350 straight 1970 model crawler

jwduke · Post by **jwduke** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 6:55 am

350 straight 1970 model crawler. Having trouble getting power to tracks. Replaced reverser and transmission. Replaced stearing clutches both side. Wouldnt stear good. (Clutch linkage was bead blasted and clean as a whistle.) Pulled clutch packs and replaced springs with heavy duty type. Stearing some better but still slips especially turning to right. Have pulled inspection plate between clutches and verifyed power getting to final drive. Even when straight pushing, if I get to much of a bite, the motor will labor a little but tracks wont spin. Clutches are adjusted according to the shop manual. Any suggestions what to do now?

CELSESSER · Post by **CELSESSER** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 5:32 pm

sounds like either you don't have proper clutch pack thickness (sure you have the right number of steels and fibers?) or pressure plate not set at correct height. Did you reuse or replace the steels? no chance the clutchs got oil contaminated during or after the rebuild.
You seem to have ruled out reverser hydraulics if you have power to the clutches.

jwduke · Post by **jwduke** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 9:51 pm

I think your right. I ask my mechanic about amount of disked he used. ( If 8 fiber and 7 steal) His responce was he used all he could. Any more would be pushing on clutch fork. Anyway, the crawler is back in his shop and hopefully will be ready soon. I passed on your message to him. Thanks for the advice. Will post more info as work continues.

Paul45 · Post by **Paul45** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 5:46 am

I found too many disks in my clutch also. I put the right numbers in and adjusted pressure plate and now works good.

Post by **Lavoy** » Mon Jun 18, 2012 2:33 pm

Any mechanic that responded to the question of how many used with his response would never work on my equipment again. The correct response should have been what the manual calls for. If it doesn't work, then something was assembled incorrectly, adjusted incorrectly, or there is another underlying problem.
Lavoy

jwduke · Post by **jwduke** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:45 pm

Well, I got dozer back from shop. Mech says clutches looked good but put new ones in anyway. Still slipped. Removed clutch packs and resurfaced spacers. Installed Tripple springs. Seems a little better but still want pull down motor or spin tracks. Mech says all looks good, clean, wear limits in tolerance, adjusted correctly, 8 clutches and 7 spacers. We done run out of suggestions. Thought somebody here could give me a little hope. I paid $8000 for the little critter and already put another $12000+ on top of that. Can't give up now! Help !!!!!

Willyr · Post by **Willyr** » Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:15 pm

If its not the back end clutch, only thing left is what ever you have at the motor.

Oh and 1200 in only a drop in the bucket. Get to 12000 then you can start to complain

jwduke · Post by **jwduke** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 6:05 am

Power is getting to final drives just not transferring through steering clutches. Oh, and look again at dollar amount!

Post by **Lavoy** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 8:37 am

Back to what I said, get a different mechanic, it worked when it was built, it will work if repaired correctly, obvioiusly he has no idea on how to fix it correctly. The first tipoff should be when he says that adding any more discs would be pushing on the clutch fork. More discs would compress the pressure plate further which moves the levers on the pressure plate farther from the "clutch fork", not closer. If he doesn't understand the basic concept of a clutch, how can he fix it? Has he read the service manual? Is he adjusting the fingers with the JD7 gauge once the clutch pack is assembled?
Quit arbitrarily adding springs or whateve else he is doing to the pressure plates, it is obviously not helping the problem, just replace the pressure plate with a new one. If he put in new discs, why would he be refacing them? If he didn't replace them and is refacing the old ones, why didn't he put in new ones to start with, you are only looking at about $100? A complete steering clutch kit is $650/side give or take. If he has had it apart that many times to try different stuff, you have way more in labor than you would have had by just replacing the clutch to start with.
If everything is in spec and adjusted correctly, it will work, period. Therefore, it is not assembled or adjusted correctly, or again, there is another problem.
It is impossible to get power to the final drives if the clutches are bad, the clutch breaks the power to the final drive, I.E. the power transmits from the ring and pinion through the steering clutch to the final drive. If you mean that the brake drum is turning, but the crawler is not moving, the problem is in the final drives, not in the clutches.
Again, sorry to be an ass, but your mechanic has screwed you 3 ways to Sunday,at that dollar amount, you should be well on the way to a full restoration. If I rebuild your clutches, and the clutches don't work when I am done, you get the work done again, and it is my fault I am too stupid to work on a crawler. First of all, it is called customer service, secondly it is called warranty work. Do overs are the responsibility of the guy turning the wrench, not the owner, and you should never have had to pay for any secondary work on the clutches unless you prohibited the mechanic from fixing them correctly and stated which parts were to be replaced.
I seriously hope he didn't replace your reverser and transmission the way he "replaced" your steering clutches!
Lavoy

cdunn · Post by **cdunn** » Fri Sep 07, 2012 9:12 pm

Well said.

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350 straight 1970 model crawler

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