Hustler trans problem

[Chris07]

My trans is sloppy. Won't hardly stay in gear. Have to hold the shifter up or down and fight it. Slinging oil out of seal on side. It will pull but u have to work at it. I know I will have to re seal it. But is there anything else I should do like bands or adjustments. Anything I should know first. Thanks. Oh yea. It's an old hustler. With k440 two stroke kohler. T20 trans I think.

[hydromike]

My trans is sloppy. Won't hardly stay in gear. Have to hold the shifter up or down and fight it.

Hi Chris,


it sounds like you might have one or two broken or weak shift collar detent springs in the transmission. For starters, here is a page with several T-20 disassembly/assembly guides for you to peruse. If you really have to push hard on the sticks to get it to drive or turn, you may need to either adjust the transmission a bit, or look into a reline of the bands. I think you're right-on with the seal, but in order to tackle that, you have to tear the entire transmission apart. If you end up going that far to put a couple output shaft seals in, you might as well invest in a set of relined bands.


How much throw do you have at the top of your sticks between full forward and full backward?
Slinging oil out of seal on side. It will pull but u have to work at it. I know I will have to re seal it. But is there anything else I should do like bands or adjustments. Anything I should know first. Thanks. Oh yea. It's an old hustler. With k440 two stroke kohler. T20 trans I think.

[Chris07]

I have allot of play between forward and reverse. Probably as much as you could have. The sticks move a bunch before it even moves the plungers on trans. Where is the best place to get the new bands and seals

[hydromike]

How about a quantitative measurement? How much is "a bunch"? 6 inches? 12 inches? Take a good look at all of your linkage to see if anything is loose. On all of the Hustlers I've worked on, they have a ball and socket joint on the front of the rods that connect the laterals to the transmission. These are usually in pretty good shape if they've been lubricated at all. The back joint is a 5/16" bolt, I think (3/8"?) where it connects to the U-channel on the transmission. I'm thinking you could start with adjusting the bands a bit by turning in the plunger bolts 1-turn each (start with that as a cautious first step, the play at the top of the laterals will diminish quickly, and you don't want them too tight).


New bands are currently being relined by Transmission Crafters in Georgia ($35 per band) and the output seals can be had from RI/ MuddOx, for a complete set, or you can get them individually on-line or even at NAPA. If you're going to dive into the whole transmission, you might want to consider a new complete kit which (at least in the past) includes all the fiber washers, new C-clips, new snap rings, new case-half gaskets, new seals and new plunger O-rings.

[Chris07]

Cool. Thanks for the help. I'll start with trying to adjust it to see what it can do before I tear apart for seals. I will post update later when I'm done. Are there any good post on here that has good step by step instructions or pics on tear down and rebuild.

[hydromike]

Are there any good post on here that has good step by step instructions or pics on tear down and rebuild.

I got ahead of myself and never posted the link for you... Here you go:

http://www.6x6world.com/forums/content/section/231-transmissions-rebuild-how.html

There are a few T-20 articles at that URL, all with great instructions and pictures.