Transmission Rebuild Writeup
 

Find it at http://www.davidgeesaman.com Warning, it's a total of 30MB of PDFs.

Comments welcome.

Dave

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Update March 2020 - the link above is dead. The files are available in posts at the end of this thread.

Good stuff! thanks :bigthumb:

thanx. i will definitely be using this as a source

but did you fill it with propane when you were done?
 

just kidding - I must be on the wrong thread...

thanks - I have two I need to rebuild - this will be useful !

Jim

Looking at all the detail and pictures in Dave's writeup, it's easy to see why it took him so long to finish his rebuild... On the other hand if you need to rebuild your trainy, like me, his efforts will have already saved you tons of time and trouble. Excellent contribution to the collective!

Thank you Dave.
John

Good stuff! I'm looking forward to the day I tear into a tranny myself :).

Dale

Well, I spent 5 weeks from jack up to jack down. I'd say 2 weeks were spent avoiding the 20° garage, 1 week doing work and 2 weeks waiting for tools or parts. Taking pics was easy. (The writeup was hard work).

So with better work conditions and tools already on hand, it's nowhere near that long. But if you hurry you're dead :)

Dave

awesome work! I don't have much experience with transmissions so this will definitely come in handy if I ever need to take mine apart.

Thank you so much!

Great job! Great Thanks a lot. I have the tranny out this week to replace a noisy pilot bearing (lets hope that is what it is). After reading your writeup I feel a lot better about going ahead and replacing the failing 5th synchro.

great work!!

I would like to make a motion to move this to the advanced tech section for posterity.

Nice job, Dave!

Dave, definatley a great contribution to the community. I never really considered rebuilding my tranny by myself untill now. Great work. :)

BTW, how much did everything for your rebuild cost?

Wow man, awesome job!!!

Amazing, Dave G.

I sure don't have enough patience to do a write-up like this.

Excellent write-up!

The golden question.

The parts themselves were about $500 for new OEM bearings, synchros, switches, gaskets, etc. I think that's a reasonable number for anyone doing a full rebuild assuming none of the hard parts need replaced. If a gear or driveshaft is shot, then you're talking more $$. I updated the parts list to include approximate prices too. If you're doing a 93 or early 94, I suggest replacing the whole 1-2 clutch assembly for the updated one, which runs $200.

Tools and side jobs add much more. I.e. I bought that impact wrench for $200. The long socket was $75. Diff bushings were $85, but paying to have them pressed was $30.

DaveW: I'm one of those people that when I finally get to doing something, I do it all the way. So it was tough writing all that out, but I felt obligated for everyone helping me along the way.

Dave

This is a great resource and exactly what I've been waiting for since I plan to rebuild a spare soon!

I know you did this out of the goodness of your heart but if you were willing to burn cd's of those documents you could easily sell them I'm certain.

Thanks again!

If I was a trained drivetrain mechanic, I would. It would be bold to produce something along the lines of Turrentine's rebuild video after having only rebuild one transmission.

The information is very pictorial and pretty, but it doesn't mean I always know what I'm doing. :) I'm just happy to fill a void in the collective knowledge.

Dave

Basically...I think what he's trying to say is, "I got sick and tired of people like WHIPSrx7 who keep asking people about rebuilds, advice, etc. I can't waste my posting/reading time on people like them!" :)

No, I like talking RX-7s, that's for sure.

I'm only a shadetree DIY mechanic, and this is the first tranny work I've ever done. I don't consider it any kind of gospel, and selling it would imply that it is.

Dave

I don't think it implies you're an expert, it would just be convenient for some people. You shouldn't have so much humility ;) Look at all the poorly thought out crap people spend hundreds of dollars on everyday! No harm in you making a few bucks for all the work you put into the documents as it's obvious this was not thrown together in an evening or two!

I've not torn an FD tranny down but I've done several transaxles from other cars. In my experience they're all about the same: a mechanical puzzle. As long as things are neatly sorted and kept track of it's not too bad but I'd still be afraid to do a rebuild over a period of more than a few days for fear that it wouldn't stay fresh in my mind. Your pictures and notes are a terrific help for any of us planning to do the work.

Heck, the parts list alone is worth charging $20 for! I spent over an hour combing the factory pdf's a while back getting the numbers for all the synchros, bearings and seals!

Could you describe how to make your 'pipe clamp and threaded rod device' for removing the mainshaft rear bearing? My 2 jaw puller is not getting the job done.

Thanks,
Tom

I went to Lowe's, found the pipe hangers, and picked one that was about 2" round. Then I went to the threaded rod of the hardware section, and bought a couple pieces of the size that fit the hangers. Then I set it up like in the picture.

