Question concerning clutch

I was always taught to place any hand clutch machine in neutral and engage the hand clutch, whether it had tracks or wheels. in my D6 manual it states when leaving the engine idling, that you put the transmission in neutral, and the forward reverse lever in either forward or reverse and engage the clutch.

my thought is that if the tranny is in neutral and the clutch is engaged, then if someone inadvertently falls against the lever getting on or off the machine then it isn't going to move, it is just going to disengage the clutch.

a d2 doesn't have a fnr lever so I would place it in neutral, set the brakes, and engage the clutch.

All,

I just realized something, after reading this thread, that I NEVER realized before. Back when I was a teenager I drove many different wheel tractors on my family ranch. I later finally graduated to our Cat D7's (we had two).

On those I never engaged the clutch while the engine was running but I DID make sure the transmission was in Neutral.

What I just realized was that any and every time a wheel tractor was left running with no one on it (even in cars and trucks) that foot clutch was spring loaded and was engaged.

So, it seems that my practice of NEVER engaging the clutch on our Cats was all WRONG. Sheesh, was I ever in error (to say it politely).

Hello ,
In my opinion it is indicated in any operator's manual that you should put the transmission in neutral , engage the clutch , lower any equipment before you leave the machine .
In this position the transmission is also locked in neutral by the linkage between clutch lever and transmission .

But there is something else : if you leave the machine by just throwing out the clutch and the transmission in gear , think about what can happen when the pilot bearing will freeze .
Just think about it !!!!!

Have a nice day , johan7

Hey Team,

At a PlayDay, two people were going to switch operators. One climbed on the track when the D4 was stopped. As they were switching spots, one grabbed the clutch handle as a hand hold, and the tractor jumped as it was left in gear. The other operator jumped to his safety landing and rolling on the ground. Sad thing, is one of them was well experienced and even owns tractors himself. The other owns a Cat, but is a newbie.

Always put tranny in neutral and engage clutch. If you are climbing on a tractor that someone else parked, always ASK if that procedure was done before climbing on. No one got hurt, except their pride, and a little ass chewing I did. Hopefully with that experience they have learned something that they can preach to others. I have heard many of stories where a person got killed from similar situations.
Glen

by putting the trans in neutral and engaging the clutch you then prove the tractor is out of gear a bit like a gun you should always prove it isnt loaded that way you know its safe

Like electrical circuit always prove it is dead before putting starting work on it never trust a circuit breaker always test

anyway thats my thoughts

And like Walt says a normal clutch on anything else is always engaged once your foot is off it

Paul

The first lesson on operating my old Dad taught me was to NEVER climb off a machine before engaging the clutch and locking the parking brake, I was only nine years old at the time, the following year one of his workmates failed to do just that, and ran himself over with a D2 leaving seven children under eleven years old. Don't leave anything to chance.

Thanks to all for the feedback. Glad to see all are in agreement. Do not see that happen here very often. Hope it may save someone from having a serious mishap such as the one mentioned by catsilver.

Very good discussion here, thanks blwatson for asking the question and starting this thread. The reasons that have already been stated are why I made it a point to mention "transmission in neutral, main clutch engaged" as one of the pre-startup control settings in the D2 and RD6 startup videos I put on YouTube a few years ago.

I remember a thread that was posted here on this bb several years ago now (tried to find it, but "search" let me down) that warned of starting an oil clutch equipped machine with the clutch lever disengaged but the transmission still in gear. The owner was showing his grandkids how he started his D2, it was sitting in the shed so everybody was crowded around the machine. It was a colder day so the oil was thick and put higher than usual drag on the clutch, and as soon as he started cranking the diesel the D2 lurched forward a foot or so and gave them all a good scare, luckily nobody was hurt but a good lesson was learned. Much the same effect as a siezed pilot bearing could make happen, like johan7 mentioned.