440 IC Steering Clutch

[Ben.Ehrhart]

My right steering clutch slips and groans when under a heavy load. It runs fine under normal conditions, but if I really work it hard it will groan and lose power to the right track. Once it does this, it tends to slip more until I park it for a while. I'm gussing I need new friction discs, but I'm open to other suggestions before I decide to tear it apart. Any suggestions?

[440 iron popper]

Do you have the correct freeplay 1 5/8'' for your right lever? If it's still tight when released it would permit the pressure plate to free the plates pack enough to create slipping.

Did you remove the steering case plug at the bottom to see if there's debris such as gear oil or fiber disk pieces (broken fiber teeth)? If it's worse after some slipping I would say that the heat that slipping causes may liquify the gear oil trapped in the fibers and things get worse and worse.

I would also look in the inspection hole with a flashlight to see if there's a broken spring on the pressure plate.

Adjusting freeplay of the lever and the brake band are the only things in this area that can be made without teardown I guess...

Hope that helps.