Replacing clutch friction material
I'd like some ideas on how a bloke goes about putting new friction material on a worn out clutch. Curiously, I'm prompted to ask because I have a new-ish rotary mower with the problem, whereas my Atco Standard 22inch has an ancient flat plate clutch which still works perfectly. Now if the Atco clutch starts slipping I'd be asking the same question, and maybe there are old-mower owners who have a similar problem, so I hope it's a valid subject for these pages. I don't have facilities for heat-bonding stuff, but it seems there are modern adhesives that will do the job, and presumably there are sources of friction material. The clutch in question is a flat plate job, one plain steel face, about 5 inches diameter, no rivits involved. Has anyone done a similar job?
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Some good pointers there,
Some good pointers there, thanks. Being a member of the vintage motor cycle club, I should have thought of that! My wife has just reminded me that my "newish" John Deere JX85 is in fact 20 years old.... A common problem with these is a failure of the material on the blade clutch. It's one of those that disengages drive when you take your hand off the controls. I've ordered a new lower half clutch but at £70 was not cheap. Fearing that the new one may disintegrate, I'd like to repair the old clutch plate cheaply so I have a spare on the shelf. Although it seems the bonding on the original clutch failed, I'm sure adhesives have improved a lot in 20 years!
Not familiar with the JX85
Not familiar with the JX85 but I'm guessing that it has a blade brake/clutch assembly. On other machines with that type of set up I've seen a number of failures due to moisture creeping between the lining and its metal carrier causing rusting which "blows" the lining off. Possibly as good a reason as any for not regularly pressure washing the underside of the mower deck and sticking to a dry scrape out.
I've just bolted in the new
I've just bolted in the new lower clutch, the spares arrived fast and efficiently from Anglia Mowers in Sheringham. I agree rust could well be the culprit, since it has had plenty of time to get to work. However, I'm not guilty of pressure washing - I have a special scraping stick that I leave handy, stuck in the woodpile, to get the worst of the wet grass off! Not any old stick will do the job, as we all know. Perhaps if I was more diligent I'd have a short stiff brush handy so I could clean around the clutch and then it may not stay wet and go rusty.....
If your original clutch
If your original clutch lasted twenty years it has to be acknowledged that your system works. We used to see alloy decks corroded through in under ten years and pressed steel ones in half that time. The acids in rotting grass take no prisoners !
Can you be a bit more
Can you be a bit more specific about the "newish rotary mower" and its problem?
Going back to your flat plate clutch on the Atco Standard it is possible that the vintage motor cycle fraternity will have the answer to the bonding issue but I have successfully re-fixed flat clutch linings to Hayter 21s and Ospreys using Loctite Multibond. Also used the same adhesive to re-fix the clutch pads on the traverse on my BRL cylinder grinder.