T-20 Clutch Rebuild?

[duckhunt81]

A good friend just bought a Hustler over the weekend, and when we were inspecting it over, I noticed the the T-20 clutch spring had came unwound. Does that sound possiable? I was also looking for directions on how to rebuild one but the info is scatered and difficult to find. Does anyone have the steps on how to rebuild the T-20 clutch that they could share? Maybe we should do a sticky on it or a how to article.

Thanks for the help in advance.

[Don]

The only things I can think of that would make the spring unwind is either it's broken or the clutch is so worn that it's "cammed over" - the ramps have moved apart far enough to move past each other. Can you post a picture of it?

[duckhunt81]

I'll try get some pictures later this week. Everything else seemed to look good with the clutch, it is just stuck open and the coil diameter looks larger than it should be. Which made me think that it had came undone.

[duckhunt81]

Here are pictures of the problem. Tell me what you think. I am hoping that a rebuild will fix it, and if so directions whould be helpful. Thanks

[hydromike]

Well 'duck....

It looks like more has happened than just ramping over past the plastic wear-sliders. This is weird, because the spring should have enough tension to push the moveable sheave back. I bet that it's just binding on the shaft itself; like the bronze bushing is just munged up. Regardless of the cause, it'll have to come off. There's a single bolt that holds the clutch on to the T-20. It's a 9/16 hex head on Attex and Max machines, likely the same for you. It just unscrews, and you should be able to either just slide (by hand) or tap the clutch off the shaft at that point. It's held from rotating by a woodruff key; don't lose the key. I don't know if there's enough room on the Hustler to slide it all the way off without pulling the transmission, but give it a try. You usually can leave the bolt right in the clutch after taking it out, but again, I'm unfamiliar with Hustlers.

The ramp is held on to the shaft with an external snap ring. I usually put my whole assembly in a vise, strap on a face shield/safetly glasses and try to press the clutch together with the vise and tap the ramp toward the fixed sheave with a hammer until you can get the snap ring off. There's plenty of force behind the spring, but it's not deadly. Just be careful. Safety first..

After you get the clip off, GENTLY loosen the vise and the spring SHOULD press the ramp off. I think your bushing is pretty boogered up, though, so it may take a little effort to get it all apart. I think a general cleaning and regreasing of the whole assembly would do wonders. It looks like your ramp sliders (the white plastic pieces that work on the ramp) are a bit worn, but I've seen ones that are quite a bit worse in operable condition.

Let us know if you have any issues getting it off or apart...

~m

EDIT: Upon further review... I don't think your spring is broken, and I don't think it's overramped. I think it just got "stuck" in the open position. Your sliders are still contacting the ramp, but the spring is fully compressed (wound UP, not unwound). The general appearance of the photographs suggests that little cleaning or greasing of the appropriate "stuff" under the hood was performed recently, and maybe a good steam bath with some good degreaser, and a fresh regreasing would do wonders. I would start by soaking the bahjesus of the whole clutch with penetrating oil and try to tap it back closed, even before you take it apart...

[Don]

Yeah.....what he said.

I've never seen one do it before, but it looks like HMike may be right. The coil's in there pretty tight by the looks of it. The sliding surfaces must be pretty gummed up in order for this to happen- there's some pretty good tension on the spring normally. The upside is that you don't have to spend any money on parts, just a little perseverance.

[duckhunt81]

So a good cleaning, polishing and greasing will be done. I'll let you know how it turns out. Thanks for the help.

[duckhunt81]

Well... got the clutch apart, surprisingly, with it stuck open. It was pretty nasty, so cleaned it all up and slides nice and easy now. Thinking about upgrading to the red spring anyway, before we put it back together. One more thing...is there some short of rotation needed to pre-load the spring?

Thanks

[jerseybigfoot]

preload it a minimum of 30 degrees.