Kubota L305DT Secondary Clutch Adjustment???

[Zatzke]

Hi everyone,
New to this forum but have been gleaning information from you guys for the past couple of weeks leading up to a new to me tractor purchase.

I just picked up a L305DT in mostly good condition. There are a couple quirks that I am working through, but that is expected from a tractor of this age. My question is regarding the secondary clutch and engaging/disengaging the PTO.

Currently the clutch is adjusted so the transmission's clutch is disengaged (driving the transmission) at the very top of the pedal. Probably around .25" - .5" pedal free play, so not much room. The problem is that at this setting, when the clutch is pressed all the way to disengage the PTO, the PTO grinds when attempting to put it in either H or L setting. The PTO will engage, but it is not smooth by any means and the implement starts turning as soon as the clutch is let off what seems to be a thousandth of an inch! Ok maybe an exaggeration but you know what I mean!

If I back off the clutch so it has the spec'd freeplay (~1"-1.5"), the transmission still shifts fine, however the PTO refuses to engage and grinds heavily. Since I can ALMOST get the PTO to disengage, this leads me to believe that the secondary clutch is not frozen up but is in dire need of adjustment (correct me if I'm wrong here).

I have looked through the flywheel inspection port to see what's in there for adjustment and all I can come up with is a single bolt & nut that looks like it pushes on the release lever for the clutch. I have assumed that this is the adjustment for the secondary clutch as I can see there is a fair amount of play that could be taken up. The fun part, as I am sure you all know, is that it is almost impossible to get any tools in there to adjust! So is this the bolt that I should be adjusting? If it is - does anyone have any suggestions? If it isn't the correct bolt, where should I be looking?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Some pictures of the tractor are attached in case anyone wants to look at an old (what seems to be hard to find information on) Kubota!

 

[Zatzke]

I just read somewhere that there's a second cover on the housing that should allow access to three bolts for adjustment. I had only been opening the cover that allows you to grease the release bearing and had not seen this second cover. The cover I was opening had 2 bolts holding the cover on and is almost directly below the fuel filter. The only other cover I can see from the pictures (since I am not at home) is a cover with a single bolt holding it on much closer to where the face of the bellhousing meets the back of the engine block. Hopefully this is the ticket to getting the PTO clutch adjusted correctly!

I am going to investigate when I get home and report back.

If anyone knows of any good sources for info on these tractors, let me know - it seems as if they are a well kept secret as there isn't a whole lot about them on the net or in the forums!

Also worth a mention - TGIF!

 

[Bulldog]

Don't know if yours is the same but my L3000 has a small cover on the right side of the bell housing that comes off which gives access to the clutch disc. This is how you adjust the disc itself. Like I said though, your model may be different.

 

[Zatzke]

Don't know if yours is the same but my L3000 has a small cover on the right side of the bell housing that comes off which gives access to the clutch disc. This is how you adjust the disc itself. Like I said though, your model may be different.

Does it look like this? The blue circle is where I had been looking before. The red circle is what I hope gives me access to the adjustment bolts

 

[Zatzke]

Dropbox doesn't seem to want to play nice to imbed images. I will have to find my photobucket account info later. For now see if you can tell via the attached picture

Thanks!

 

[Bulldog]

It's really hard to tell in those pics. If this helps mine is located behind the sub-frame for the loader. Luckily the sub-frame has a cover si it doesn't need to be dropped to get to the clutch. When I take the cover off i see the side of the disc itself. It has 3 adjustment bolts. Like I said before, yours may be completely different.

 

[D2Cat]

Zatzke, Before you do any adjusting, check this out.

If you were setting on the tractor, down by your left toe is a lever. It's called a "clutch pedal stopper" in the Operator's manual.

I will try to describe:

Say, NEVER USE THE CLUTCH PEDAL STOPPER WHEN OPERATING PTO POWERED EQUIPMENT.

The transmission clutch is disengaged when the clutch pedal is pressed down half-way. The PTO clutch remains engaged. Both transmission and PTO clutch are disengaged when the pedal is fully pressed down. By using clutch stipper, only transmission clutch is disengaged.

So if the lever is in one position only the transmission clutch is disengaged. When you flip the lever to the other position both the transmission and the PTO clutch are disengaged.

You have a dual clutch and that's how it works!

No adjustment probably necessary, just flip the lever.

 

[Zatzke]

Zatzke, Before you do any adjusting, check this out.

If you were setting on the tractor, down by your left toe is a lever. It's called a "clutch pedal stopper" in the Operator's manual.

I will try to describe:

Say, NEVER USE THE CLUTCH PEDAL STOPPER WHEN OPERATING PTO POWERED EQUIPMENT.

The transmission clutch is disengaged when the clutch pedal is pressed down half-way. The PTO clutch remains engaged. Both transmission and PTO clutch are disengaged when the pedal is fully pressed down. By using clutch stipper, only transmission clutch is disengaged.

