I am a new D7 7M owner. My father in law is a pretty good operator and mechanic and he is helping me. We have the operators manual and the service manual and the parts manual.
The clutch on the D7 is slipping under load or going up steep hill. It wasn't doing it the first couple days we had it, you could almost stall the tractor pushing the brush piles.
We feel like the clutch has good snap over center. We have tried the adjustment procedure of loosening the clamp bolt and closing the gap on the clutch plate, but after engaging the clutch it always slips back to the original position. We believe on our earlier 7M model that the clutch adjustment is not on a threaded rod to be turned a few degrees to tighten as the book suggests, but ours is on a grooved shaft, which is why when we loosen the nut and push it forward to close the gap it slips back again. I have attached a couple photos, it looks like we have a good amount of friction material on each side of the pressure plate, does anyone know the factory thickness that should be there? Any help is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Jason Phelps

All the 7M's use a threaded collar on a threaded hub. If the clamping feature will not hold either the threads have become worn or the collar clamping has become distorted to where the pinch bolt bottoms out the clamping feature befor exerting enough pressure to clamp the threads.

The cluch adjustement is by turning the collar and lock the nut on bolt and angaged the cluch lever and if he is't working the collar tread are worn.

These instructions are for The D7 7M and D7 3T1 - 3T23647 that are still equipped with dry clutches.

Craig

Thank you for the advice guys Anybody know how much to turn the collar typically? Quarter turn? Half turn? I assume turning it clockwise facing the front?
Also, could you please look at the pictures I attached, does it look like my friction material is 50%? Not sure how thick they are new?

Curious as to why you removed the top half of the bell housing to adjust the clutch.I don't think you will get an accurate "feel" with it off.

Been a looong time but usually just a slight turn is enough

Long as it is off take a good look at the thermoids and change them if they look frayed

Original segment (8B6073) material thickness is 0.188".

Hi, we took the housing off because we tried to adjust the clutch at least 8 times and at first it felt super tight, but when fully engaged it would slip back to its original position.

"acejase1234" wrote:

Hi, we took the housing off because we tried to adjust the clutch at least 8 times and at first it felt super tight, but when fully engaged it would slip back to its original position.

Well,you are half way there if you need to pull it

Hi team,
suggest you try the easy things first by removing the lock bolt and nut, if not already done, and check the thread condition--often the nut and bolt threads are dry and/or have rust where the nut last tightened to and so cannot easily be tightened more, sometimes the bolt threads can be stretched/distorted at the nut last tightened position too.

Maybe a new lubricated lock bolt and nut or a good clean and lube is all that is needed.
As said above the hub threads are likely worn and so needs extra force from the clamp system to secure it.

From memory, you need around 50 lbs force pull on the lever.
We usually used a spring scale/balance, hooked at the bottom edge of the clutch lever handle to test engagement pull.
Cheers,
Eddie B.