Told you that you needed it, haha. Glad to hear it's safe at home with you now. We'll have to take our Hustlers out on the gaslines this summer.Originally Posted by hydromike
Told you that you needed it, haha. Glad to hear it's safe at home with you now. We'll have to take our Hustlers out on the gaslines this summer.
"Looks like you have a problem with your 4 wheeler........you're missin' two wheels there"
I had to pull the transmission on the Bigfoot in order to determine how bad the cases were after rattling around in the transmission cradle. Well, they're bad, and not saveable, but that's not the interesting part. I've only taken apart 10 or so T-20s, but I was astonished to see the damage to the shifter, dowel, and shift collar on the right side of the transmission.
It took a lot of work to get the plunger out of the case; it was mushroomed quite badly where the pin was wripped out of the shifter. Everybody needs to learn to do the T-20 dance! Jiggle those transmissions, don't force them!
~m
I'm sure yours has the big ugly sign riveted to the left inner panel like every other hustler about not shifting in motion... too bad no one ever follows those things
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
Yup. Got it. What the sign doesn't say, is to drop engine RPM below 3000 before attempting to shift the transmission. My forensic analysis of the tranny last night suggests that the right hand shifter was adjusted a little ahead of the left side, and that one always engaged first. The teeth on the shifting collar seem to be JUST a little bit harder than the teeth on the drums. The drum teeth were mushroomed over ever so slightly, and it was a real chore to try to pull the outer drum off on that side, past the mushroomed teeth. I figured that somebody couldn't get it into gear easily because of the mushroomed teeth (stemming from shifting the transmision while it was spinning), and they just ended up forcing it over and over again.
Not a difficult, or overly expensive fix. It just makes me cringe.
~m
I'm curious,cause I never hear anyone say it, but do you free your sticks when trying to shift? I've found that when shifting if I move my sticks to mid travel, and then wiggle them slightly, it frees the bands/drums and helps everything to line up. Just seems to shift easier that way.
Split shifters help too...
Amen to that low rev thing, t-20s DON'T like being shifted at higher revs. Make an awful noise they do...
Nice Bigfoot, Mike.
Joe
Hey Brush'.... I typically make sure the T20 has stopped spinning, wiggle the sticks, wiggle the shifter and hope for the best. It does take a while for everything to line up, but like you say, split shifters make this process much simpler, and easier on the transmission.
Thanks Joe! I shouldn't have bought it, seeing the other projects I have on the burner(s), but didn't want to miss the chance. I went half-Scanlon on the thing last night and pulled the engine to check everything out and give it a good cleaning. I'm not pulling the frame or anything drastic; I just didn't have much access to a lot of the stuff that needed to be inspected.
Every time I come up to it, I still think it's up on blocks or something. They'd make a heck of an 8-wheeler.
~m
Last edited by hydromike; 01-12-2011 at 10:44 AM. Reason: My 800th post! :)
I'm in the process of replacing all the outer bearings on the 980. This is a good time to degrease the 'ol girl, and do an assessment of what's gone wrong the last 25 years or so. I've heard lots of stories about the Hustler frames developing cracks here and there, but I was amazed at the number of short (< 1/2") stress cracks that had formed between the lateral frame supports and the side rails. It seems where ever a support was welded, a short stress crack developed.
The classic Hustler chain adjuster issue struck my machine as well. They're not TOO bad, and I think I'll just bend them back and support them better. I'll probably yank the frame some time this year, but I don't want to get too deep into it while the Max VIII is waiting for parts to come in. I found two decent T-20 halves to replace the wallowed (sp?) out halves that came with it, and I found a couple more 18 tooth T-20 shift spools in the parts area. "Loaves and fishes" over there sometimes, 'ya know?
A couple new pics in my gallery....
~m
Last edited by hydromike; 01-16-2011 at 10:04 AM. Reason: there was a "rofl" at the beginning of this message. I don't know how it got there, and it looked stupid.
Long story short. I took the frame out. It's hammered. I'll hopefully get it welded, beat back into shape, reinforced, cleaned up, blasted, painted and put back in this weekend.
Pretty optimistic, eh?
~m
I told you it needed to be gutted, don't you feel better now?
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
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