So if the lever is in one position only the transmission clutch is disengaged. When you flip the lever to the other position both the transmission and the PTO clutch are disengaged.

You have a dual clutch and that's how it works!

No adjustment probably necessary, just flip the lever.

D2cat

Thanks for the idea but the clutch lever stopper is flipped out of the way. I probably wouldn't have been able to get the secondary clutch to mostly disengage if the lever was still blocking the clutch pedal travel. This is definitely an adjustment issue that goes beyond adjustment of the external pedal linkage.

I could see where this would be a Gotcha to a lot of people though!

 

[kc8fbl]

Has it set outside or not used for a while? I'm wondering if the clutch is sticking a little?

Welcome to OTT and I see you're not too far away either!

 

[Zatzke]

Has it set outside or not used for a while? I'm wondering if the clutch is sticking a little?

Welcome to OTT and I see you're not too far away either!

Thanks for the welcome! Gobles is just a hop skip and a jump away in the big picture of things!

The tractor did sit for a couple years but it was in a garage and was started up about once or twice a year. I can feel the clutch working and can tell the difference in the amount of disengagement I am getting on the secondary clutch based on how I have the external linkage adjusted. That's not to say that there isn't some rust or something that is keeping the secondary clutch from disengaging all the way though... I hope that isn't the case as I really don't feel like splitting the tractor!

Life got in the way last night so I didn't get to check out the other inspection port but I am hoping to do that today!

Have a good Saturday everyone

 

[Zatzke]

Update

The second inspection port cover does not lead me anywhere. It looks to be for observing a timing mark on the flywheel. No bolts in sight here.

Back to the drawing board... Ideas?

 

[Zatzke]

Anybody?

 

[olthumpa]

These are two pics of my L275.
The first is with the FEL sub frame bolted up covering one inspection port.
The second is with the FEL sub frame unbolted and lowered revealing the second inspection port, (front inspection port).
If you look closely at the second pic where the unbolted linkage crosses the unbolted sub frame, is the second inspection port. Right where the linkage crosses, you can see the clutch and one of three adjustment bolts. You will need two wrinches, one to loosen the jam nut and another to turn the adjustment bolt. Count the number of 1/4 turns you do so you can repeat it on the other two bolts and keep your clutch surfaces flush.
On my L275 this is not the easiest thing to do just takes a little time and patients.

On mine, the clutch assembly is rough cast. You have to use a screwdriver or something else to turn the clutch to align the bolts so you can adjust them.

Good luck and hope this helps.

PS. When just taking the pic with the frame bolted up I noticed a fluid leaf of some kind, I guess now I have something to do today.

 

[Lostdutchman]

Looks the same on my 2850dt. The wsm says to turn in til head contacts plate then back out 3/4 turn. It's nice that it has a 4 sided shank to turn 3 flats then tighten jam nut. Worked well


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[Lostdutchman]

Where is the leak from


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[olthumpa]

Where is the leak from


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Leak is from the steering gear box. Will have to fill with high temp grease. Did 5+ hrs of bush hogging Friday and got the trans pretty hot. Must have melted the grease that was in there.

 

[Zatzke]

Thanks for the pics - that does look a little different than mine... I finally had a second to find my photobucket info to get a couple pictures uploaded.

You can see in the first picture that the rear inspection port (circled in blue) is very similar to the rear inspection port on your tractor. The front inspection port (circled in red) is merely for timing (from what I can tell).

I am starting to wonder if there is no way to adjust the clutch externally and if I am going to have to split the tractor to do so... If that is the case, it may be getting new clutches since I'll be in there anyways...



These are the only two access ports that I can find on my tractor.

 

[olthumpa]

Does the bolt you see look like the one in the pic? If so, that is the adjustment bolt and nut for your second stage. The bolt is in the center far right. The bottom of the bolt is 4 sided with a jam nut above it.

 

[Zatzke]

Not entirely sure, it was hard to see... I'm in WI right now, but it looks like the bolt on the picture below that I put the red arrow to. I'll have to see if I can get a better view when I get home

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[olthumpa]

Not entirely sure, it was hard to see... I'm in WI right now, but it looks like the bolt on the picture below that I put the red arrow to. I'll have to see if I can get a better view when I get home

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NO! Bolt #11 is the one you have to adjust for the second stage.

The bolt you pointed to is engaged by the #12 - Release bearing. It then puts pressure on #3 - Release lever which lifts #2 - Release rod which then lifts #10 - Traction Pressure plate which then lifts #4 - Front cover which releases the second stage clutch #5- Pto clutch disc.

Bolt #11 goes through #10- Traction Pressure plate and the nut will be underneath it. (will probably have to turn the clutch with a screw driver or something to be able to see the adjustment nut)

#9 -Traction clutch disc will be sandwiched between #10 and the flywheel, you will not see it.

While in there you might want to give the zurk on #13 a shot of grease, but not much. (access plate circled in red)