M5OD work thread - WTB parts?

[goliath]

Yeah I know about those but being in the north east they are far from drying out. I'll probably replace them anyway just for piece of mind. I've never lost any fluid though.


Thanks, but I've already come this far so I might as well rebuild it, but in the event it doesn't work out I'll look into that. I'm reading a lot that people put gear fluid in the tranny and that causes it to be difficult to shift and noisy, could that have been your problem with the other one?

nope, ran mobil1 synthetic atf, before the failure, now run redline synthetic atf after to try to make it last longer. lots of hard towing of my boats (for this truck) and wheeling makes the transmission get really hot, baking the fluid, that and 185 thousand miles on the original didnt help either

-joshua

 

[krullj]

Then to get this nut off I notched it and just used a screw driver and a hammer to spin it off. This nut is only good for one use so its ok to notch it and all. Otherwise you could use a pipe wrench but I didn't have one.

That sounds good for getting it off....but how do you get the new one torqued back on correctly without getting a wrench on it?

 

[Nick26]

That sounds good for getting it off....but how do you get the new one torqued back on correctly without getting a wrench on it?

haha, i don't know I haven't gotten there yet... I'll probably just get a pipe wrench.

 

[Nick26]

Here are some pictures of a couple syncros. I was wondering if any of you tranny experts wouldn't mine taking a look at them and telling me if they should be replaced? To be honest it shifted in and out of gear fine before this happened.(again look at my site for higher quality pics).

BTW after talking to some tranny shops they gave me some tips on how to tell if my synchros are still any good. With the syncro fully applied to the gear there should still be about a 1/16th of an inch between the engagement teeth and the synchro teeth. Another thing to try is to hold the input shaft, spin the output shaft and try and push the synchros against the gears to see if they act like a brake. Or just pushing and trying to turn the output shaft tests it too.

So I decided im not going to replace them, nor am I going to do a full rebuild because all the rest of the bearings and synchros seem to be in pretty good shape. I am replacing the countershaft 5th gear, the bearings for this gear, and the mainshaft and countershaft nuts. I ordered the parts from TB Trans in Spokane,WA: http://tbtrans.com/ because they had the best prices and were very helpful and had the patience to explain some things. I'd highly recommend them to anyone else looking for parts. So they get here friday and I'll button everything back up then. All in all this transmission is pretty easy to work on, definitely not as scary as I thought it might be.

 

[goliath]

i just noticed you have a "different" body lift than i have ever seen. it is quite ingenious, but do you think that the extra rake front to back on the frame, engine , and transmission may have starved 5th gear for fluid causing the crack and failure? Just asking because i have never even heard of a gear shearing like yours did. just curious... Good Luck!

 

[Nick26]

i just noticed you have a "different" body lift than i have ever seen. it is quite ingenious, but do you think that the extra rake front to back on the frame, engine , and transmission may have starved 5th gear for fluid causing the crack and failure? Just asking because i have never even heard of a gear shearing like yours did. just curious... Good Luck!

you know what you could be right... i figured it was because I never regeared after upgrading the tires and most of my miles were highway but your suggestion is possible too. the bearings didn't burn out but maybe there was just enough extra heat on that gear. The guys at the tranny shop said they had heard of this happening to 3rd gear often on this trans but not 5th. Either way when I fill it back up I'll just lift the front end some to get some extra flud in there.

 

[Nick26]

So to finish this thread off here are some last pictures and tips i wanted to include...

First is how I removed the front cover, with a pry bar. There is also threaded holes on the cover that you can cronk bolts through that will separate it from the housing, but I didn't have the right thread nor were they long enough. I ended up not even needing to remove this because I decided not do a full rebuild, so this was as far as I went.

 

[Nick26]

Next is some shots of assmebling the mainshaft engagment gear with the little spring loaded teeth. Make sure you pay attention to the notches in the collar so they will line up with the bumps on the 3 spring loaded teeth. After struggling trying to put this together for a half hour I realized it was much easier to just slide the gear inside the collar and put the springs in after. (probably how your supposed to do it but i learned by trial and error.)

 

[Nick26]

Then when you install this gear and collar together make sure you put the side with the more protruding center section of the engagement gear facing in, otherwise you will not be able to get the half washers in the groove on the main shaft.

 

[Stock94]

Thanks for putting together this thread, and including your progress pics! This should come in very handy when I start tearing into my 94!

 

[Nick26]

No problem, glad to be of assistance, thats why I did it.

 

[Spdrcer34]

I just found this thread....

I have FAR too busy with working on the house, & switching jobs.

I also bought by stuff from tbtrans in Spokane....they were GREAT guys to deal with...

I still have all the pics on my computer, and 1/2 of the write-up stored here too...

I'll finish it when we get into our new home.

Ryan

 

[Nick26]

I was wondering what happened to you, definitely finish that write up when you have time...


here are some last few pics I took as well...

The first one is how I retightened then main shaft nut.

The second one is the both the main shaft and counter shaft nuts restaked. I just used an old screwdriver and a hammer...

The third one is it all refilled before I put the top back on. It's certainly easier refilling it this way rather than trying to use a squeeze bottle, funnel or pump, and this way i was able to put a little extra in incase my body lift caused a lack of fluid in the rear.

 

[Nick26]

Updated link to my site with detailed pics:
REMOVED

I'm taking this link down for now because so many people are going to it and its bogging down my server. If you are working on an M5OD and would like to look at the pics, send me a PM and I would be more then happy to provide a link. Thanks for understanding.

 

[OldRedB2_84]

hey, i just saw this thread.
I have a question, how the heck do you get that friggin plastic bearing retainer on the input shaft off. ive pulled and twisted it and cant get it off, i dont want to break it.
any tips appriciated,
Nick

 

[Nick26]

not sure what you mean, is it the piece in the center of this pic? [image removed]
because I never went past this point since i didn't do a full rebuild. Does this page help? http://explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=159665&page=3

I would search around with google. Sorry I couldn't help more.

 

[OldRedB2_84]

well thanks anyway, i guess i'll have to hit up spdracer34.
thanks,
Nick