M7950DT clutch won’t disengage

[Fishineb]

Have a M7950DT at the end of last summer couldn’t get the clutch to disengage. Could bump it into gear. It had been sitting outside a couple months and we had some unusually rainy weather for that time in Michigan (if that may have been the cause). We tried all of the tricks to free it with no luck and left the pedal blocked all winter. Have tried a bunch of things this spring and still no luck. Using a camera I could see the pressure plate was moving properly but the clutch disk was not releasing. Since we’ve owned it there was some grinding shifting every now and then.

So, we have now split it and I want to make sure I take care of everything properly and make sure I fix the problem before putting in a new clutch. Clutch disk did not seem stuck to the flywheel as it was loose once I removed the pressure plate. There is a lot of grease/goop in the hole of the pilot bearing and it basically fell out when I removed everything else. And there seems to be a lot of sticky black grease like material on some of the parts. Plan was to at least clean everything up and put in the new bearings and clutch/pressure plate but want to make sure I actually fix the problem. Does it look like there are any other issues to address and what would you think caused the clutch to not disengage? And any recommendations for what the use on the splines the WSM says moly disulfide three bond 1901 or equivalent. Was hoping I could find something to use locally. Thanks!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Replace the flywheel, it's shot.

 

[Russell King]

Replace the flywheel, it's shot.

Do you have an idea of how that happened?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Do you have an idea of how that happened?

Overheated the flywheel at some point, probably a slipping clutch disk.

 

[Fishineb]

Replace the flywheel, it's shot.

That’s a bummer but I appreciate the information. Is that all of those small what looks like cracks? Or are there other things that show that? Just trying to learn as much as I can. I saw you mentioned to the other commenter that it probably got overheated at some point, anything else I should check or if I replace flywheel, clutch and bearings it should be good to go? Certainly don’t want it to happen again! We’ve only had the tractor four years is this something that would have happened recently (ie something we did wrong using it) or kind of a lingering thing that eventually got this bad? Tractor does have a loader on it that seems like it saw a lot of use.

 

[Russell King]

Overheated the flywheel at some point, probably a slipping clutch disk.

Oh now I see what you are talking about.

I was wondering why the center area looks “bad” but that may be grease? In this picture is that a bunch of grease in the back?

 

[Fishineb]

Oh now I see what you are talking about.

I was wondering why the center area looks “bad” but that may be grease? In this picture is that a bunch of grease in the back?
View attachment 156962

I’d have to double check but don’t think there was any grease back in that area. That’s a mouse nest back in there made from black wool. we have sheep! And black wool just goes into trash bags and mice/some little critter must have snagged some

 

[Fishineb]

Oh now I see what you are talking about.

I was wondering why the center area looks “bad” but that may be grease? In this picture is that a bunch of grease in the back?

And forgot to ask is the center area you are talking about where the pilot bearing goes or that ring of black stick stuff around the center? I think the stuff where the pilot bearing goes seems like chunks of grease and that bearing sounds like there is no grease in it. Not sure what the black stuff around the center is also seems like grease. It’s a little sticky. Hoping to learn what the signs are that it is bad

 

[Russell King]

And forgot to ask is the center area you are talking about where the pilot bearing goes or that ring of black stick stuff around the center? I think the stuff where the pilot bearing goes seems like chunks of grease and that bearing sounds like there is no grease in it. Not sure what the black stuff around the center is also seems like grease. It’s a little sticky. Hoping to learn what the signs are that it is bad

This is the area I was talking about (inside the circle). The area with bolts is just grease/dirt.

 

[Fishineb]

This is the area I was talking about (inside the circle). The area with bolts is just grease/dirt.
View attachment 156970

Okay I’ll have to scrape that up and see what it is but I was thinking that was all just chunks of grease as that’s what it looked and felt like. This is what the pilot bearing looked like. And all that stuff was wiping up like grease so was assuming it was the same stuff inside that area.