The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Issues with T5 swap- vibrations, etc᠁

Hi Fellas,

Ever since in installed my T5 I have been plagued with issues…

While rebuilding the engine, I had my flywheel re-surfaced and installed a new clutch disc and pressure plate, as well as a new pilot bushing. Transmission is a NWC T5 out of an S-10. I used an aluminum adapter plate.

I have had a little clutch judder in first gear from day one, and also have a high speed vibration that I believe I have traced to the output shaft bushing being worn- with the driveshaft installed, I can move the yoke in the transmission tail up/down/side just a little- I am assuming that there should be zero play in his area?

I did not take a dial indicator and measure around the circumference of the adapter plate or bell housing prior to installing the transmission.

I believe that I have two unrelated issues- clutch judder being caused by trans/bell housing/engine misalignment of some kind, and a high speed vibration being caused by T5 tail housing bushing/yoke play?

After nearly 8 years the truck is nearly finished, and I would like to be able to drive it!

How do I check trans/bell housing/ engine alignment? What do I do if it is misaligned???

Should the driveshaft yoke be tight in the tail housing with no play at all? If play is acceptable there, could it be my trans bearings causing the high speed vibe issue?

Any advice greatly appreciated. I want to get everything right so that I can drive this truck regularly. Restoration is almost complete….

Truck info:

1950 3600 with 261, NWC Chevy T5 (from salvage yard- not rebuilt) and two- piece driveshaft removed, replaced by one piece drive shaft. A Bolt-in crossmember was also installed at the T5 trans mount location (with a rubber mount), and I noticed that the high speed vibration became worse after installing that crossmember. No vibrations at speeds below 45 mph. This was a brand new driveshaft built for the truck by a driveshaft shop and dynamically balanced.

Thank you