T 20 and a suction pump

[Johnblv]

Hey guys - My very first post - sad to say it's on a maintenance note. Can you suction pump out the T20 fluid or do you have remove the motor and trans to get it drained?

[hydromike]

First post! Congratulations John!

There are two fill/drain plugs on the T-20. As you sit in the machine, the fill plug is on the upper-right-back side, and the drain plug is on the lower-left-back side, and is both harder to see and reach, most of the time. You don't have to remove the T-20 to drain 95% of the fluid out of it, but you will need to raise the front of the machine up as high as you can (if that's easier than taking the T-20 out of your machine). You may be able to put a drill-type suction pump in and get fluid out, but I'm not sure if you'll have enough room between the case and the drums. Maybe a 1/4" piece of tubing would fit?

~m

[Johnblv]

Thanks for the quick response! Not to sound too naive, but would the fluid just run it out the overflow hole or do I need to take the plug out?

[egoperf]

you need to romove the bottom plug. you can also use a hand suction pump with a hose on it. you can get them at harbor frieght or any auto parts store. you cant get all the fluid out but you should be able to get most of it.

[Johnblv]

Thanks again!

[hydromike]

The capacity of the T-20 is 1 quart of ATF, which fills the tranny up to the bottom hole. Unless it's overfilled with more than one quart, nothing will drain out. When you remove the plug, there's one quart of fluid remaining in it. Come to think of it, I think I did suction most of it out with a hand-pump at one point. Like Ego says, you'll never get every last drop out, but most if it comes out with this method.

Ego never really ever uses a suction pump, though. He takes the back plug out and just climbs a tree with his machine until it's vertical.

~m

[egoperf]

Mike you could do that too if you could only keep all your wheels on

[hydromike]

Hey, it's a talent that few are able to duplicate.

[bierbower37]

In my max II the tranny takes way less than a quart to fill it up to the bottom plug. Overflowing will blow out the seals when the fluid gets hot in the tranny if the relief valve is plugged. I read my t20 manual and it says never to over fill the tranny only to the bottom hole. Am I wrong on this or do u guys suggest adding a whole quart?

[Mike]

Like hydromike and egoperf were saying, the capacity of the T20 to fill it to the bottom hole is 1 quart. The reason yours comes out the hole before you get the whole quart in is because you didn't remove all of the old fluid. Like they were saying, you will never get it all out but how much you are able to remove will dictate how much it takes to fill it back up. When you are adding the new quart of fluid, if it starts to come out the bottom hole before you get the whole quart in, then you can stop and consider it full.