Found metal at the bottom of my 5-speed. What next?

[Dave WM]

My plan was to use a hyd floor jack with straps and what ever it takes to secure it to the jack (maybe a custom ply wood square with a solid attachment to the jack). I just popped for some massive jack stands that should give me a LOT of clearance. I know about cramping in tight quarters, I have the same problem. Drink some gator aide, you may be dehydrated ( a common problem for us in the tropics). Staying safe is number one, no good getting the car done but being laid up and cant enjoy it.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Dave WM

[KDMatt]

Okay guys, still no dice.

The clutch is aligned perfectly, but the trans is stuck at the last inch. I CANNOT for the life of me get it to budge forward that last bit. What the hell is going on?

[Zed Head]

Here's a thought - since the transmission might be a hybrid of two or more models and years maybe the mainshaft is an inch long.  Did you change the pilot bushing and was the new one in the same position as the old one after it was inserted?

Or, along the same lines, did you try the pilot bushing on the nose of the main shaft before inserting it.  I always try the obvious stuff, becuase manufacturing quality isn't the highest for aftermarket parts.  I had a pilot bushing get stuck half way in to the crank shaft, had to chip it out to get a replacement installed.

If you have the transmission pulled back or out again, measure how far the main shaft sticks out from the bellhousing.  I have some transmissions I can measure if you can get that number.

Also, is it really exactly an inch or is it more or less?  The exact number might be a clue.  The other things that can hang up are the locating dowels in the back of the engine that fit in to the bellhousing.  But they're only about 1/2 inch.

[KDMatt]

The pilot bushing has not been changed. That's the little bronze one that the input shaft slips into on the engine-side, right?

The shaft and engine mated up just fine before I pulled it all apart, so I doubt very much it's an issue of the shaft being too long. 

I'm not keen to drop the trans back out again, now that I'm so, so close, but I will if I have to, I guess.

I think part of my problem, too, is that because I'm doing this on the floor of my garage, I, personally, cannot get a lot of leverage on the transmission -- which is why I'm using tow straps to get it up into position.

I'm going to run to the hardware store to grab some longer bolts to see if, perhaps, applying unilateral pressure on the bellhousing, pulling it toward the motor, will be enough to get it to "pop" that last inch or so and help it get perfectly aligned in the process

[Zed Head]

And here's another trick - start a couple of the upper bolts in to their holes when you get within one inch.  You can let it hang on those bolts becuase it will just be the weight of the transmission pressing in on the mainshaft, which you're doing anyway,but not really much weight.  This will let you crawl around and make sure that the gap is really parallel.  Sometimes you'll get the transmission cocked and can't tell.  Then grab the tail of the transmission and wiggle and push and rotate and cuss until the nose finds its home in the pilot bushing.  Sometimes it's just a tight fit.  I've done mine that way but balanced on floor jack.  I just leave it, get out from under the car, get everything aligned from above and below and the sides then give a it push and a wiggle.

If you want to be more careful, you could also mark the pilot bushing and the nose of the shaft with some grease and look for witness marks after you try again.  It will at least let you know where the mainshaft nose is and what it's doing.

[KDMatt]

This is as far as I've been able to get it. 

I dropped it back out again. My alignment tool came with a new bushing. Should I pop out the one that's in the motor now and use the new one? Do I need to take the flywheel off to get to it? If I stick my finger in there I can feel it. 

Trust me, I've done plenty of cussing shoving and wiggling, and I can't get it to go any farther than this:

EDIT: LOL, I just realized there are ENTIRE THREADS dedicated to getting the pilot bushing out. Sounds like a major pain.

Edited May 16, 2016 by KDMatt

[Zed Head]

That looks like more than an inch.  About like the splines aren't even engaging on the disc and shaft.  Have you had the disc on the shaft?  Do the alignment tool splines match the transmission shaft splines?  When the transmission is sitting like it is in the picture can you turn the tail shaft with the transmission in gear (sorry, didn't tell you that trick either)?  If the splines are engaged you won't be able to.

So, could be that you're not getting the splines through the splines.  The trick there is to put the transmission in gear and turn the tail shaft while maneuvering the transmission.  

Overall to get everything done, you have to get the shaft through the hole, then the splines through the splines, then the nose of the shaft in to the bushing, then the dowels in to the locating holes.

 

 

[Zed Head]

Also just noticed that your clutch fork is hanging.  If it's sitting on the pivot ball right with the clip holding it correctly, it will be in the center of that hole.

[KDMatt]

24 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

That looks like more than an inch.  About like the splines aren't even engaging on the disc and shaft.  Have you had the disc on the shaft?  Do the alignment tool splines match the transmission shaft splines?  When the transmission is sitting like it is in the picture can you turn the tail shaft with the transmission in gear (sorry, didn't tell you that trick either)?  If the splines are engaged you won't be able to.

So, could be that you're not getting the splines through the splines.  The trick there is to put the transmission in gear and turn the tail shaft while maneuvering the transmission.  

Overall to get everything done, you have to get the shaft through the hole, then the splines through the splines, then the nose of the shaft in to the bushing, then the dowels in to the locating holes.

 

 

There's a trick I didn't think of... so maybe put the transmission into 4th gear (so I have mechanical advantage at the tail) and use that to see if the splines are engaged? Maybe give it a little spin to help line things up? I agree that this distance makes it look like the spines aren't really catching into the clutch.

I can tell you the fit of the alignment tool was really tight... I lubed it up with some grease and that made it a lot easier to slip in and out. 

24 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

Also just noticed that your clutch fork is hanging.  If it's sitting on the pivot ball right with the clip holding it correctly, it will be in the center of that hole.

This is how it's always been for me -- it's rested at the "clutch off" position. Even before I took it all apart and stripped it down, the clutch fork rested at the end of its travel. Hmmm....

[Zed Head]

4 minutes ago, KDMatt said:

There's a trick I didn't think of... so maybe put the transmission into 4th gear (so I have mechanical advantage at the tail) and use that to see if the splines are engaged? Maybe give it a little spin to help line things up? I agree that this distance makes it look like the spines aren't really catching into the clutch.

This is how it's always been for me -- it's rested at the "clutch off" position. Even before I took it all apart and stripped it down, the clutch fork rested at the end of its travel. Hmmm....

Yes, put it in gear, apply a spinning force while trying to get things in.

Visualize the throwout bearing, the fork and pivot pin and you'll see that the fork should be centered in the hole.   The bearing sits on the front cover nose and the pivot pin holds the center of the fork.  You might not have the spring clips clipped over the pivot pin.  Stole  a picture from the beergarage.  The installation procedure is "place over pin top and press until it clicks and locks in place".  If it's on correctly it will be hard to remove.

Another thought - the fork is on the pin correctly but the TOB has slipped off of the front cover nose and is jammed between the nose and the pressure plate.  That should put the fork end up though, not down, although if you were twisting things, who knows.

[KDMatt]

I guess I'm not sure what I'm looking at. I've got the fork clipped in over the ball, and the T/O bearing is clipped too... That's what I meant on the previous page when I said it was "wiggly" ... that it was hanging down, despite being clipped into place. I think that picture is just messing with perspective. It's centered with where the slave cylinder lines up and it pivots up and down like it's supposed to.

In other news, I've got the trans locked into 4th gear now so I can spin the shaft. I'm still stuck in the same place, and I can definitively say that the splines are engaged because the shaft won't spin. Where does that leave me?

[KDMatt]

I took a picture with my endoscope (10 bucks on ebay), and it looks like the splines aren't going in all the way. GUH.

I knew there was a reason I stopped working on this thing. Every project is such a PITA!!!