I'm pretty annoyed at the moment- we haven't made any where near as much progress as I hoped- and made some pretty school boy errors. This has meant we have wasted half a day. Let me try are share some of the errors- in the hope that if you are doing this, you can avoid!
With hindsight, the bolts that held the engine to the tractor should have been replaced, as the ones that were on there were a hotch-potch of set screws and nuts being used as spacers on longer bolts. As described in the previous post, the flywheel has been completed nicely. This went on easily- there is a small metal plug that allows the flywheel to sit correctly. We positioned the flywheel on and bolted in the 6 retainer bolts with the metal strips. These prevent the bolts from loosening, where they were damaged, I snapped the ends off to prevent them from floating around in there.
You can also see in the below picture the new bearing and seal in the flywheel.
To tighten up the metal plates, we used a metal chisel and hammer. The flywheel bolts were torqued up to 100 lbs.
So, this is where the clutch alignment tool is used! Thank you Arthur for letting us borrow yours. This tool is basically to allow you to hold the clutch plate in place and allow the clutch bell to be positioned around the place and bolded into place. The correct end is used to fill the bearing and have a tight fit. This went well, and we got the plate in place. The new clutch plate looks great!
Below the first stage, where the clutch plate is held in place with the alignment tool. It is important that the clutch plate is put on the correct way. The central part sticks out farther, as can be seen below. This allows the clutch plate to fit close to the flywheel. It is important to make sure the alignment tool is tight against the plate, and tight in the central bearing or the plate will slip a few mm, and then the housing will not fit over the plate.
Those of you reading this who know what you are doing, I am sure will see our mistake! We fitted the housing and tighten the bolts to 28 lbs torque. The alignment tool pops straight out no worries. At this point I was thinking- jobs a good un' and was lining up for a nice cup of tea. However, this is where it started to go all wrong.
We copper greased the splines in the clutch bell housing and on the clutch plate itself. Then fitted the new gasket around the tractor. It put a few dabs of copper grease around to hold it in place. Good news that there were and are no oil leaks no we have replaced the seals inside the tractor.
So once back on we will of fixed the starting problem and the oil leak!
The weather was still horrible, and was starting to get a little impatient at this point. There is a moral to this somewhere! I think it is probably, if you feel you are rushing, you should stop and time some time out. We instead pushed to get the engine on to the tractor. The engine was still being held up by the front wheels and the trolley jack.
With a good 30 mins of wobbling and getting the bolts in, and using temporarily long bolts we got the engine and tractor back together! As we are not on a solid concrete floor, and the work area is on a slight angle getting them lined up is a nightmare. So to get it all connected back together was a massive relief! Some pats on the back, we thought we were home and free :)
At this point, we decided we would just check the turn over of the engine, by using a adjustable spanner on the front of the engine. It was solid, and wouldn't move. When we looked to make sure the engine was out of gear, we discovered that the clutch pedal was solid up against its top position.
As always with these tractors, to do one job, you need to do a number of others- so the fun started.
To get the clutch pedal off, the right solid brake linkage has to come off. This however is connected via a toothed clamp, which was totally corroded together. So I worked on this with the wd40 and hammer. Eventually getting the linkage off- this gives socket access to the clutch pedal connection.
I loosened the clutch pedal and the square connector to the tractor inside went loose. We realised we had a problem, the clutch pedal was not connecting to the clutch- all that was holding the clutch pedal up was the retaining springs over the bearing inside. The realisation that we were going to have to open the tractor up again was dawning on us. :(
So, it was back to square one, the wobbling/pushing/edging the engine back on to the tractor really takes it out of you and contemplating doing it all again was not a great motivator!
30 mins later...
The tractor was split again and we had the clutch housing out.
Looking at the clutch and comparing it to the old one, it looks like the metal circle in the middle is packing material. On testing, we couldn't get the metal ring around the splines on the gearbox shaft- explaining why the pedal was loose and the springs and bearing were not connecting with the clutch itself.
So we either have the wrong clutch or it is a temporary piece. I had no patience left by this point- so unleashed the pliers and took off the retaining springs and took the metal ring off. The new clutch then looked exactly like the old clutch- so i was feeling more confident. We then went through the alignment process and when it came to fitting the housing on- it was not run flush with the flywheel! arrggghhhh!!!
It seems like the metal part is to hold the clutch closed to allow it to be connected to the flywheel- then it should be removed. I think! Please - if anyone can confirm this theory- please do ASAP!
We got the rest put together and then started to line up the engine with the tractor- at this point we were both too tired with pushing and shoving. So we have left it in the current state- an hour of wobbling and we should have it back together. However if anyone can confirm the clutch situation, it would be appreciated- I can't face doing this all over again! You can see our retaining pin tool - used to pull it all together!
Below is the offending item!
To tighten up the metal plates, we used a metal chisel and hammer. The flywheel bolts were torqued up to 100 lbs.
