Hey Selene Family:
Those of you who were fortunate enough to be at the West Coast Selene Rendezvous may have heard Steve D'Antonio's excellent presentation today about preventative maintenance and oil analysis. I thought it might be helpful to add one comment that would apply to many of you who have TwinDisc transmissions.
I don't know how universal this is among various models of TwinDisc transmissions. We have an MG5114SC transmission on our Selene 60 (60-20). This transmission has a filter "screen" that they encourage you to check and clean at regular intervals.
The screen is held in place with an o-ring sealed round plug. The plug is not threaded. It's just pressed into place and it has a 10mm hole in it that you screw a bolt into to remove it. The plug is held in place with a teardrop-shaped "tab" that is under a single bolt head and the teardrop tab holds the plug in place.
Many years ago when I first removed this plug, I had some difficulty figuring out how to get it out and I called TwinDisc. I was surprised to find that the single bolt that held the teardrop tab in was quite long--several inches long.
When I called TwinDisc to inquire about the proper procedure for removing the plug, the technician immediately asked me: "You didn't remove the long bolt, did you?" You know that sinking feeling when you have to admit that you did something you obviously weren't supposed to.
The technician told me that I should only loosen that bolt and pivot the teardrop tab around to move it away from the plug, but not remove the long bolt.
When I asked why, he explained that the long bolt is held in place by a square nut that is held in a wire "cage" inside the transmission. It does not got into a threaded piece---it's just a nut held in place by a wire cage. He said that if you put too much force on the bolt when you put it back in, you can pop the nut through the wire cage and drop the nut into the bottom of the transmission. The only solution if you do that is to remove the transmission and disassemble it to retrieve the errant nut.
He said that he had urged the factory to change the design or paint the bolt head red to discourage people from removing it completely.
Fortunately, you can put it back in successfully if you're careful and I was able to do so.
It was just a warning that I thought I would pass on to any of you who have TwinDisc transmissions with that teardrop tab that holds the screen plug in. Again, mine is an MG5114SC. It don't know if this caution applies to other models or not.
So.....just be aware!
Mark Tilden
Selene 60 "Koinonia"