Frozen PTO clutch - Kubota L3450

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

Had a long fall & winter fighting with the diabetes and didn't use my tractor all that time. Finally felt well enough to get out and do some tractor work around here and the first thing I ran into was a frozen clutch. Forgot to put the block under the clutch pedal (as suggested in the manual). Finally messed around grinding it into gear and rolled it all around 40 acres, trying not to run over anything and low and behold it finally released.
This week, decided I needed to put in some fence posts, so I hooked up the auger to the PTO and guess what? The PTO clutch is frozen. Dual clutch! That had completly slipped my mind and had neglected to check that when I was messing with the drive train clutch.
So my question to the resourceful group here is any suggestions, other than splitting the tractor, on ways you have gotten a frozen PTO clutch to release.
I've checked on a few Kubota and tractor websites and thus far the one idea I have gotten that I will try is to hook up the weed hog / mower deck and drop it in a pile of dirt, running with the clutch pedal pressed down and see if that will break the clutch loose.
Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

This is a Kubota L3450 4WD with dry clutch system.

Thanx,

Bill

[Drilling Man]

  It's a pretty common thing in a Kubota...  I say put a tool on, like a 3 point mower, hold the pto clutch open, and run it until it free's up.  Heat and the load on the pto will almost always break it loose.  OR is it live power and NOT live independent power?

  If it's live, using the foot clutch (meaning not independent) for the pto, then you will have to try the dirt pile with the rotary cutter. (brush hog)  Running it a while under load before dropping in on a pile of dirt, will get it warm in the clutch area, and help it break loose easier.

  You could rotary cut a field, holding the clutch in, while you pull your tractor with another tractor...

  DM

[hillbill]

drilling man  has sum excellent advice.try it and see what happens.i just fixed the pto clutch on my older david brown tractor.turns out the pressure plate was packed up with crap cuz they left the inspection plate off the bell houseing.everything was filthy and just needed a good cleaning. works fine now.splitting a tractor is not near as big a job as most people think it is.

[Rex in OTZ]

I never knew Kubota had this problem.

I had only experenced US and French (JD) made tractors made before 1985.

So if you buy a old Kubota off a government small lot sale there is a high probibility this problem would exist?

[Drilling Man]

  I had it happen to a Deutz one time, so there's no way to know if a used tractor has the problem or not.   I seen it on old American made tractors too...

  My Kubota from the mid 80's has never had the problem (i bought it new) and i've never blocked the clutch down, even one time.

  DM

[OR-E-Gun Bill]

I think I lucked out and dodged a bullet this time. I did try a lot of ideas to get the PTO clutch free and even broke a couple shear bolts in the process but the thing that worked was just time. The tractor has been sitting idle for over three weeks with the clutch pedal blocked down and today, being a nice warm day here in Oregon, I decided to try cutting some of the high grass. Got the tractor started, let it warm up a bit and removed the clutch pedal block. Pushed in the clutch and slowly slid the PTO lever over and no grinding of the gears! Let the clutch out slightly and the brush hog began turning. A quick glance skyward and a "Thank you God!" and I'm off mowing again with a properly working clutch.
Thanks to all that offered their ideas!

Bill

[Drilling Man]

  I'm glad it all worked out for you!

  DM

[John Y Cannuck]

Kubota mechanic here.
Glad you got your problem solved. It's not something we see a lot of, but can happen to any make tractor with a dry clutch. Usually, it hits folks that don't use their tractors, or their PTOs much.

The L3450, is an excellent model, with few issues. You'll likely get many years enjoyment out of it.