L245DT questions: Clutch noise, high/low range lever replacement

[Pete Puma]

I'm a new used tractor owner. My folks had an old Ford 8N so I'm not unfamiliar with using tractors, but then I went off to live in a non-tractor kind of place for several decades. Now I've got land and I picked up a 1977 L245DT for various landscaping, property, and hobby farming projects.

It came with 1646 hours showing and I've put about 20 more on it. Within days of getting it the high/low range lever broke. It clearly had been cracked for a while as there was rust showing inside. It appears to be an unavailable part and Vise-Grips are serving me for now (really I mostly just leave it in low) but I was wondering if anyone knows of a substitute replacement.

Slightly more concerning is that yesterday the clutch start singing unpleasantly when engaged. So when I don't have my foot on it, there's a squealing that got rapidly louder over about an hour before I parked it. I haven't yet looked into the parts diagrams but my first thoughts were the pilot bearing going or maybe the release fork wanting some grease. I used to do a lot of work on my own cars but I have to admit I'm not relishing cracking open a 50 year old bell housing as much as I might have when I was younger. Anyone have any thoughts about other avenues to explore with the clutch? (Also winter is closing in fast and the pole barn project got bumped out to next year so I'm not going to have an enclosed space to work in.)

Other than that the tractor is great. Well, the brakes are kind of useless but that hasn't been an issue yet. I may do something about them next year.

 

[Russell King]

For the squealing it is probably the throw out bearing but you can try one easy grease operation on the carrier for the throw out bearing. There is a cover on the brake side of the bell housing that you can remove and should be able to look into and see a grease zerk back in the hole. That gets a couple of grease gun pumps and the grease gets pumped into an area between the shaft and the carrier for the throw out bearing. That may let the carrier move easier and allow the bearing to move further away from a spinning part and be quiet. But I really doubt it will help very much.

For the lever you broke, it could probably be welded back together or you can get a used part from a salvage yard. This one is in California so not too far from Washington.

 

[D2Cat]

PM on this forum "007kubotaguy". He probable has any part you may need.

 

[Russell King]

PM on this forum "007kubotaguy". He probable has any part you may need.

Post #2 and post #3 get you to the same person/company.

 

[Pete Puma]

For the squealing it is probably the throw out bearing but you can try one easy grease operation on the carrier for the throw out bearing. There is a cover on the brake side of the bell housing that you can remove and should be able to look into and see a grease zerk back in the hole. That gets a couple of grease gun pumps and the grease gets pumped into an area between the shaft and the carrier for the throw out bearing. That may let the carrier move easier and allow the bearing to move further away from a spinning part and be quiet. But I really doubt it will help very much.

For the lever you broke, it could probably be welded back together or you can get a used part from a salvage yard. This one is in California so not too far from Washington.

It could be the throw out bearing, but I'd expect to hear it when the clutch is disengaged instead of engaged. I really should look at the parts diagram before any more guessing though. And that's a great tip on greasing the carrier. Thanks.

 

[Russell King]

You can get to illustrated parts lists at these sites:

https://kpad.kubota.com/disclaimer?consumer_code=100faiXie8u

OEM Kubota Parts & Accessories (In-Store & Online) | Messicks

Messick's has the industry's largest ready-to-ship, in-stock inventory of OEM Kubota parts and accessories for sale online. We ship nationwide, often same day.

www.messicks.com

Kubota OEM Parts | Buy In-Store or Ship Nationwide | Coleman Equipment

Lookup Kubota parts & accessories online. Parts are in-stock and ready-to-ship nationwide. Order now.

www.colemanequip.com

If you have a local dealer they can get you the parts also and if you tell them to get them through the normal dealer delivery system the shipping is usually free.

 

[Pete Puma]

You can get to illustrated parts lists at these sites:

https://kpad.kubota.com/disclaimer?consumer_code=100faiXie8u

OEM Kubota Parts & Accessories (In-Store & Online) | Messicks

Messick's has the industry's largest ready-to-ship, in-stock inventory of OEM Kubota parts and accessories for sale online. We ship nationwide, often same day.

www.messicks.com

Kubota OEM Parts | Buy In-Store or Ship Nationwide | Coleman Equipment

Lookup Kubota parts & accessories online. Parts are in-stock and ready-to-ship nationwide. Order now.

www.colemanequip.com

If you have a local dealer they can get you the parts also and if you tell them to get them through the normal dealer delivery system the shipping is usually free.

I've actually got the original manual with exploded parts diagrams, so that's pretty fun. And I've checked with the dealer; the lever that broke is unavailable although I have got to think that there were later models that used the exact same diameter splined shaft with a key to keep the lever on and their levers would fit. But I don't know how to go about finding that out for sure.

 

[Russell King]

I've actually got the original manual with exploded parts diagrams, so that's pretty fun. And I've checked with the dealer; the lever that broke is unavailable although I have got to think that there were later models that used the exact same diameter splined shaft with a key to keep the lever on and their levers would fit. But I don't know how to go about finding that out for sure.

Kubota has updated some of the part numbers over the years. On Messick’s site if you search for a part number they will be able to tell you if that number is obsolete or if it has been superseded over time.

Here is one way to look at the models that one part fit onto. I did it for the high low lever on a L245DT and the results are shown below.

First look up the part number and search for it on Messick’s. There site is nice since they have hyperlinks on the part numbers to cost and availability. Get to the page of the part and then move down to see a button that says “show models” (same button as shown below that says “hide models”). Then a list of models that part was used on will show up as shown below. That may not be helpful in your case since they all used the same obsolete part!

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

If the clutch linkage is out of adjustment ( possibly because of a worn clutch ) the throw-out bearing will ride on the clutch fingers and will burn them out.
The can make the noise, engaged or disengaged.

How you find out if a part crossed over to other models is to look up the part number then cross it.

 

[Pete Puma]

If the clutch linkage is out of adjustment ( possibly because of a worn clutch ) the throw-out bearing will ride on the clutch fingers and will burn them out.
The can make the noise, engaged or disengaged.

How you find out if a part crossed over to other models is to look up the part number then cross it.



View attachment 164864

I should check the linkage adjustment. One other thing that might be relevant is that when I have the wheels turned all the way to the right I can't disengage the clutch because the pedal hits the tie rod and that certainly seems a bit maladjusted.

The guy I bought it from had only owned it for a bit more than a year and I think he mostly he got it to fix it up a bit over the winter for something to do and didn't use it much before selling it.

Okay, it's sunny right now so I'm going to go look at the linkage. I parked it the other day because the noise was getting worse every time I used the clutch but I really don't want it to go out completely before I use the tractor to help put up a metal carport for it to park under before the snow comes.