. I plow snow with her in the winter. Although it's cold without a cab, its does the best job. 2 snow storms ago I would put her into gear and it wouldn't hardly move. The clutch felt tight and had a hard time coming back up. With some forward and backwards movement she finally clicked it. The next storm same thing. This past snow storm was a doozy. super cold. When in gear...absolutely nothing. Figured she was just cold as she doesn't have an indoor home. I tarped her and put a salamander heater under her belly. After that still nothing. I had the backhoe on, so (safety police please look away) I put her into gear, knelt on the seat backwards and gave her a little nudge with the hoe. She moved very slowly and with some more back and forth she came around and plowed great. Next day final cleanup she worked perfect. I did tarp and heat her up again. I also blocked the clutch fully depressed after reading some other threads here.

Any suggestions?? I've never had any major issues with her. The JD Dealer I bought her from has closed, but I do have the owner coming to check her out once he is caught up on snow removal of 1400 driveways. LOL yes 1400.

 

[Harry in Ky]

"Clutch felt tight". What does that mean? If you remove the linkage, separate rod (4) from shaft (1) is the pedal tight on its pivot or is the shaft tight in the bore?

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[nyone]

Could you have ice somewhere? Clutches don't typically come and go. If you want to check it put it in to high of a gear and try taking off. If it slips the clutch is shot. If it slips and grabs it's good.

 

[DJ54]

Wondering if small critters built a nest in the clutch housing. If there is an opening in the bell housing/torque tube mice, but especially chipmunks will build a nest in there around the pressure plate. Centrifugal force will throw nesting material in and around fingers on the pressure plate and not allow them to fully release, can cause some stiffness when depressing pedal too.

I had this happen on an old Case backhoe, it would move but put much of a load on it and it would stop moving.

If there is an inspection port/plate you can see in there, take a bright flashlight and have a look. Bad news is you need to split the tractor to get it all cleaned out. Hopefully not the case, but pretty easy to check.