PLEASE HELP!!! Ripping apart tranny right now...
 

Hi guys,
My friend and I are ripping apart my transmission, but we have stumbled across an issue. To get the rear main bearing off, what do you do? I hope you don't have to have a small bearing puller, b/c we don't have one. We do have the custom bearing puller for the main bearing. Please give us some tips fast!!! We already have the infamous 5th gear synchro replacement instructions, so please don't give those to us. Thanks a lot,

Craig

P.S. Hope we will get some responses very soon as we cannot proceed to the next step until this issue is taken car of. Thanks again.

You need a puller with small enough jaws to get behind the bearing. Sorry

It's all gravy...we just got it off by using a cro-bar (spelling?). We drove all the way to the store before even trying it out though. :( That's alright, got some T-Bell to give us some energy to finish the job up.

BUT NOW...we are trying to find out how everyone else got the main bearing back on...it seems like we're hitting the crap out of it (indirectly-block of wood/hammer). We don't have a rubber mallet either, so that's out of the book. Any help would be great. Thanks a lot,

Craig

if i were religious, i'd add your tranny to the prayer list

crow bar? hammer? block of wood?

yikes!

dude, no rubber mallet? no small bearing puller?? is this your only car between the both of you?

LOL

It sounds worse than it really is. Neither of us are hacks in any way. A block of wood and a light tapping is just as good as a rubber mallet. The crow- bar with light pressure worked a lot better than our puller did on the main bearing. Everything spins nice and free. All "gasket surfaces were cleaned and sealed with RTV" and everything was torqued to spec. This was a lot easier than I expected.

Yep. I've used some "ghetto" methods myself and they work just fine when you know when and why you're using them. Good to hear you knocked the job out.

Yeah, the joy of success was amazing and like dwood said..."a lot easier than...expected!" Not too hard, just needed to mess with a few things in order to make it all fit together, but it runs smoother than it did before and we will know Saturday whether or not everything truly went smoothly when the tranny goes back in the car and the oil pan is replaced. MIGHT BE DONE TOMORROW IF WE'RE LUCKY! Thanks for all the help everyone (yeah right). LOL

Craig

It better be done by tomorrow. ;) I'll call around 4ish.

You can buy a small puller at Sears that will work.

let me know if this works...im curious to see....

You need to get the right pullers if your gonna do this and the easiest way to get the bearing back on is a pipe thats long enough to fit over the shaft..slide it down on top the bearing (wrap it on cloth) and gently but firmly hit it back in place...no 2x4s crowbars or sawsall needed

I was thinking the same thing with the pipe, but it was very late at night and all stores were closed. The pipe would have worked great, but we got it on without too much trouble ;) . We actually ended up getting two pieces of 2X4 cut down to size. We then wrapped them in towels to keep wood splinters from going into the tranny, and hit them with hammers simultaneously. It went on with no problem doing that.
I actually think the crow bar on the bearing was easier than the puller. We just wrapped the end in a towel (not the end with the big hook) and lifted up gradually switching its position to lift it uniformly. Yes a small puller and a pipe to put the bearing back on would have been nice, but we had to make do with what we had.

Dont use wood, tiny particles can splinter or fall off and ruin that bearing.

I used a pipe with a clean rag wraped around the edge than hit it with a 5lb hammer. That way your apply pressure all the way aorund the bearing. Also, clean the inside of the pipe VERY well or your get dirt and trash inside the bearing.

STEPHEN

I cover the bearing with tape and also put paper towels all around the area to keep trash and grit outta stuff...

You can put the bearing in the freezer for awhile (make sure it is still wrapped). Once you take it out, you'll have a small window of opportunity where the bearing is a touch smaller and will go in easier.

I've done some tranny and engine (motocross 2 stroke stuff) this way. Usually I heat the cases up and the bearing will drop right in. When I haven't been able to do that, sometimes making the bearing cold will work.

Sonny

don't you want to heat the bearing so it expands, obviously not too much, and cool the trans so it'll contract??? We aren't working with water here :)