New Holland TN70A Clutch Finger Adjustments

Installing a replacement dual 11 clutch kit, identical to the one I took out with one exception: The engine clutch fingers are a full one inch lower than the unit I took out. The PTO fingers are the same as my original. I expected there to be a difference in the engine clutch fingers due to the added thickness of the new clutch disc (vs the thin warn clutch disc). Yet when I put the two halves of the tractor back together, my clutch pedal's full range of motion (to the floor) still would not yet even touch the fingers, much less depress the clutch.

I spoke directly with the engineer at Hy-Capacity clutches, who concluded that I had the correct part and the fingers, set low as they were, are to spec. However, he said, if my flywheel had been resurfaced, I would then have to break the QC seal on the finger locks and raise them to meet my circumstances.

I bought this tractor with 1500 hours. It now has 3000 hours. The clutch I took out was stamped with CNH. I still have what I believe to be the .020 factory step on the flywheel. All of this leads me to believe that I am the first to split this tractor. Even if I'm not, I'm still sitting here with a clutch pedal which cannot reach the fingers.

I've retorqued the clutch back onto the flywheel to obtain exact current finger heights. I've made exact measurements of where the throw out bearing is positioned at pedal spec (5.51 above the floor to the top center edge of the pedal). I now know that my engine clutch fingers need to be raised 5/8 in order for the pedal to engage properly. But now here is my new question:

The PTO bearing carrier HAS a return spring. The engine clutch bearing carrier DOES NOT. This leads me to believe that the engine clutch bearing is ALWAYS resting on the clutch fingers. In other words, the engine clutch throwout bearing is designed to ALWAYS be spinning. (?) Seems hard to believe as this is more or less riding the clutch, by design. (Okay, so it doesn't cause minor clutch slippage but it does cause the bearing to needlessly spin for every second the engine is running.)

If someone knows the answer to this question (Is the pedal bearing supposed to be parked right on the fingers when the pedal is fully released?), I will then set the fingers accordingly. I was going to set the fingers to allow about 1/16 clearance, but again, with no spring to pull the pedal back, the bearing is going to naturally fall against the fingers.

Apologies for the long story. Better to provide all the details upfront than hash it out later!

Steve in WI (where it doesn't rain anymore).

For starters, yes, the bearing does ride on the clutch levers all the time. There is no return spring, and no bearing to lever clearance, so there is no pedal free play in that regard. There is an adjustment on the clutch cable but it's purpose is merely for pedal height from the floor.

The levers on the new clutch are a full inch lower than those on the old clutch. That does sound like a lot. Having replaced a number of clutches in TN series tractors I don't recall coming across one, whether new or reman that I couldn't make work by adjusting the cable.

I've learned over the years to take a measurement of the position of release levers from the tractor split joint and compare it with the measurement of release bearing to the split joint. In this case it would involve holding the pedal up with a bungee cord then pushing the bearing back by hand. If I don't think I can get enough adjustment on pedal linkage to bring the two measurements within 1/8 the two halves don't go together until I figure out why. I take it you have adjusted the cable and still have the problem?

Normal procedure for resurfacing a clutch is to remove the same amount off the rim where the pressure plate bolts on if this is a dishpan flywheel if it is a flat plate flywheel disregard that as the whole surface would have been done at that time.

Does this pressure plate come with wedges or capscrews holding it partially disengaged for ease of installation? If so, were they removed after bolting up the pressure plate?

2X what Harry posted about measuring before you put it back together.

On this 2006 model, the pedal adjusting linkage consists of several metal rods joined at directional pivot points. The adjustment is made via a turnbuckle situated directly adjacent to the pedal. Now that Harry mentioned he's never had one he couldn't make work within the available adjustment range, I'm going to first fully disassemble my turnbuckle to clean the threads and oil it good before resorting to raising the clutch levers. My turnbuckle feels like it's bottoming out at a certain point, but only after providing almost enough to reach the levers (but not depress the levers). Perhaps what I'm feeling when that turnbuckle binds is due to damaged threads preventing further movement. But even so, I'll still need to find quite a bit more travel after I clean it up. I'll find out.

The PTO clutch does use a cable with a fair amount of leeway in both directions so I've got options. Doing the math from split flange to bearing and split flange to the PTO levers, I'll need to move the PTO bearing back 3/16 to avoid having the PTO bearing riding on the levers. While the formerly mentioned spring utilized on the PTO bearing carrier implies that the PTO bearing should not be riding the levers, I wanted to verify this explicitly with Harry or others with experience.

To paraphrase so far: By design, we've established that the Engine Clutch bearing is expected to ride the levers. If the PTO bearing is confirmed to be expected to NOT contact the levers when the PTO is NOT engaged, then how much clearance should I plan for? I'd presume perhaps 1/8.

Responding to the other replies:

Jim.ME: No, there were no wedges requiring removal, but I understand why you brought this up. These clutch kits are set up with the pilot bearing/multi spline tool from the factory, effectively creating a perfectly centered disc for the installer. As this dual clutch setup consists of a shaft within a shaft, I found it easiest to mark this shaft with a sharpie at the point where the shaft would be fully installed into the flywheel pilot bearing. This assured that there were no hangups within the clutch kit as I moved the front half back to mate with the rear. The downside, as I saw it, was that I had to move the front half at least as far as the length of that removable PTO shaft in order to gain the freedom of movement which would allow me to easily manipulate that shaft through the clutch splines and into the pilot bearing. My sharpie mark then confirmed it was in full.

Caterpillar guy: In this case, the replacement unit was new. Flywheel remains original but still looks great, with no signs of wear or burn marks. Also no evidence of having previously been turned down. Still had the .020 raised step.

Showcrop: Thanks for confirming Harry's points. Word to the wise appears to be to always measure everything on both sides of the split before moving it all back together. The factory rep told me to bolt it up as is and it will work. Had I done that, I'd be looking at a full re-splitting. The feedback from everyone has reduced a great amount of worry over these important adjustments. Not all of these details are available in the official repair manuals, which I have. Thanks to everyone for your help so far. VERY much appreciated.