Foton 254 clutch failure?? Gulp!

[succor]

stop bolt was good and pedal travel sees good. I have been playing with these adjustments the past 2 days looking for something obvious but nothing so far other than the rust moisture issue which was quite evident in the bell housing? With a 2 stage clutch you have so much travel with the first 3 fingers than the pto travel after. The only thing though with the stop bolt, I can't press the pedal far enough down to even reach the stop bolt without my foot going awkward. The book calls for 35mm where I'm at about 50mm so maybe too much foot travel? I know you could easily misadjust because you got finger adjustments, stop bolt and linkage to deal with. I was trying to use logic here when I think grinding gears, to me, the clutch is not disengaging the motor from the backend so the clutch pack opening is the issue. With my adjustments, it doesn't matter what I play with, if I achieve the specs in the book, the pedal movement and clutch opening all is the same which is a very small opening in the clutch itself which seems to be the norm for a 2 stage clutch. Forgive if I'm sidestepping in my comments, just thinkin as I'm typin. One thing I though of which is probably wrong but only a thought was to increase the distance between the clutch fingers to give more travel with the main clutch while still maintaining the right distance with the pto clutch as well. That would be achieved by the stop bolt correct? Also remember here that I'm no clutch expert but I'm learning while I have it in the garage drying out.

Cory

 

[succor]

Well, I thought I would uploads the specs from my manual to this site for now as well as future use in case nobody has a manual. For the dual acting picture, I'm wondering if I can actual measure the 78.5mm stage because it looks like the bolt portion which controls the pto drive which I can see through the bell housing. If it's possible, theoretically, I could adjust close to the desired range specified, than adjust back to the first 3 fingers, than to the TOB via clutch linkage. Just a thought.

Cory

 

[greg_g]

Only other thing I can think of at the moment is the clutch fork. It's the device on the other side of the release arm that you said is welded to the release shaft. You can consult your parts manual, but the fork is typically attached to the shaft with nested roll pins. If/when they break, the result is a failure to push the throwout bearing far enough forward. Incomplete bearing travel results in incomplete clutch release, incomplete clutch release results in grinding gears.

Unfortunately - short of one of those specialty troubleshooting cameras - the only way to find out for sure means splitting the tractor.

//greg//

 

[succor]

Looking at the parts book which confirms I was right is that there is no roll pins in the clutch rocker arm as they call it. This rocker arm goes through the cast housing through the collar of the fork which has 2 giant through pins to lock the rocker arm to the fork for rotation. There is no slip in this action which is a good fix in part of foton I guess. They were obviously aware of roll pin failures to change this design. Today is sunny so I'll finalize my adjustment procedure and see what I can do about releasing it on the move.

Cory

 

[Soundguy]

hey greg.. when did you get the greene tractor? last I remember you have the chinese one...

 

[succor]

So far so good!! Clutch works perfectly! Even better after my adjustments. However, here is what I noticed driving not standing still necessarily, some water droplets began flying out the clutch inspection opening as I left my loader mount off. I parked the tractor and noticed a very small amount of water down further by the flywheel closer to the starter side. I looked around the TOB which seemed dry, no water droplets except that small puddle at the bottom of the housing. Next I checked my gear oil and noticed an almost bright emulsion mixed in with the gear oil so there is water in the transfer case and such. Time for an oil change the only place I can see water getting in is around the gear shift cause the boot is damaged and possibly where the starter motor is mounted as well. Maybe water is splashing through where the TOB is from the transfer case but again it looked dry. Long story short is if it can sit in a shed, way better.

Cory

 

[greg_g]

hey greg.. when did you get the greene tractor? last I remember you have the chinese one...

Four Chinese actually. Traded the last pair for this JD3720 a little over a year ago. Retired now, time to spoil myself.

//greg//

 

[greg_g]

noticed an almost bright emulsion mixed in with the gear oil so there is water in the transfer case

I got the impression your loader arm supports bolt over the inspection ports. they don't on the bigger Fotons, but I'm not sure about your little one. If true, you probably need water-resistant gaskets to seal the gap. Also, storing a tractor outdoors precipitates condensation on the inside walls of the cast steel housings. When the tractor is started, vibration mixes the condensation with the gear oil. Then the constant agitation of the oil while the tractor is worked eventually creates an emulsion.

It's important to realize that the emulsion is now clinging to the sides of the housings above the oil line. Flush that out before refilling with fresh gear oil, or you'll just contaminate what you just poured in.

//greg//

 

[succor]

What and how do you flush the tranny out? Is there some sort of oil you put in first than run it. Never had to do this before. Yeh the loader mount goes right over the inspection hole so I will put a gasket there. Of course, the inspection hole is on the opposite side of the clutch pedal.

Cory

 

[Soundguy]

Four Chinese actually. Traded the last pair for this JD3720 a little over a year ago. Retired now, time to spoil myself.

//greg//

well.. the greene ones are spoilers I guess..