I was putting in the new brake pedal for the Rocky Mountain Brakes and dropped the band nut in the trans. Looking for ideas to and get it out.
As Forest said[dumb is as dumb does].
Thanks, Steve

Here is an idea that might help. On ebay and elsewhere you can buy a tiny camera on the end of a small coaxial cable with the other end plugging into a USB port on a computer. Mine had a small adjuster pot near the end that had the USB plug and it adjusted the briteness of the small LED's that rimmed the lens of the camera. The whole thing was less than 1/2 diameter including the rim led lights. I did this for low bucks (about $20 total) which included the camera and about 20 feet of cable since I was chasing something clogging a drain. I didn't care if the camera was destroyed in the hunt so long as I could find something which we did find that my daughter in law had not claimed lost as yet. Her son (4 year old Luke Regan) had discovered this neat lever in the bathroom that made things disappear and he was having a ball. We retrieved a box of diamond earrings so we got a big payoff. Now back to your problem... Knowing where it is in there makes it possible to snag with a wire hook that you can put in play once you see what shape it needs to be the hook and the camera too possiblly can be inserted through various holes and through ways in the pan. It may have stuck itself to a magnet or is lodged in a small crevice. My camera survived going down a deep flooded drain pipe and so long as yours is still working you might find a use for it a lot of places especially if you have grand kids.

I forgot to mention that the camera I purchased was submersible and proved that it was. Oil is thicker than water so likely less likely to be damaged than when in water but of course completely drain your oil supply overnight to get all the oil you can out of the way and then first thing to do is look up into the drain hole with a flashlight and you might find the nut sitting at the drain hole. I think I used up a large hunk of my own good luck when I found the diamond ear rings. Good hunting and of course do NOT start the motor and think you might get lucky - odds are not in your favor with all the exposed gears and magneto winding waiting to be destroyed.

If the nut dropped to the bottom of the pan, odds are that if you drain the oil you will see the nut near the drain hole, but the nut may be too big to drop through the hole. If that is the case, here is another approach:

Years ago, I dropped a band spring down into the trans when I was installing my Rocky Mountain pedal, here's how a friend and I got it out:

We drained the oil and fished a magnetic-tipped wand up through the oil drain hole until the wand touched and grabbed the loose spring. It took several tries before the wand made contact with the spring.

Then, I pushed the magnetic wand up towards the rear of the pan until my friend could see the spring on the end of the wand through the trans inspection cover opening.

With the magnetic wand holding the spring, I reached down through the trans cover opening with a two-pronged wand and got a strong grip on the spring. Then I pulled the wand and spring up and out through the inspection cover hole.

Get a dozen of your biggest best friends, a couple cases of good beer - drink all the beer and just tip the T over and shake it until it falls back out !

I've done the "fishing" adventure more than once - not on my T's but helping others ! Flexible wand magnets in conjunction with a borescope - my scope has several attachments for "fishing".

This has worked on my T and my Brothers. Home Depot has a stiff flexable magnet that works real well at fishing out parts. I put tape on the side of the magnet to help keep it from sticking to the side. The magnet cost about $6.oo and was in a blister pack on the nut and bolt isle end. I tried a boreascope with no luck. Also tried all magnets harbor freight had with no luck. In my fishing adventure I also found a rusty washer lost long ago. Spent two weeks until I found this magnet.

Pull the engine next take off the Hog's head- next turn the engine upside down and shake it a few times and MMMMaybe it will fall out!

Just kiddinn. Luckily I have never done that, but does happen. There are a lot of guys will help you so listen carefully and fallow the rules.

Good luck and Happy T'ing

I work the nut down to the oil drain hole then tie it off with a piece of bell wire that I then feed the loose end back up to the top. Gentle pull it back up and out. Of course drain the oi first.

You may want to check the inner 'rails' of the hogs head, it may not have dropped all the way down.
Yah, don't ask me how I found it, after fishing for hours!! Grrr. Good luck.

Probably the easiest and fastest way to do it

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/822076/829444.html?1516837814

For more fishing fun, drop your brass ignition key down your tranny. Magnets do not work so pretty good on brass! Harbor Freight bore scope to locate it (if you are lucky), stiff wire with a glob of sticky stuff on the end to retrieve it. Good experience for you. Builds your vocabulary. Good luck! Cheers, Bill

Thanks for the ideas. Today is fishing day. Ill let you know what happens. Steve

I did it once, then I bought the little gizzmo to hold the nut and washer.
However I messed around for an hour or so with magnets then bite the bullet. I pulled the hogs head.... Then I used a cloth and turned the motor and the nut came straight up. The whole process took less then an hour. Then I had to put the HH back on :-(

Welcome to the Model T "Fishing Club" I spent 4 Hours fishing, had a nibble after 1 hour and almost got it out only to fall back inside! I was just about to pull the hogs head when Bob Jablonski suggested pulling the starter bendix and motor to see if by chance the band nut got picked up by a magneto magnet to rotating the crank very carefully. I sure lucked out, Thanks Again Bob!

Steve,
welcome to the club, been there, got the t shirt. my advice it drain the oil, refill the oil through the trans cover, repeat a few times, try to flush it down to the low point,then feel around for it through the oil drain plug with your finger, thats how i found mine. Also, disconnect the battery, the starter switch is right where you can push it by accident. Once you fel the washer fish some light wire through the trans cover, wrap it around the washer, and pull it out from the top. Oh and as luck would have it the washer is bigger than the oil drain hole, it will have to come out the way it went in.

5 Hrs. Fishing today and no luck. The next step is to pull the starter as suggested.

Steve -- That would be the logical next step. If that doesn't work, remember that it's much easier to pull the rear end than the engine. With the rear end out of the way, you can slide a "magnet on a stick" down the channel in the bottom of the crankcase. That's probably where the missing piece is hiding.

The only thing I would add to the fun is to flush the transmission with kerosene before going fishing.
It will wash some of the oil out and make it easier to see the little piece

In case you missed my post above, the mechanic that told me about it retrieved the nut in less than five minutes with out taking anything apart. It's never happened to me, but I bought one just in case.

It has happened to me, and to another guy whose car was in my shop at the time. Sometimes you can fish it out, and sometimes you can't. What I suggested above was a "last resort" method.

Yup. Been there, done that. I did not install the magneto plate or magnets on the flywheel for less weight because I run a distributor. I was able to pull the engine inspection cover and had my 10 year old son reach his hand inside and he was able to reach to the bottom of the pan/transmission area and recovered the nut. The whole time I was coming up with excuses for my wife if his hand got stuck. After that, I always follow my Grandfathers advice and stuff clean rags around the band area in case a nut/washer or anything else falls in there.

Steve Rinaldo was successful and posted how he got it retrieved at:

http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/822076/877460.html?1530387079

Respectfully linked,

Hap l9l5 cut off

My dear old grandfather taught me to stuff shop rags all around the outside of the drums front and back too. Then if anything drops it only falls to the top of the shop rags. In the nuclear field that I worked, this practice was termed "foreign material exclusion" techniques. Keeps the probability of having to "fish" to a minimum. It has worked for me for the past 40 or so years. No extra tools needed either.

For next time - hang the washer and nut on a loop of dental floss while you are getting it started. The floss isn't thinks enough to interfere with the threads. Once it's started, you can just break the floss if it doesn't just snap by the threading of the nut. Make sure the loose end of the loop is around something so if you drop the nut you can just pull it right back out. Works great.