Ford 8n clutch not disengaging

IHCubCadet147

IHCubCadet147

Tractorologist
Member
I was using my 8n yesterday, it was working fine for about an hour, I got off to angle the blade, and when I got back on, the clutch would not disengage. I couldn’t get it in gear, it would just grind. I shut it off, put it in gear, and started it and drove it back up to the garage. Stepping on the clutch pedal did nothing. I shut it off again, put it in reverse, started it and now the clutch was sort of working. It would stop the tractor, but I still couldn’t get it in gear without grinding. The pedal has no resistance until about halfway down. I don’t see anything obvious with the linkages. I will check that everything is adjusted right, but I don’t imagine that would change so suddenly. I’m guessing something broke and I’m probably going to end up having to split the tractor, but before I do that, does anyone have any ideas what I could check or try?
 
Similar story kinda...
Long time ago I painted a 8n for a guy. Before painting I pressure washed it , left it sit in place until it was painted . Don't remember exactly how long but probably a week more.
Put everything all back together on the real pretty newly painted tractor and the ******** clutch wouldn't release. Rugged that mother up and road the to no avail. Don't remember if there was access up into the clutch but obviously that didn't work either. Ended up splitting it to get it separated . Apparently just enough water / rust got in the clutch and froze it up...worked fine before hand .
 
cjet69 said:
I would agree with Cvans. We repaired a Ford 3000 clutch that the pin fell out of one of the release fingers. The pin was still in the bell housing and only needed a $0.19 cotter pin to fix it. Of coarse we had to split the tractor to make the repair.
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At least it was a cheap fix, but that must have really sucked having to split the tractor just for a cotter pin.
4getgto said:
Similar story kinda...
Long time ago I painted a 8n for a guy. Before painting I pressure washed it , left it sit in place until it was painted . Don't remember exactly how long but probably a week more.
Put everything all back together on the real pretty newly painted tractor and the ******** clutch wouldn't release. Rugged that mother up and road the to no avail. Don't remember if there was access up into the clutch but obviously that didn't work either. Ended up splitting it to get it separated . Apparently just enough water / rust got in the clutch and froze it up...worked fine before hand .
Click to expand...
The clutch froze up on me when this tractor was sitting over the winter. I guess that is common on these when they sit. I just pushed the pedal down and released it a few times and it broke free luckily. Since then, I have been wedging a block of wood in the pedal to hold it down when I park it.
 
IHCubCadet147 said:
I found a problem, but I’m not sure if it is the whole problem. The clutch release lever has a crack in it. I’m going to order a new one and put it on before I split it. It would be nice if that’s all it is. View attachment 94274View attachment 94275
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They actually make new arms still ? Very possible it could be welded..
Hope it comes off relatively easy...
 
4getgto said:
They actually make new arms still ? Very possible it could be welded..
Hope it comes off relatively easy...
Click to expand...
Yes, they are available new. Surprisingly a lot of parts for these tractors are. I’m going to take it off and my dad said he would try welding it. He never welded cast iron before though, so not sure how that’s going to go. We’ve got nothing to lose, it’s no good like it is. I have a new one ordered, and it should be here next week. But if we can get it to hold, I want to use this tractor some this weekend to finish what I started when it broke.
 
If you have a new one coming don’t waste your time trying to fix it. If you just want to try, brazing would be my first option. If arc welding is easier for you Nickel rod is the easiest to get good results with but is expensive. Non-machineable cast iron rod is inexpensive but turns very hard. Welding cast with regular welding rod makes the cast iron very brittle at the edges of the weld. Whatever you use let it cool slowly.
Good luck.
 
If you can get it red hot before you weld it, it will help with the welding. When I was in high school one of the kids from another local farm brought in a hand crank corn sheller for FFA day. Towards the end of the day someone broke the cast iron handle. I brought it down to the metal shop and talked to the teacher about it. He said get it red hot in the forge and quickly take it the welding table and weld it up. He got the rods for the welder while I was heating up the handle. Got it red hot, welded it up, let it cool, and then tried it out. Two years later when I graduated they were still using the sheller with the same handle.
 
Cvans said:
If you have a new one coming don’t waste your time trying to fix it. If you just want to try, brazing would be my first option. If arc welding is easier for you Nickel rod is the easiest to get good results with but is expensive. Non-machineable cast iron rod is inexpensive but turns very hard. Welding cast with regular welding rod makes the cast iron very brittle at the edges of the weld. Whatever you use let it cool slowly.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info, I think we are going to try brazing it. We don’t have nickel rod, and I’m not going to buy it just for this.
 
You can get a few nickel rods off of Amazon for under 20 bucks.

We do a tiny bit of cast repair at the shop. Use a rose bud and heat it to 350-400 degrees and weld it. Then lay a fire blanket over it to hold the heat in so it cools slowly. If it cools too fast it will crack.

Some of the old electric motors have cast fan guards.
 
We tried brazing it. Got it red hot first, then afterwards put it in a toaster oven and kept gradually turning the temp down to let it cool slowly. I saw that recommended somewhere else. It looked ok, but as soon as I put it back on the tractor and pushed the pedal down it cracked again. Oh well, I guess I will just have to wait for the new one to come. The tracking is showing I should get it between Tuesday and Thursday. 53F1CB1C-BAD1-495B-90EC-8DFA2AE5682D.jpeg
 
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