Playing with my ditch witch today and i pressed the clutch to the floor and its now stuck. Any body have any ideas to release it. Other wise the only option is to pull the engine out and free the clutch. Thanks

Dave

Is it the clutch itself stuck or the pedal? If the pedal then just pry it up with something and find out why it stuck.

The clutch itself is stuck, i can move the lever and the throughout bearing but the clutch or plate is stuck and won't release.

I adjusted the clutch to get more pull becuase it was slipping and i was grinding gears, went to push it down and it fell to the floor, funny thing was i pushed on it with my hand, I think this is gonna be a pull apart to fix.

Dave

Well if it was slipping before, you may just be at the point where you were going to have to replace it anyway. Hope it's not too much of a bear to get in there and swap it out...

That is the way it is looking more and more. With later models they had a full removable plate over the housing and you could get the clutch in and out, unfortunatly mine is not one and i will have to pull out the motor or pull the transmission, I'll have to go through it all and see what is the best way. Still scratching my head as to why it is stuck?

Dave

Hm. When you adjusted it, you could have pushed the levers that move the plate with the throwout bearing past their intended range of motion. If that's the case, then the clutch is worn out anyway.

Yup the clutch is done. Sweet thing is the brandt dealer had the clutch in stock as well as the brake rebuild kits so i can get her back working. Looking more and more like i am gonna have to pull the engine out to get to the clutch. I'll post some pics and what not when i get into it on the weekend. have a good one.

Dave

So just an update, i have spent the last two nights after work tearing down the ditch witch to seperate the engine and transmission. Took apart all of the hurdaulics just to get the console out of the way to get to the transmission. Broke a few things and found some quirky things about the witch. So i got the old clutch out. Its brand new, the prior owner must have put it in before they sold it, okay. So i put the new one in anyways as i have it. Put the tranny back on the engine, get it all set up and then I see it.

I have to stop at this point and lament on the irony of such things in life. That some times what you ASSUME is correct is wrong.

So back to the build, at this point i see that the arm on the shaft to the throw out bearing was just off, so the pin for the lever was broken. Thats it, the pin on the lever broke when i pushed the lever to the floor. Oh about a 10 minute and 40 cent fix. At this point its gonna take me 4 or 5 hours to finish putting everyhting else back together and the 180 bucks for the clutch is gonna hurt.

Moral of this story is check all the easy little fixes before spending a week of evenings pulling everything apart.

Good luck and have fun, I love working with my hands and will put this whole thing down to a learning experience.

Dave

Oh Davey, I feel your pain... kind of like your exotic expensive electronic test equipment suddenly won't work because it's unplugged.
Doc

Oh I can one up that one, 15 million dollar drilling rig won't work. 30g a day. Call in a tech and electrician and it all comes down to a single cable unplugged on the main plc. 14 hour drive each way and a plug in of a cable, the safety took longer.

The thing that really hurts is that I KNOW BETTER, oh well get her back together tomorrow night and then off to vegas. Have a good weekend.


Dave

Got her all back together tonight and it works great, couple tweeks and she will be better then before. Now just gotta clean up and this little project is done. Have a good one.

Dave

Way to go Davey! Have a great weekend!
Doc