The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Tranny question...

Okay guys, I need your help... I've only had my truck a few months now, but I recently lost second gear (I think). On the way to the Union City truck show, second gear started making a horrible sound (banging and clunking). I was able to get to the show and back home using 1st and 3rd, with no problem. I have a three on the tree, motor is a 235, but the tranny is a 3-speed w/overdrive.

I found a guy who will rebuild my tranny but I want to know if it's it a bad idea to drive it (15 miles or so) his shop, or do I run any risk of damaging the other gears while driving there? I'm sure I could remove the tranny myself and bring it to him, but then I'd be screwed when it came time to put it back in, as I have no clue how to.

Anyone near Santa Clara want to come over and teach a young greenhorn how to install a tranny? There's a case of cold beer in it for you!

All it will take is one chunk of gear tooth in the wrong place, and you'll have a boat anchor instead of a transmission! Either call a wrecker (and have him tow it with the rear wheels lifted), or pull the transmission and take it to him. The 2nd. and 3rd. gears share opposite ends of the same synchronizer, but it sounds like the 2nd. reduction gear, and possibly the cluster gear are involved. You've got an expensive repair coming, so check into the possibility of a wrecking yard replacement, rather than a repair. The cluster gear, in particular, is a high-dollar piece!
Jerry

Having broken many transmissions in my drag racing days, the broken 2nd gear is a usual happening. Be SURE to use a needle bearing cluster gear, the old style with bushings will break, the bushing wears and cuts into the shaft allowing the cluster to become partially engaged in the gears, then goodbye transmission. Do not drive it, the broken teeth can get in between gears and then the case is broken and it is all junk.

The transmission is pretty easy to remove. Installation is just the reverse process. So if you can take it out you should be able to put it back in.

Well, I finally got around to tackling the tranny. Pulled the bad one (3-spd w/o.d.) out and took it over to a buddies house. Lots of teeth chunks, so it's toast... We opened up the original 3-spd unit and found it to be in great shape, so I'm gonna live with that.

Anyway, I went to put the tranny back in, but I couldn't get it in all the way. I thought maybe the splines weren't lining up, but it's the very end of the shaft that's the problem. It's not going into the little hole, beyond the flywheel. For some reason, the little hole and the teeth of the flywheel aren't lined up properly. The flywheel is sitting about 1/2" down, and to the left of the little hole. Look here: http://www.pbase.com/ninerjoe/59_apache&page=2

What's happened? I was able to get the old tranny out quite easily. What would cause the flywheel to "sag" like this. will jacking up the tranny, inside of the flywheel, align the two holes?

Please help!

You need an alignment tool to fix that, they can be bought at any auto parts store.(cheap) Or if you have an old input shaft from another transmission just stick it up there and have someone press the clutch, then move it around and you will feel it slide in place. Release the clutch, Pull it out and put the transmission back in. It's easy.If you buy one make sure it has the coarse splines ( the same as your transmission).
If you can't find one, Get a piece of wooden dowl or a punch, have someone press the clutch and move it around, eyeball it as close as you can, put a tiny bit of grease on the end of the trans. and put it up there move it around it will go in place.

Great! Thanks Tommy!

you might be able to use parts from the three speed to fix the overdrive trans or you may be able to add the overdrive part to the three speed if they are the same design.

Well, I finally got the tranny in. But wouldn't ya know, there's a new problem: The shift linkage seems to be all f'd up. I can only get it into 2nd gear. Is there a way to adjust the linkage by myself (3 on the tree), or am I gonna need the wife to come out and help?

I think zenish might be right;you might be able to add your overdrive rear section onto your "new" 3 speed.
If you're having trouble with the linkage,the forst thing is to disconnect it from the transmission. Put both shifting arms on the transmission in the center position. That's neutral. Move the shifter until you find the spot where you can move it from the 1st/reverse positions to the 2nd/3rd positions. Find a way to lock the shifter there. It'll be in neutral too. It's very important to have everything centered in it's neutral position.Slide under the truck and see where your linkage lines up to the shifting arms. If they're off by more than 1/8",try to adjust them to fit easily into the holes in the shifting arms.If you have room,shim all the linkage up so there's just a little slack with flat washers that fit well. A little grease between them is a good thing. You don't want them to fit really tight,but you want as much slack out of them as possible. Now (here's the fun part)have your wife slowly run it through the gears a couple of times with the engine OFF while you watch the linkage from under the truck,to be sure nothing's binding or snagging on other parts.When you're done,it should shift like a new transmission.

Forgot to mention,look at the shifting arms on both transmissions,and make sure they're the same length and have the same alignment. If they're different,you might be able to just use your old shifting arms on the newer transmission to make everything line up again.