Parts are parts, right? Wrong…

[IdahoNative]

I just took the B7100D out for a test drive.

Months ago, the clutch went out (of course soon after I bought it). Never had a tractor and never worked on one. Got out the manual and split the tractor, ordered aftermarket and replaced the disk, pplate, TO bearing and some seals. I adjusted the pplate fingers per instructions. If I recall, the entire job took me about 18 hours, most of it on the pplate fingers and connecting the two halves. After patting myself on the back, I fired it up. Clutch would not disengage! @#$$&! Split it again and discovered the TO was the wrong one! I did manage to shave 2 hours off, down to 16 hours this time. But wait, there’s more…

The clutch still wouldn’t disengage! Must be the fingers, they didn’t cooperate very well. So I split it for the third time. Sure enough, the finicky pplate fingers were bent and all out of spec. Upon comparing them to the OEM pplate, the aftermarket fingers were flimsy and held in place with cheap hardware. But the plate itself looked like OEM, so I made my own finger studs and used grade 8 stuff and thread locker. Buttoned it up (about 12 hours this time) and….it lasted about an hour!

Fourth time must be the charm, I told myself as I ordered an OEM pplate. Total work time 6 hours. Put it to a 4 hour test grading our private road…clutch worked as it should. And now I can do a clutch on a B7100D with a FEL in my sleep!


Aftermarket parts have treated me well on cars and pickups. But when it comes to OEM vs aftermarket Kubota parts…STICK WITH OEM!

 

[JerryMT]

I just took the B7100D out for a test drive.

Months ago, the clutch went out (of course soon after I bought it). Never had a tractor and never worked on one. Got out the manual and split the tractor, ordered aftermarket and replaced the disk, pplate, TO bearing and some seals. I adjusted the pplate fingers per instructions. If I recall, the entire job took me about 18 hours, most of it on the pplate fingers and connecting the two halves. After patting myself on the back, I fired it up. Clutch would not disengage! @#$$&! Split it again and discovered the TO was the wrong one! I did manage to shave 2 hours off, down to 16 hours this time. But wait, there’s more…

The clutch still wouldn’t disengage! Must be the fingers, they didn’t cooperate very well. So I split it for the third time. Sure enough, the finicky pplate fingers were bent and all out of spec. Upon comparing them to the OEM pplate, the aftermarket fingers were flimsy and held in place with cheap hardware. But the plate itself looked like OEM, so I made my own finger studs and used grade 8 stuff and thread locker. Buttoned it up (about 12 hours this time) and….it lasted about an hour!

Fourth time must be the charm, I told myself as I ordered an OEM pplate. Total work time 6 hours. Put it to a 4 hour test grading our private road…clutch worked as it should. And now I can do a clutch on a B7100D with a FEL in my sleep!


Aftermarket parts have treated me well on cars and pickups. But when it comes to OEM vs aftermarket Kubota parts…STICK WITH OEM!

Glad your persistence paid off. Now that you are great at doing a clutch on a B7100, you'll probably never have to do it again! Life is like that.

 

[Vigo]

I ordered a clutch and pilot bearing and then... never took mine apart. I've felt it slip when doing highly repetitive loader work but it holds if i dont get it hot.

It's possible that since i bought parts i'll just never need them now, like JerryMT was saying. Kinda like if you spend enough money on a generator your power will never go out, etc etc.

 

[D2Cat]

Why did you have to adjust the fingers on that clutch?

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Where did you get the aftermarket setup from?

And saying it's your fault that it failed, so please take these as inquirers and not a inquisition.
Is it possible that it failed from mal adjustment?
Normally you don't have to do any adjustments to them out of the box.
And is it possible that the throw-out bearing being wrong possibly damaged the pressure plate, like bent it or overheated it?
And was it a wrong bearing or just installed backwards (I've done that one)?

 

[IdahoNative]

Glad your persistence paid off. Now that you are great at doing a clutch on a B7100, you'll probably never have to do it again! Life is like that.

