Clutch during storage

[Kevin M]

I have a brand new l3901 from last fall. Put about 10 hours on it and then put it away for the winter in a portable shelter. Shelter is not insulated or sealed against elements but free of snow, rain, but it will be cold, humid, dry, etc.
I missed the note in the manual that I was to store the tractor with the clutch depressed (disengaged). Manual indicates that if clutch is not disengaged, plate can rust and stick.
Do I need to be concerned about this issue when I get her out this spring? Is the clutch highly prone to sticking in this manner?
If that happens, what do I do?

 

[Roadworthy]

I think I saw that memo but opted not to act on it. My prior tractor was a Mitsubishi D2350. I never stored it with the clutch depressed. I found with motorcycles if you store with the clutch depressed the springs get tired and need replaced. I was worried doing that with a tractor would have the same effect. I've never had a stuck clutch in the spring. This was my second winter with my L2501. That one didn't stick, either. So far, so good.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

It all depends upon humidity and condensation in the bell housing.
If it never happened then your good to go, if it did you'll know pretty quick.

 

[GeoHorn]

I’ve only “heard” of clutch plates sticking after long storage.... never experienced it myself in 55 years of owning various manual transmissions. I also cannot accept that a “stuck clutch” cannot be freed by simply operating it... (push the clutch pedal “in” and start the damn thing with the parking brakes set.)
Waay too much acceptance-of-B.S. for this former transmission-technician. YMMV.

 

[CGMKCM]

My Uncle's Mitsubishi sits unused for several months at a time and it is exposed to the weather as well as heat and humidity we see in N.C. Once a year I chain up to it backward, place his tractor in neutral and drag him around until the clutch breaks free. We then start his tractor and he drags me around backward, I drag the loader bucket to add a load on his tractor. Once the rust gets knocked off of the flywheel his tractor works great.

 

[GreensvilleJay]

My first of 5, D-14's had a 'stuck clutch' and no way it could be freed up by 'using it'.... mind you it'd sat for 25 years in a leanto shed...Mice had FILLED the bellhousing with decades of grass and seeds and pee you pee......
as for storing.. simply walk by once a month, 'exercise' the clutch pedal.....
for LONG term storing, I'd be raising tire off the ground..

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

I’ve only “heard” of clutch plates sticking after long storage.... never experienced it myself in 55 years of owning various manual transmissions. I also cannot accept that a “stuck clutch” cannot be freed by simply operating it... (push the clutch pedal “in” and start the damn thing with the parking brakes set.)
Waay too much acceptance-of-B.S. for this former transmission-technician. YMMV.

I've worked on quite a few stuck clutch disks on Kubota's it is real and Not B.S as you state.
And on most, breaking the clutch disk from the flywheel just won't happen by pushing the petal down.
And with 2 stage clutches it get even more involved.

As far as it happening only on long term storage, not true I've had it happen while assembling a tractor, got to a stopping point with the clutch installed but the bell housing not attached yet, must have gotten damp from dew or humidity overnight, because it was stuck like it was welded together, was a little miffed when I had to tear it back down to figure that one out.

Kubota didn't just randomly put it in there manuals to do that, there is a reason for it to be there.

 

[GeoHorn]

In self-defense.... I did not say it was B.S.... I implied there is “way too much acceptance” of “B.S.” (meaning in a general-sense as much as in a particular one.)

I also allowed that “YMMV”.... others’ experiences are what makes Forums so valuable.

I don’t live near the coast so that may be a factor. But I”m not surprised a NEW clutch/plate assembly can rust overnight before installation. The “burning-in” of a clutch and pressure-plate/flywheel serves to burnish those surfaces which acts as a “blueing” or anti-corrosion effect.
HOwever, I am taken-back that it could have been so severe over one night as to “stick” them.

Sorry if I came across as didactic... unfortunate choice of words on my part.

 

[random]

I (sadly) don't have a shelter for my L3301 so it sits outside all winter, and at least 3 winters sat completely unused for months. I had never heard that, so never set it that way, and haven't had any problems. Don't know if you're HST or not though, mine is FWIW.

 

[Kevin M]

UPDATE.....
I fired her up today, since here in SE Wisconsin (in mid March) it was awesome temps out there 45.
Engine started right up. The Clutch was perfect. No indication of sticking.

 

[lugbolt]

when you get a stuck clutch on a tractor, it can be a really bad deal.

I've only had maybe a dozen or so come into the shop with stuck clutches. Sometimes we were able to unstick them via abusing them, although I hated calling the customer to explain "how" we can try to do it before we split it.

Out of those, I can remember 3 or 4 maybe that we had to split the tractor to replace the clutch disc and pressure plate. One was so stuck that it took actually cutting the pressure plate off and then chiseling the disk from the flywheel. All parts were junk, $3300 job. I remember that one well. Had 36 hours on it and warranty didn't help him, unfortunately. We tried our best but they only do so much.

 

[GeoHorn]

when you get a stuck clutch on a tractor, it can be a really bad deal.

I've only had maybe a dozen or so come into the shop with stuck clutches. Sometimes we were able to unstick them via abusing them, although I hated calling the customer to explain "how" we can try to do it before we split it.

Out of those, I can remember 3 or 4 maybe that we had to split the tractor to replace the clutch disc and pressure plate. One was so stuck that it took actually cutting the pressure plate off and then chiseling the disk from the flywheel. All parts were junk, $3300 job. I remember that one well. Had 36 hours on it and warranty didn't help him, unfortunately. We tried our best but they only do so much.

I wonder if it had been submerged...?

I forgot that Dad had bought an old green tractor which had a platform on it’s rear hitch for a school-bus seat as a “beach buggy” when our family had a beach house at Matagorda, Tx.
Us teenagers would drive it in the surf completely oblivious to the many hazards. I suppose salt water would have eventually destroyed it..... we never found out.... We parked it beneath the beach-house which was elevated on posts 12’ above ground. We only visited the beach-house about once a month. (Anyone who knows the area might recall the state highway which followed the river to the mouth..... ours was the last house before the beach, on the right... dark-red... with a sign on it “Horns Hideaway”.... it wasn’t “hidden”.... LOL). Neither was the tractor parked underneath the house.
Someone decided they wanted it.

(That area where our beach-house was located is now a state-park, all the houses having been on leased-land for 60 years.... the state acquired the land in the late ‘80’s and gave everyone a year to move their houses or lose them. We abandoned ours, as did most others on the river-bank side of the highway. My wife and I re-visited the area a year or so ago and camped with our Airstream on the exact spot the family house used to reside....now a state RV-park.)

 

[D2Cat]

I think this is an example of a seized clutch! On this tractor the freeze plug on the back of the block was pushed out by frozen water, and it leaked down on the flywheel/clutch for a "while".

For your entertainment only. You can not get a clutch this screwed up by letting it set engaged for the winter!

 

[GeoHorn]

You’ll likely need a “pilot tool” when you re-install that one!