[AT] 2-cylinder clutch

Dean Vinson dean at vinsonfarm.net
Tue Aug 5 20:20:16 PDT 2008


Dick Day wrote:

>> I have heard that when parking a running JD 2-cylinder, you should 
>> always take it out of gear and engage the clutch.  I have also 
>> heard that the clutch should not be engaged when idling.

Ron Haskell wrote:

> When not moving for prolonged period of times the clutch should be
> engaged so the belt pulley is turning with the crankshaft and not 
> causing wear on the brass bushing in the center of the pulley/clutch
> assembly.

I wonder if some of the confusion stems from the terminology itself.  On a foot-clutch tractor or a standard-transmission car, you "engage" the brake by pushing in the brake pedal, so do you "engage" the clutch by pushing in the clutch pedal?

I've only operated a hand-clutch tractor a few times, not enough for it to feel at all intuitive.  But if I think of it in terms of a foot-clutch tractor it seems to make sense:  If I parked my Farmall M with the engine running, I'd put it in neutral and let the clutch out.  So on a JD two-cylinder I'd want to conceptually do the same thing: "let the clutch out", which I think would start the belt pulley turning as Ron says.

If "letting the clutch out" means the same thing as "engaging the clutch," then life is good.  If not, you'd best be careful about loaning me your old Poppin' Johnny.  :-)

Dean Vinson
Dayton, Ohio
www.vinsonfarm.net



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