I hope not

 

[IdahoNative]

Why did you have to adjust the fingers on that clutch?

This model has 3 fingers that must be all be within a specified distance from the flywheel face.

 

[IdahoNative]

Where did you get the aftermarket setup from?

And saying it's your fault that it failed, so please take these as inquirers and not a inquisition.
Is it possible that it failed from mal adjustment?
Normally you don't have to do any adjustments to them out of the box.
And is it possible that the throw-out bearing being wrong possibly damaged the pressure plate, like bent it or overheated it?
And was it a wrong bearing or just installed backwards (I've done that one)?

I can’t find the guys card, but I ordered it on ebay…I will check tonight.

Great questions…
It’s possible I failed in the adjustment, but I was very careful, my son 3d printed a jig to set them. The aftermarket fingers were all different heights too. Plus there was an obvious difference in quality.

I thought and hoped the TO was backwards, but it wasn’t, had to buy the correct one. I don’t think it ran enough to cause damages. Again, the quality of the OEM is outstanding.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Thanks, just curious as it's good to have info on what to avoid.
I've done both OEM and aftermarket and have had great success with both.

 

[fried1765]

I ordered a clutch and pilot bearing and then... never took mine apart. I've felt it slip when doing highly repetitive loader work but it holds if i dont get it hot.

It's possible that since i bought parts i'll just never need them now, like JerryMT was saying. Kinda like if you spend enough money on a generator your power will never go out, etc etc.

I would not bet on it!
I think you are "living on borrowed time".

 

[D2Cat]

I recon I'm just fortunate. I've installed a few clutchs and the only one I ever adjusted was a dual clutch on a Deutz and I adjusted it when it was in place and I was laying on the ground looking up at it.

And it was a problem not engaging because the tractor was a trade in and the dealer installed a new clutch. It took so long the lost (or didn't know) a spacer was required and they left it out. I had to separate, install spacer, then adjust.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Your persistence is commendable. I don't know if tractor techs work by 'flat rate' or not but you'd be making decent money on those now...hahahah

I also learned the hard way. I have done a few automotive clutch's and always gone with OEM or better. (unless your talking about Mopar Dual Mass flywheels...absolute junk...always swap them out to a single mass...trust me)

 

[tsp159]

I can’t find the guys card, but I ordered it on ebay…I will check tonight.

Great questions…
It’s possible I failed in the adjustment, but I was very careful, my son 3d printed a jig to set them. The aftermarket fingers were all different heights too. Plus there was an obvious difference in quality.

I thought and hoped the TO was backwards, but it wasn’t, had to buy the correct one. I don’t think it ran enough to cause damages. Again, the quality of the OEM is outstanding.

Oh no, I hope it's not the ebay guy that everyone recommends. I ordered a clutch kit from him!

 

[mikester]

Aftermarket parts have treated me well on cars and pickups. But when it comes to OEM vs aftermarket Kubota parts…STICK WITH OEM!

Some aftermarket parts are made from old, worn, out of spec OEM tooling sold to aftermarket part producers. Other aftermarket parts are made from either reverse engineered or re-tooled parts. Some parts are re-manufactured.

Sometimes it's just a crap shoot. I've been lucky getting new K parts for old equipment without much waiting around. It's a big reason why I buy K equipment.

 

[IdahoNative]

Oh no, I hope it's not the ebay guy that everyone recommends. I ordered a clutch kit from him!

I didn’t get his name from this forum. I picked him because of his price. Valuable lesson learned. If you use a seller recommended by others here, you’ll be fine

 

[IdahoNative]

Your persistence is commendable. I don't know if tractor techs work by 'flat rate' or not but you'd be making decent money on those now...hahahah

I also learned the hard way. I have done a few automotive clutch's and always gone with OEM or better. (unless your talking about Mopar Dual Mass flywheels...absolute junk...always swap them out to a single mass...trust me)

You mean my stubbornness

 

[Runs With Scissors]

You mean my stubbornness

Tomatoe...Tomatoo