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splitting a tractor

Started by grouch, August 25, 2017, 01:49:27 PM

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grouch

I'm about to split my tractor to replace the clutches and pressure plate and I've never done this before. Been using the Forestry Forum to procrastinate all week but still managed to arrive at the point of finally unbolting the halves and pulling it apart. Still putting that final step off.

Anybody got any last minute tips, advice, suggestions? If this causes the world to crack and spin into the sun, do you want it on your conscience that you knew something and didn't speak up?

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Kbeitz

I bolt a 4 ft long channel under the front and put my dollies on the channel.
This keeps it from tipping over. That's one thing you don't want to happen.
Collector and builder of many things.
Love machine shop work
and Wood work shop work
And now a saw mill work

grouch

I've had visions of each end crashing to the floor after I unbolt. The service manual makes no mention of jackstands or anything like that. Just placing it on "a shop stand" after rolling the front out. I'm going to place jackstands under each half, just in case.

I'll check my metal stash for something suitable.

Thanks Kbeitz.
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sandhills

I have a good set of splitting stands, use brace iron going from rear of engine down to the front, the rear half isn't quite so tippsy, ours has a 3 wheeled dolly (adjustable) to set under the draw bar.  With 2 JD 4010s one JD 4020 a 4840, an IH1486 and a few more I get plenty of practice  ::).  It's really not that bad if you have a nice hard and level surface to work with, I can do a 4010 or 20 by myself in a couple hours if it doesn't have a cab on it, you'll be fine  :).Clear as mud, right?  :D

grouch

Under the draw bar? So yours tries to tip backwards?

This one splits between engine and transmission. The rear will try to tip forward and the front will try to drive the engine into the concrete. I have a shop crane reaching over the rear end to a lifting sling under the transmission and a hydraulic floor jack under the cast iron oil pan. Still not comfortable with it.

No place to bolt channel, I-beam or anything else under the front half.

I almost forgot to wedge the front axle. That would test pucker power, for sure. Now I'm down to the final step.
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grouch

5 of 5 socket head cap screws out -- none of them tight, only snug. 3 of 4 hex head cap screws were tight, 4th was just snug. This thing has been apart before. 2 of the hex heads are still in waiting for me to get up nerve. There's a hairline crack in the grease and grime for the top half and the bottom half is still tight, so I must have one or both ends lifted a bit too much.
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grouch

The tractor is split and I'm still intact so that's a victory, right?

8)

Thanks Kbeitz and sandhills for the encouragement. It _did_ help. There are so many things I depend on that tractor for. It's not like yanking parts off a car; if that goes completely messed up, so what, you get another just like it.

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paul case

I guess I am late but here is how my dad and I do it. Find  a place on the back of the motor or frame and bolt on some heavy (2x2x1/4'') on pointing down and brace it to the front of the tractor frame or motor.  We weld on one cross member high enough to get under it with a roller jack. Sometimes we remove the foot from the jack and weld a bolt to the frame to go in the hole on the lift point of the jack.We drive wood wedges in the front axle swivel so it dont tip over. Put a bottle jack under the clutch housing to hold it up and block them back tires.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

tree-farmer

 smiley_clapping
Now I know who to call.....
Old doesn't bother me, its the ugly that's a real bummer.

chevytaHOE5674

Wedges so the front axle can't pivot. Stationary stands under the motor,rolling stands/heavy floor jack under the back half. Once everything is disconnected roll the back half away from the motor.

Did one of my 100hp cab tractors by myself last summer, had it stripped and flywheel at the machine shop within about 5 or 6 hours. Reassembly is a little harder because you have to get everything lined up as you roll the back end forwards but not too bad.

grouch

I knew there were FF members who'd done this before!

paul case:
Better late than never. All places to bolt something onto are on the half with the transmission. Naturally, it was the engine half that worried me most.

Quote from: tree-farmer on August 25, 2017, 05:48:01 PM
smiley_clapping
Now I know who to call.....

Hmm. I charge by the hour. Think I started this about the first of the week. ;)

Quote from: chevytaHOE5674 on August 25, 2017, 06:22:46 PM
Wedges so the front axle can't pivot. Stationary stands under the motor,rolling stands/heavy floor jack under the back half. Once everything is disconnected roll the back half away from the motor.

