Gentlemen
I am confused about the lever box that CCJersey wrote about. It looks hydraulic, so, I am posting more photos. Also some photos of the clutch area as promised and some wheel photos. I have inserted some comments and questions in the photos themselves with arrows pointing to the question areas. Let me be clear, I am in awe of the knowledge you guys have, and I just want to understand how this works. Thanks in advance for your help. Someone said you like photos. I can take photos. Just let me know if you need more.

Replacing those worn pins sure won't hurt anything but I think if they were your problem it would be the gears grinding when you were trying to shift.

In other words slack is necessary...... to a point. That is why there is a clearance spec at the face of the clutch release (throw out) bearing. When there is no clearance the release bearing starts turning all the time because the spinning clutch pressure plate levers stay in contact with it. The release bearing is not intended to spin all the time so it suffers and may seize and the other problem is the clutch can be held partly disengaged (like someone "riding" the clutch) and slip under load.

All that said, the other thing the clutch has to do is disengage cleanly so the transmission can be shifted. Thats where all the slack and wear in the linkage causes a problem. Its a source of lost motion and the end result is the same as not pushing the clutch pedal far enough down. The linkage adjustments are to get the clutch brake to come in at the proper point and stop the transmission input shaft from spinning so the gears do not grind when shifting.

Your control is not hydraulic. Look out the front of it and you see the shafts that turn the various gearboxes or cranks that move to lift and lower blade etc. Its all mechanical. DeasPlant has posted a primer for tuning that all up, getting rid of slack etc. Maybe he will repost the link here. A tight grader does a lot better job than a sloppy loose one.

On further examination I think the missing lever on your control box would be for the scarifier if it had one up front.

Go through the adjustment procedure inside the clutch housing and report back. An oil clutch is very durable, so odds are yours only needs adjusting.

Your control box takes 90# gear oil.

Fellas
Am I understanding there is a side plate on the clutch housing that can be removed to make clutch adjustments? A photo of this would be worth a thousand words.

There have been some posts with attachment instructions on how to adjust the control box and levers for a smoother operation. But, on these posts I am only seeing an X, so, I cannot open them. I am sure I do not have a setting correct. Please advise as to what to do to access this information.

These are my two major obstacles to have an operational machine: Clutch working and Levers engaging. If anyone is up for a road trip to South Alabama, please step forward. I believe we only need a few things pointed out to get things going. I hope it is ok that I have asked this question.

Problem is your specific model of #12 was only made a few years, and neither i or most others on the board will have never seen one, so while I am reasonably certain the things I post from a 99E book will be applicable, I really don't know for sure.

That being said, Caterpillar graders and most other equipment was continually improved over the years in a series of usually small incremental steps. Frequently one single part or assembly will be updated and the old parts will still fit, so there is a good chance that what I expect to see on a later machine I will see the same or very similar arrangement on an earlier machine. However there are sometimes major improvements like the oil clutch that while they still fit between the same engine and transmission as the dry clutch may have the access cover in a different place or adjust differently etc.

That being said, to adjust the clutch, look for a small access cover big enough to get a large hand in on the clutch housing just in front of the engine. On the 212 gradervit was on top and because of the position of the cab you were working blind or with a mirror. The 99E #12 grader has the cover on the left side of the clutch housing under the battery tray so it is much easier to see what you are touching in there and you might even get two hands in there at once!

The external linkage under the cab between clutch pedal and clutch/transmission housing GENERALLY should not be adjusted. It sequences the transmission shift interlock and clutch brake application with the clutch release. Symptoms of misadjustment are gearshift popping out of gear or stuck locked in a gear or gears grinding when you attempt to shift into a gear.

If your blade control box is just dead, no movement or at least chattering when you push or pull levers, the protective shear pin may be sheared. Look under the control box just above the floor of the cab for a small cover or door on the column or pedestal that supports the control box. It is usually hinged or pivots to the side on the top bolt etc. Inside there is a power shaft that spins whenever the engine is running, so keep fingers out! There is a place for a special shear pin to drop in a hole drilled in a flange. When the blade or other control function is driven into a severe overload the pin is supposed to shear to protect the control from damage. Substituting a bolt for the special CAT pin risks severe damage. The part number i have for the 99E is 2D5511. Probably the same as yours.

The missing information in old posts is a result of bulletin board limitations. While there is a lot more storage available to individual posters than there used to be, some long time members like OldMagnet that reply to a lot of queries still exceed their attachment storage allotment and must regularly delete old attachments.

Pic 2 is hydraulic oil. Pic 5 is gear oil. The door with the shear pin is shown in pic 1 behind the clutch pedal at the bottom of the control tower. Cat will have those pins on hand. Get 2 or three as stated they are special. They just drop in from the top with no nut if I remember right. Clutch cover should be behind cab on left hand side. It will be just big enough for one hand. As stated before there are castle nuts in there and a 3/13 drill bit makes a great tool for adjusting. It takes 2 revolutions to get all of the fingers correct. The instructions have been put up on here many times. Do a search. I would tape a string to your drill bit and maybe even your wrench so if it is dropped into the bell housing it can be retrieved.

Clutch adjustment is the same for the late 8T and 80C #12.
You really need to work on tightening up all those linkage pin connections.

Link to Deas' tutorial on grader tuneup...... www.acmoc.org/bb/showthread.php?20409-Ca...Graders-Pre-G-series

Gentlemen
Attached is a photo of the linkage the mechanic removed in order to get the pins out, as they were completely rusted, as was the adjustment. As you can see, the adjustment is let all the way out. The mechanic says that if we get a shorter yoke from the heavy duty parts house, it will allow for more adjustment of the clutch. Comments? Thanks in advance.