"JD to Rescue" helped with some great tips, including one I just learned today: when removing bearings from the gearbox, you can carefully take 2 pry bars (one in each slot where the puller jaws fit) and lift the bearing straight out. I wish I had thought of that, and will do it next time!!

Dave

Thanks for the tips. The "JD to Rescue" worked easily on the counter bearing. I got the rear main bearing off with a heavier 3 jaw puller the I found in the garage and good size breaker bar to turn it. Finally down to the broken 5th synchro and waiting for the parts.

Did your 5th gear show any wear on the part that lines up with the synchro? Mine shows a little on the points that match the ones on the synchro. Hope I don't have to replace the 5th for this.

Tom

My 5th gear looked good. However, my 5th clutch sleeve did not - all the teeth were slightly deformed so that they had a sharp edge. If your 5th gear clutch teeth are damaged, the sleeve is what caused it.

Dave

You are right about the 5th clutch sleeve. The teeth are fairly worn and having it apart I can see why. That will get replaced too. The real question that remains is how much wear/damage is ok on the 5th gear. I assume the damage was caused by the crunching when the synchro was broken. With a good synchro will that be protected or continue to wear or cause problems. I will replace 5th gear if necessary, but don't want to spend the $ if I don't have to. (I have the feeling I am grasping at straws here)

Tom

I dunno without seeing it. Got a digital camera? Are the clutch keys or 5/R hub damaged at all?

Maybe take it to a tranny shop and ask for their advice. The few transmission shops I have talked to were very open and friendly.

FWIW, I also updated the Disassembly document for anyone who wants the latest version.

Clutch keys are fine. 5/R hub shows no damage and almost no wear. It was replaced previously by Mazda around 25K ago when they did the 5th synchro for the PO. I studied the clutch teeth more and talked to some others with a lot more trans experience than I. On their advice I went ahead and ordered the 5th gear. I would rather spend the $170(!!) at Malloy then have to pull the tranny again. The tranny (w/60K) has been shifting perfectly other than 5th so I feel OK about fixing it right for now. I will catch the rest when I do the full rebuild sometime down the road.

Great write up.

I just wanted to thank you again. I did the 5th synchro and also the 5th/rev. chutch sleeve and 5th gear using your writeup and the FSM. Your writeup and pics were a great help and now the car shifts smoothly and quietly in all gears. Your posts are a real asset to the FD community.

Tom

as anybody found a technique where i can re use the 41mm lock nut other than buying the $95 tool or destroying the lock nut?, i tried a pipe wrench but its not going too well

scratch that, does anybody know how to get the dynamic balancer off of the input shaft?

What do you mean by removing the dynamic balancer from the input shaft? The input shaft is part of the transmission. Do you mean the counterweight on the back of the flywheel?

I would not reuse that locknut. I suppose if you could cut away the originally staked area you might manage to use it again and stake a different part of the nut collar, but that's asking for trouble.

David

Reviving an old thread but I'd love to have the link live again so we can access that rebuild writeup. Any chance on that Dave?

There seems to be working PDFs in the Internet Archive:
https://web.archive.org/web/20050908...esaman.com:80/


Maybe someone should host it elsewhere?

7Suns,

Thanks for finding David's write-up / how-to on the internet archive!

Cheers,
George

No prob, yw.

I really think users should be more familiar with the internet archive/wayback machine.
Considering how old posts on a forum like this can be, it's not too uncommon for pictures and links to go dead.

Excel spreadsheet version of dgeeseman's parts cross-reference
 

I'm attaching an excel spreadsheet I was able to make from dgeeseman's profoundly helpful PDF parts cross-reference. (Really, IMO that cross-reference document is one of the most useful and significant contributions available here - he put an amazing amount of effort into collating it all).

Some notes on this Excel version:
- It allows for re-ordering of the parts by assembly or disassembly FSM page and reference.
- Since it is editable, one can enter specific details for a particular transmission, so there is an easy way to make a record of what ended up getting replaced
- I've included some extra information about an aftermarket bearing kit (google "BK199 transmission") that is available for most of the big bearings (although I don't really recommend buying it).
- I also fixed some minor errors, and added extra comments and annotations here and there. I didn't make any effort to distinguish between text I added and dgeeseman's original, so if there is a mistake somewhere just assume it came from me.

Nice! Glad you have it up here for posterity!

The 5th gear job isn't super tricky but it IS scary doing it the first time.

Dale

http://www.billsdiscountgarage.com/f...isassembly.PDF
http://www.billsdiscountgarage.com/f...ionandMisc.PDF
http://www.billsdiscountgarage.com/f...Reassembly.PDF
http://www.billsdiscountgarage.com/f...sReference.PDF
http://www.billsdiscountgarage.com/f...Reference.xlsx

put that excel file up there too for safe keeping, this domain should be around for 500 years.

Uploading the files to a google drive folder for posterity
https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...k1?usp=sharing