So, this is where the clutch alignment tool is used! Thank you Arthur for letting us borrow yours. This tool is basically to allow you to hold the clutch plate in place and allow the clutch bell to be positioned around the place and bolded into place. The correct end is used to fill the bearing and have a tight fit. This went well, and we got the plate in place. The new clutch plate looks great!
Below the first stage, where the clutch plate is held in place with the alignment tool. It is important that the clutch plate is put on the correct way. The central part sticks out farther, as can be seen below. This allows the clutch plate to fit close to the flywheel. It is important to make sure the alignment tool is tight against the plate, and tight in the central bearing or the plate will slip a few mm, and then the housing will not fit over the plate.
Those of you reading this who know what you are doing, I am sure will see our mistake! We fitted the housing and tighten the bolts to 28 lbs torque. The alignment tool pops straight out no worries. At this point I was thinking- jobs a good un' and was lining up for a nice cup of tea. However, this is where it started to go all wrong.
We copper greased the splines in the clutch bell housing and on the clutch plate itself. Then fitted the new gasket around the tractor. It put a few dabs of copper grease around to hold it in place. Good news that there were and are no oil leaks no we have replaced the seals inside the tractor.
So once back on we will of fixed the starting problem and the oil leak!
The weather was still horrible, and was starting to get a little impatient at this point. There is a moral to this somewhere! I think it is probably, if you feel you are rushing, you should stop and time some time out. We instead pushed to get the engine on to the tractor. The engine was still being held up by the front wheels and the trolley jack.
With a good 30 mins of wobbling and getting the bolts in, and using temporarily long bolts we got the engine and tractor back together! As we are not on a solid concrete floor, and the work area is on a slight angle getting them lined up is a nightmare. So to get it all connected back together was a massive relief! Some pats on the back, we thought we were home and free :)
At this point, we decided we would just check the turn over of the engine, by using a adjustable spanner on the front of the engine. It was solid, and wouldn't move. When we looked to make sure the engine was out of gear, we discovered that the clutch pedal was solid up against its top position.
As always with these tractors, to do one job, you need to do a number of others- so the fun started.
To get the clutch pedal off, the right solid brake linkage has to come off. This however is connected via a toothed clamp, which was totally corroded together. So I worked on this with the wd40 and hammer. Eventually getting the linkage off- this gives socket access to the clutch pedal connection.
I loosened the clutch pedal and the square connector to the tractor inside went loose. We realised we had a problem, the clutch pedal was not connecting to the clutch- all that was holding the clutch pedal up was the retaining springs over the bearing inside. The realisation that we were going to have to open the tractor up again was dawning on us. :(
So, it was back to square one, the wobbling/pushing/edging the engine back on to the tractor really takes it out of you and contemplating doing it all again was not a great motivator!
30 mins later...
The tractor was split again and we had the clutch housing out.
Looking at the clutch and comparing it to the old one, it looks like the metal circle in the middle is packing material. On testing, we couldn't get the metal ring around the splines on the gearbox shaft- explaining why the pedal was loose and the springs and bearing were not connecting with the clutch itself.
So we either have the wrong clutch or it is a temporary piece. I had no patience left by this point- so unleashed the pliers and took off the retaining springs and took the metal ring off. The new clutch then looked exactly like the old clutch- so i was feeling more confident. We then went through the alignment process and when it came to fitting the housing on- it was not run flush with the flywheel! arrggghhhh!!!
It seems like the metal part is to hold the clutch closed to allow it to be connected to the flywheel- then it should be removed. I think! Please - if anyone can confirm this theory- please do ASAP!
We got the rest put together and then started to line up the engine with the tractor- at this point we were both too tired with pushing and shoving. So we have left it in the current state- an hour of wobbling and we should have it back together. However if anyone can confirm the clutch situation, it would be appreciated- I can't face doing this all over again! You can see our retaining pin tool - used to pull it all together!
Below is the offending item!
Its been a slow, frustrating day- but I have learnt a lot! (If I was trying to find a positive side!)
I'm hoping we have it right now, and am looking forward to getting the whole thing closed up.
To make myself feel better I have been enjoying reading the following blog:
There are some details around the original toolbox- so am going to do some ebaying to see if I can find some original parts. I really would like to get the original tools put back together.
Maybe its just the weather, or the bad day- biut completing this project seems a long, long way away. The most frustrating part is that the horrible weather means I can't get out there and make any progress.
Oh, yes- one other thing is that I would like to get a new set of bolts for the engine/tractor connection- some are shorter than others. Does anyone know the list of fixings I need to do this?
That "offending item" looks like the clutch release bearing plate to me.
ReplyDeleteJulian- of course, you restored the MG! I hope it is still going well :)
ReplyDeleteIt does- but that is connected to the springs to the clutch 'pedal'..
The problem is that that plate won't go over the gearbox shaft!??