Those wedges almost didn't get placed!
For the other, it figures you'd go about it with the opposite end rolling; you with your frozen summer.  :D


It is a BIG relief having that sucker apart. This particular model was built with one of  two different pressure plates and the only way to tell which one it takes is to look at the flywheel. Now I can order the replacement parts.

First the PTO clutch wouldn't disengage and then it got to the point the main clutch would sometimes disengage. I tried all adjustments, a can of brake cleaner and half a can of WD40 and all that managed to do was get it to disengage long enough to get the backhoe and front loader off and then get in the garage. The pressure plate looks a little lopsided because one of the three release arms stays depressed.


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chevytaHOE5674

Trouble with rolling the front half forward is that it increases your chances of the wedges getting bumped and the engine tipping, or if the wheels are turned just a little it makes it hard to line back up. Also rolling the back is easy because the big tires are easy to roll.

I've probably done a couple dozen different tractors over the years. Sometimes you have to do double or triple splits to get to the problem....

paul case

Dad and I split his 970 case a few years back and it had no bolt holes on the clutch end of the motor that we could bolt the stand to. We built our stand to go up beside the motor and welded a cross member against the bottom of the oil pan and made set screw/bolts with nuts welded to the bracket to tighten against the motor block to hold it steady.

I have done it either way and found I prefer moving the front away from the rear. I have never had my wedges wiggle out of the axle pivot. I just have less trouble moving the lighter piece. Many or most times we do it outside as to not tie up the whole shop(mine has 1 bay) to split a tractor. We usually throw down a piece of 1/8'' thick metal to foll the jack on.

Grouch,
It may be helpful to someone else if you put the make and model of your tractor on here somewhere.

PC
life is too short to be too serious. (some idiot)
2013 LT40SHE25 and Riehl edger,  WM 94 LT40 hd E15. Cut my sawing ''teeth'' on an EZ Boardwalk
sawing oak.hickory,ERC,walnut and almost anything else that shows up.
Don't get phylosophical with me. you will loose me for sure.
pc

grouch

Quote from: paul case on August 26, 2017, 08:21:23 AM
Dad and I split his 970 case a few years back and it had no bolt holes on the clutch end of the motor that we could bolt the stand to. We built our stand to go up beside the motor and welded a cross member against the bottom of the oil pan and made set screw/bolts with nuts welded to the bracket to tighten against the motor block to hold it steady.

That would work fine in this case by putting the crossmember in the handy depression just to the rear of the oil pan.  The oil pan itself is now blocked by a chunk of 2x6 and the floor jack.

Quote
I have done it either way and found I prefer moving the front away from the rear. I have never had my wedges wiggle out of the axle pivot. I just have less trouble moving the lighter piece. Many or most times we do it outside as to not tie up the whole shop(mine has 1 bay) to split a tractor. We usually throw down a piece of 1/8'' thick metal to foll the jack on.

I'm paranoid so I put wedges above and below the front axle. Too bad I didn't think of putting down a better rolling surface. Had to convince that jack to roll on the cardboard I put down to soak up oil and hydraulic fluid spills.  :(

Quote
Grouch,
It may be helpful to someone else if you put the make and model of your tractor on here somewhere.

PC

;D See the opening post -- has a link to the relevant page of the service manual and from there you can see the full factory service manual. Public domain, best I could determine.
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Ox

Whenever we split a tractor we replaced the main oil seals in both halves while we're in there.  Nothing worse than having to split a tractor AGAIN for a $10 seal.  It's the worst.  Don't ask me how I know.  Also, I don't know how thrifty you are, but we would always get a complete clutch kit - pressure plate, clutch disc (or discs) and throw out bearing.  The peace of mind is worth it in the very least.

I once forgot to wedge the front axle on an Allis Chalmers D19 when I split it.  It sure was a quick slam over to the pivot stop!  I was lucky that it didn't fall off the blocks and jack.

The professional tractor shop down the road from me has custom made welded steel stands made from channel and angle like the other guys above talked about.  There's quite a few hanging up out of the way 16 feet or so up by the rafters in his shop.  Kuhn's Equipment Repair.  The rears of the split tractors are simply blocked up and rolled back like the others guys have already said as well.

