OK, so I have the tranny sitting on my garage floor next to the FD. UPS was kind enough to drop off my ACT street/strip kit, bearings, SS clutch line and Pettit downpipe (replacing original precat POS). I was ready to start replacing everything when I noticed a little play in my tranny mainshaft. Page J-40 of the manual has a nice diagram showing where I think the play is coming from. It looks like the play comes from the point where the main drive gear (6) connects with the mainshaft gear assembly (2) inside bearing (5). When I grab the spline on the end of the mainshaft and wiggle it I see about 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch total side-to-side play at the very end of the mainshaft where it connects to the clutch disc. The tranny oil has been drained. How much play is normal? I would assume there would be a little room for movement so the clutch disc could align itself with the mainshaft spline. I also noticed the center of the clutch disc with the grooves was a little mashed from so many engagements with the tranny mainshaft spline. I assume this is normal too after 40K+ miles on the original parts. All parts are original. Thanks.

BTW your tips and suggestions are lifesavers!

 

Anybody know how much play to expect in a tranny with 40k+ and no fluid? Where should I go for a rebuilt tranny? I tried KDR but can't get hold of anyone. Does Malloy sell rebuilts?

BTW I built a nice platform for my jack for $10 in about 1 hour. I used two pieces of angle iron and mounted the angle iron on four 10 inch threaded bolts. The jack rolled in the angle iron and all I had to do to lower the tranny was to lower the angle iron down the threaded bolts using the nuts & washers below the angle iron. The bolts poked through a big sheet of plywood that rested on my garage floor. This setup gave me an additional 9 inches of lift, adding to my 10 inches of jack lift gave me a total of 19 inches range. The beauty is the adjustments can be made in very fine increments-one bolt thread at a time. By lowering the back nuts/washers first I was even able to tilt the tranny towards the back of the car. I used an Autozone adapter for my jack and the whole setup worked like a charm!

 

That play should be very close to zero. I haven't measured it, but it should be tight enough to require a dial indicator to read that kind of runout.

It sounds like that input shaft bearing is toast, and maybe also the input shaft and the journal on the mainshaft.

Dave

 

Thanks Dave. I think you're correct-I opened it up and the play is inside near the main gear bearing (it moves way too much). I will be traveling down I81 through Harrisburg Thur May 4 & Fri May 5th. Any chance of getting you to take a quick look at my tranny? Would you happen to know if Ray Crowe sells just the main drive gear & bearings? I read your tranny rebuild writeup...it's great. Thanks again.

 

Yep, I'll be around then and willing to check it out.

You can buy any parts you need from Ray - they're listed in the writeup with part numbers.

Dave