X370 PTO Clutch failure?

[deeresteve]

My 4 year old (3 months past warranty, of course) Deere X370 has signs of what I think might be mower clutch (blades) failure. Can anyone make sense of these symptoms?

1. Fails after about an hour of mowing + 15-30 minutes of sweeping clippings. I use this lawn sweeper.
2. I hear a squeal, can't tell where it's coming from though, since I use ear plugs.
3. I smell rubber burning and vibration is so bad that I turn the engine off.
4. I see the mower belt is smoking hot and also the sheave (pulley) that drives the belt is too hot to touch. Keep in mind: I am NOT mowing, I am just pulling the sweeper to collect clippings. That belt and sheave should NOT be engaged!
5. First time this happened, (sweeping clippings) I waited a few minutes, then continued without another occurrence.
6. Second time (yesterday) it happened while sweeping clippings, NOT mowing, the same vibration, same rubber burning, same hot sheave and belt from the disengaged belly PTO. But this time, it got really exciting because the mower blades engaged and could not be disengaged by the yellow PTO on/off know or by taking my weight off the seat! I used the key to kill the engine.
7. I think the PTO clutch is engaging on it's own, bypassing the on/off PTO switch and the seat operator present switch. Am I thinking correctly?

• Do I have a bad clutch?
• How can I confirm a bad clutch, or do the symptoms already tell me this?
• With my limited home owner tools and fair mechanical skills, can I do the clutch replacement or is this a task best left to the dealer?
• Is there a preferred brand and provider of the clutch?
  • (I'm not impressed with what the mfr installed on the new X370. I use the yellow switch on left of dashboard to keep the clutch engaged in all my backing up of the machine, so I have't put a lot of wear on the clutch, in my opinion.)

 

[ILENGINE]

I suspect from your symptoms that the bearing in the belt pulley on the electric clutch is failing and seizing which would cause serious heat and will cause the blades to turn without being engaged I suspect that the heating burning smell and vibration would disappear if you engage the blades.

 

[Deleted member 97405]

Definitely a bad clutch. You're smelling the clutch brake burning as it is literally power-braking itself. I suspect the clutch bearing locked up. The first few times it did it, it probably let loose after cooling down. Eventually she locked up for good.

 

[DaveTN]

Welcome to the LMF!