As long as nothing changes and the jacks don't sink that tractor will roll right back together no problems.  Only thing that might stop you a little is the teeth alignment on the shafts being a little off with the new clutch (if it happens).  A little twist of the input shaft to tranny (in neutral) takes care of that and back together it goes!
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

chevytaHOE5674

Good call forgot to mention replace the crank seal on the motor, and the input shaft seal on the trans. Few years ago I did a 100hp mfwd cab loader tractor in a hurry to get back to the hay field and only did the clutch then about 6 months later the front seal on the trans started leaking, so apart it had to come again.....

Also if the motor has any freeze or soft plugs in the back of the block or head that are covered when the tractor is together replace them now. Fords 4 and 6 cyl tractors have one or two that are covered by the trans and they often start leaking requiring a split.

grouch

Forgot all about seals and release bearing when I ordered.

Thanks Ox and chevytaHOE5674.

I'm in sticker shock right now. Ox, I did order the whole shebang -- pressure plate with main clutch and PTO clutch -- over $750 with shipping. Credit card didn't melt or explode, so maybe it'll be ok.
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sandhills

Try this again, every time I lose the page.  The back half of my stands has 2 "cradles" that are adjustable, one holds the front of the transmission the back is against the drawbar, all 3 wheels are adjustable also up/down.  Hope that makes it at least a little clearer than mud  ;).  I agree totally with Ox and others, while you're in there do it all, I split a 4010 this last winter, now have to take the cab off and split it further back to put the input shaft in, google can be your friend I paid 286 for the shaft alone, JD wanted 680 go figure.  PS I bet they came from the same place  ::).

grouch

sandhills:
Ok, now I can imagine how that stand works. That should be good and stable. Wouldn't happen to have any pictures would you?

I checked several places before ordering. The worst was over twice as high. The only cheaper ones were for rebuilt and required sending that heavy core to them.

Best I can tell, only Sparex is making replacement parts for Long tractors now.
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Ox

If it's agriculture, marine or forestry it's always 4 times as much.  $750 is a travesty and I feel bad for you having to swallow that one...  as they say it'll only hurt for a little while and if you're dependent on your machine like you've said before it's pretty much a necessity. 

An old timer said once:  If it's got tires, (something that rhymes with bits but starts with a t) or a transom it's gonna be expensive.
K.I.S.S. - Keep It Simple Stupid
Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without
1989 GMC 3500 4x4 diesel dump and plow truck, 1964 Oliver 1600 Industrial with Parsons loader and backhoe, 1986 Zetor 5211, Cat's Claw sharpener, single tooth setter, homemade Linn Lumber 1900 style mill, old tools

grouch

Pressure plate and clutches came in yesterday. UPS man slid it to the back of the truck and said, "Says it weighs 82 lbs. Need help carrying that?" Back of the truck was just the right height for me to tip it up on end and hug it without bending over.

Package has the red up arrows and that broken wine glass emblem for "Fragile". I thought that was goofy until I opened the box. It was well packed with the PTO clutch disk on top of the heavy pressure plate, main clutch and clutch cover. There was a distinct possibility of damaging that PTO clutch if the box were tossed on its top, in spite of good packaging.

Now I just have to come up with a substitute for the clutch alignment tool in the manual.
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chevytaHOE5674

Sounds like its a 2 stage clutch? One for the pto other for the trans? If so those can be a real bugger to line up.

Bandmill Bandit

You'll need a *DanG good substitute. A 2 stage clutch can be a PITA even with the proper alignment tool.
Skilled Master Sawyer. "Skilled labour don't come cheap. Cheap labour dont come skilled!
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grouch


Not what I'd expect to see on a box of tractor parts.




There was about a half inch of cardboard on top of that PTO clutch -- two new but flattened boxes, one a 9 x 9 x 9 and one 7 x 7 x 7.


Nearly as old as me, but I never heard of 'em before.








That gray part is the center of the main clutch.
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Larry

Quote from: grouch on August 31, 2017, 12:57:50 PM
Now I just have to come up with a substitute for the clutch alignment tool in the manual.

I've turned several on the wood lathe out of osage orange.  Takes longer figuring out the dimensions than it does turning the tool.
Larry, making useful and beautiful things out of the most environmental friendly material on the planet.

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