Thanks Fred,
Took the day today to get everything reconnected and prepped for a test run. This really took a long time, since I had to rework the linkages to get everything back into alignment.
Did I mention how slow 90-weight oil runs on a cold December morning? Here's my semi-auto
tool for loading in the new oil. I filled the funnel and did other things while I waited for the gear oil to drop into the trans. Worked pretty good.
And
this is an ode to my ever-worse memory (so I wouldn't drive off without filling the transmission up).
After everything was buttoned up, the
lockout cable connected (which took about an hour to figure out how and where to run the cable so that it didn't catch on things), I replaced the trans cover and took the truck on a nice long run.
Mixed results. Trans shifted much smoother, with a more positive throw on the shifter. First sounded quieter, and second sounded about the same. No crunching, no grinding (except when I downshifted from second to first, which was the same behavior it had before).
However, on long steady throttle pressure at around 60 mph, it popped out of third gear. I was shooting
this video at the time and you can see in the lower part of the frame the gear shift lever pop up. Please pardon my reaction of setting the phone down, but needed both hands at the time. Nothing violent, but it definitely popped out of third. Now, Fred, remember how you told me to fix that by adding a snap ring behind the clutch gear, and how I didn't do that because I did not have the right tools to get the new gear pressed off the shaft without damaging it? All I can say is 'live and learn.'
So, basically, the transmission is behaving pretty much as it did before the rebuild, but I have confidence in the new gears and bearings. At high rpms, I will likely have to watch for it popping out of third, which may mean replacing the synchro drum in the future and adding that snap ring. Only positive there is that I know I can handle the work now.
I am also hopeful that my new OD parts will make the high rpms less of an issue as I return it to functionality. The new harness came in this afternoon, so I will be working on that in the next week. After I fabricate a tab for the accelerator linkage and a bracket for the stepdown switch.
As for the tech tip, think I'll let someone else write one. Not sure that I have proved anything by doing this rebuild except that I can probably do it again in the future.
Electrical update sometime soon.
Anyone got a step-down bracket and linkage rod they want to send me?
Jim
