Finally found some time to get our 550 back together. Replaced the rear half with one from a 55 due to the bad transmission. Once back together the clutch wasn't working right. I did set the free play for the pedal.

When in gear and pedal depressed we couldn't move the tractor, while rocking the tractor the engine isn't trying to turn over, and bumping the starter doesn't make the tractor roll in gear. That said, it acted as if the clutch wasn't fully released.  If I popped it out of gear, it rolls easy. In gear, no.  I felt I should be able to roll the tractor freely with the clutch pedal down. Maybe one finger was dragging the clutch plate. 


So, we spilt it again and I attempted to adjust the fingers on the pressure plate. We set them to the book spec of 1 15/16&quot; using a piece (or 2) of bar stock to get the .285 dimension it talked about. I did this on a flat surface, bar stock underneath with the pressure plate over the top and measured from the tip of the finger through the plate to the bar stock.

We then put the tractor back together and set the free play in the pedal (again). You can feel that we are pushing the throw-out bearing into the pressure plate, but the clutch doesn't release at all now. When I bump it with the starter we roll even with the pedal down.

My guess is the fingers of the pressure plate are still out of adjustment. The book is a little vague, as to where to put the shim stock and at which point am I measuring to on the finger. I think I need to extend the fingers out (as in towards the throwout bearing) rather than take them in (which is what I did), however, the way I was measuring that would make the dimension 2 1/4&quot; or 2 1/2&quot;. 

Anyone steer me down the right path? If nothing else the daughter and I are getting good at splitting and reassembling the 550...