MTFCA Forum

I was adjusting the clutch fingers, I dropped my cotter pin upon removal, it's aluminum so no magnet on a stick can help me. I tried draining the oil and I ran some kerosene through, I thought it would wash it out nad sll it did was clean out some sludge. I have a bore scope but I can't get the camera to the oil sump because of the flywheel. Is there any way I might be able to get it out without removing my hogs head? Maybe would I be able to get to it from removing the pan on the engine?

Thanks.


Edit : it's now removed thanks everyone.

Additionally what if I just leave it? I mean if there's no big risk of it breaking something I'll just run it and I'll eventually see it in my oil screen. But if itl kill the magnet or mess up the gears or something I won't.

I think I found it wedged between the fly wheel and case near the bottom, my scope ain't the best, I just see some shiny squiggly piece of metal that looks roughly like the bent cotter pin I dropped in, I cant tell exactly where but it is progress.

I've never encountered an aluminum cotter pin. Rotating the flywheel back and forth a few degrees may loosen the object, if it's stuck. You might be able to move it using compressed air.

It's not wedged, I gave it a few hand cranks and it's still in the same spot and I didn't hear any grinding sound

Can you put a glob of grease on a section of the flywheel, rotate it around, and pick up the cotter pin?

Shannon_in_Texas wrote: ↑

Fri Oct 10, 2025 9:57 am

Can you put a glob of grease on a section of the flywheel, rotate it around, and pick up the cotter pin?

Don’t do that! Grease is a contaminant in engines that do not have pressure lubrication. Most modern greases do not readily mix with or dissolve in engine oil and can plug up oil grooves (and the oil line).

You do need to get the cotter pin out. Even if you have to take the engine apart.

Adam, I was meaning that since the oil is drained just using the grease to grab the cotter pin since it isn't magnetic and then cleaning it off when you rotate it back to the top with (hopefully) the cotter pin stuck in it.

I taped a grabber to the camera, I found the pin, but because Murphys law the grabber pushed it deeper in and the camera slso is acting up, and I still don't hear anything when I crank it so it's near but not touching the fly wheel. I now suspect it's directly under the flywheel, I tried more kerosene to flush it out to gain no luck.

Is it too much of a risk leaving it? I mean I don't want it to short out or brake the coils or get lodged in something fragile.

I am probably going to just take the hogs head off and try fishing it out, I have to get a gasket set and the band clamp.

If anyone has any ideas for getting it out though I'll surely try.

You might try attaching, taping, some small diameter hose (like fish tank air hose) to a shop-vac. The idea is not to suck it up but to use it as a grabber. Your likely going to suck up other unknown substances as well.

Too risky to leave in. Agitation with the oil will move it. Might land in the transmission screen or tangle up in the field coil.
Try fishing thru the drain hole. You can see the flywheel teeth. Fish/rake with a piece of bailing wire.
Once you touch it with the wire to have it located, you can put a little hook bend in the wire to catch it.
Flushing from the inspection cover will keep it pushed forward. Flushing thru the filler might do it, but try hooking thru the drain plug first.

If you give up & pull the HH, stuff rags(or a T shirt) around the flywheel. Turning the motor, feed the rags. The pin will tangle up into a rag & follow up in a rag. Count the rags in & out. Don't leave one behind.

How about one of these? Some have a light on the end too.

If your car has a starter, might have better luck removing the bendix & starter and fishing in thru there. I know that worked better for me than trying to work around the bands and drums.

Check out this old post
viewtopic.php?t=27960

When you decide to reinstall the cotter pins, one trick is to run a loop of dental floss thru the cotter pin and tie it off. Now if you drop one its easy to retrieve. Once the nut and washer are on just break off the floss.

Rotate the engine to get the clutch fingers in the top position, stuff rags to catch any loose cotter pins. Do it one at a time for each clutch fingers. Rags are your best friend when opening up the transmission cover and adding or removing small parts from the transmission.

Never heard of an aluminum cotter pin, but I guess anything is possible. If such a thing exists, I would never use it on a Model T.

What, no A & Ps here ???

I just checked the rods in my speedster because it sounded a little rattley with a load on it. Took some shims out & sounds great now. Anyway
I made a plate to fit in the pan to catch anything dropped when removing # 4 rod cap, good thing because I dropped both cotter pins. Wont help
in the trans. Craig.

Thanks everyone for the advice, me and my dad got it out with a combination of kerosene flushes compressed air and rags on the fly wheel, in the end it flew out after the air hit it at the right angle.

So was it indeed aluminum? Inquiring minds want to know. Jim

Cotter pins are available in steel, stainless steel, brass, and aluminum.

I'd stick with steel on a Ford.

TFan wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 13, 2025 4:09 pm

So was it indeed aluminum? Inquiring minds want to know. Jim

My local hardware store only sold loose pins in aluminum or brass I only noticed it was aluminum when I went back to buy another few. I bought a set of metal pins and have since learned my lesson to pay attention to pin material.

TXGOAT2 wrote: ↑

Mon Oct 13, 2025 7:42 pm

I'd stick with steel on a Ford.

For sure. I thought they were metal until the faithful day I painfully discovered it wasn't. I now make sure any future pins aren't aluminum.

Have not seen this advice in awhile. Worth repeating. Whenever working in the transmission cavity, after draining the oil, saving for re-use, tightly stuff the open space to each side of the drums with lots of rags to prevent nuts, washers, cotter pins and small tools from falling into the bottom of the oil pan. After stuffing the space with rags, spread a smooth flat rag over the rags so anything that is dropped will not get lost in the folds of the rags, but will fall on top of the smooth cover rag. Bags of cotton rags can be purchased from Lowe’s and other Home Improvement stores and can be soaked in Dawn liquid in a sink of water for reuse .

I agree with Jim 100%.

In another vein, though, I prefer to eliminate the need for countermeasures such as rags in the first place: very small gauge safety wire can be strung through the cotter pin and twisted tightly, BEFORE straightening the legs, the opportunity to lose both a cotter pin and the 2 feet of bound wire on it is low enough to call it "remote".

If one refuses to take such 100% precaution, then by all means, the rag-stuffing routine is absolutely called for.

I'm a believer of the use of rags for replacement of washers and nuts on pedal shafts, but similarly, dental floss strung through those parts brings the need of rags to near zero.

In any event a belts-and-suspenders approach to avoiding parts loss is never time poorly spent especially if you subscribe to "quick and dirty" line of work and are loathe to use prudent precautions.

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 16, 2025 12:48 am

In any event a belts-and-suspenders approach to avoiding parts loss is never time poorly spent especially if you subscribe to "quick and dirty" line of work and are loathe to use prudent precautions.

My old boss and mentor on the ranch taught me,
“Never take a short-cut unless you have a lot of time for it.”

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

“A stitch in time saves nine.”

“A cat in gloves catches no mice.”

A fence builder with no gloves
Loses blood.

“I have lost a lot of time waiting to do things the proper way.”

“There is never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over.” ~John W. Bergman"