whoopassonthebluegrass
05-05-2010, 07:23 PM
Hey, all. I'm on my first hydro mower, so I have no expertise for diagnosing clutch problems.
I'm running a BOP Dually 44".
Last night, clutch wouldn't disengage the blades. Even if I turned off the mower entirely.
So this morning (with problem magically gone), I relubed the clutch with WD-40 via owner's manual, and head out to work.
On lawn #6, I could smell that strange odor of too-hot-metal-parts and stopped to inspect mower. Thought it was a loose spindle I'd known was about to fail. No biggie, I had the spare parts ready and waiting. Run home and replace the two remaining spindles so all three are new.
Fired up mower, and there is a clatter (might be too strong of a description, but something audible was not right). It's coming from my clutch.
I attempt to engage blades, but it will only slowly spin them (despite being at full throttle). Light smoke emanates from clutch (could be the WD-40 I just relubed it with).
If I lower the rpm, clutch will engage. Then I can raise up rpm and it would - ever so slowly - come up to speed.
So I quickly cut my front lawn (recently done, so only about 1/2" of growth). I notice blade speed dipping easily and frequently - despite not having to hardly work at all.
Am I diagnosing this properly? Is it normal for a clutch to slowly fail, rather than just quit instantly? How much time do I have before it's completely shot?
Thanks.
I'm running a BOP Dually 44".
Last night, clutch wouldn't disengage the blades. Even if I turned off the mower entirely.
So this morning (with problem magically gone), I relubed the clutch with WD-40 via owner's manual, and head out to work.
On lawn #6, I could smell that strange odor of too-hot-metal-parts and stopped to inspect mower. Thought it was a loose spindle I'd known was about to fail. No biggie, I had the spare parts ready and waiting. Run home and replace the two remaining spindles so all three are new.
Fired up mower, and there is a clatter (might be too strong of a description, but something audible was not right). It's coming from my clutch.
I attempt to engage blades, but it will only slowly spin them (despite being at full throttle). Light smoke emanates from clutch (could be the WD-40 I just relubed it with).
If I lower the rpm, clutch will engage. Then I can raise up rpm and it would - ever so slowly - come up to speed.
So I quickly cut my front lawn (recently done, so only about 1/2" of growth). I notice blade speed dipping easily and frequently - despite not having to hardly work at all.
Am I diagnosing this properly? Is it normal for a clutch to slowly fail, rather than just quit instantly? How much time do I have before it's completely shot?
Thanks.