T-20 Concerns and Questions

[prettynifty4u]

I broke down my T-20 (on the sears sportster restoration) and everything looks good inside but I was a little concerned with some slop on the clutch side. The inner shaft has some slop as noted in the pic but I think that is due to all of the other spools that mount on the splines of that shaft once all together the slop seems to dissappear. Also the outer main bearing has very little slop but should I worry?? Both the shaft that turns with the clutch rolls smoothly and also the main drive with the sprocket rolls smoothly also, just wondering if I should be concerned and do I need to replace any components?? Also has anyone ever had a plunger (holding the band) get stuck in the inward position, I still have to work on freeing it up. To me the bands seem in great shape and also the fluid was bright red with no burnt smell or shavings at all which is a good thing.
Let me know what you all think. Thanks
Tully

[hydromike]

Hey Tully....
I don't think you have much to worry about. Without a "hands on" diagnosis, it's hard to tell what a "little" slop is, but that shaft will wiggle around a bit. Remember that the other entire side of the transmission is supported in the center on the large circular plate, and on the output as well. I would fully expect that shaft to be moving around a bit. I think the biggest things to take a close look at are the drums, bands, and the bushings. If there wasn't a lot of metal in the fluid, it may mean that the transmission has very little wear (or the fluid was just recently replaced!) I think that internal shot of your transmission makes it look very promising. Likewise, the output sprocket on the clutch side would have some "slop" in it as well. It shouldn't move around a whole lot, but a little "thunk-thunk" back and forth isn't much to worry about.

Sometimes, if plungers get jammed in too far, they can be very hard to pull out. Remember that there is a rubber O-ring on each of these plungers, and if they're pressed in too far, the O-ring will get cut on the sharp inside edge of the plunger tunnel. If they get cut, they'll start leaking ATF as soon as there's fluid in the transmission. It would be a good idea to get a seal and plunger kit from Recreatives to get it all sealed up well.

Sportsters are cool looking machines! Good luck with your project, and welcome to the Site!
~m

[prettynifty4u]

Seal Kit

I forgot to mention that I did order the kit from RI today and it should be here in 4-5 days. It's funny how this site gets around the gentleman at RI today that sold me the rebuild kit knew who I was when I mentioned "the sears sportster restoration" he had seen my earlier post on 6x6 world (sorry I dont remember his name but thanks for the help today). I also dropped off all of the axles (to get new sprockets bored ad welded on the shafts) and frame today (sandblasting) to the local machine shop. My wife Is so mad at me because I said I would take my time on this but I just cant help myself!!!!

[micmac]

Tully,

I don't know anything about the sears sportster but did you say you're going to get the sprockets welded to the axles?

[jpswift1]

Tully, I totally agree with Hydromike, there will be a little bit of play in that shaft. By the looks of the pictures, the internals of that T-20 look really good. My guess is that someone beat the heck out of the old 2 stroke 295 JLO in the Texas heat and then abandoned it in the backyard. Those T-20's are really tough units. They seem to almost always outlast the machines. I've picked up T-20's from the early 70's and they were like brand new inside. MadMax500cc got a T-20 from me years back that was from 1969 and it also was excellent inside.

By the way, how are the axles and sprockets set up on that Sears? I am not that familiar on the insides of those machines.

[prettynifty4u]

Sprockets

Yes I am getting all the axles re-machined, all of the old sprockets are going to be removed and new ones will be bored to the shaft size and re welded back to the shafts. When I was talking to the machine shop today we both determined that the axles shafts were in great shape, but the teeth on the sprockets we just rusted off and we gould get away with just fixing the sprockets. Im not talking about the drve sprockets on the t-20 tranny, but all the axle sprockets, sorry about mixing that in with this post.

[jpswift1]

Sorry to get off topic from the T-20 post, but what size chain do the axl sprockets run on the Sears, 40 or 50?

[prettynifty4u]

Sears Drive Line

Here is a little detail about the drive line of the sears. The main drive from the T-20 is T-50 chain and all the other drive line is t-40 chain, this frame looks really well built for the time!!!

[prettynifty4u]

Zoom

Sorry you might have to save the picture and zoom in to read the caption.

[jpswift1]

That sure does look like a pretty stout driveline. Thanks for posting those pictures up. You sure are moving fast on the restoration! You'll be out driving this machine before you know it.