The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts My tranny is shot.

Well I got under the truck today to take off the bolts that hold the gas tank straps in place and happened to see some big ole rust patch right about there the tranny meets the engine.

I scoot up to look and it's rusted thru and the mice must have decided in the tranny was a good place to live, because the only thing sticking out that wasn't rusted metal was what was left of the seat cushions that the mice had carried in there for bedding.

So now I guess i'm going to be looking for a replacement tranny.

This weekend I hope to get the tank all flushed out along with the radiator and try and see if I can get the engine to crank and start.. who knows.. I may end up having to find and tranny AND an engine!

I would have to say the mice have gotten in your bell housing where the clutch is. It is a good idea to get them out before they pack the pressure plate full so it does not work any more. try to cover the hole back up so they can't get back in there.

need a catbolt

I had planned to post pics earlier, but for some reason the CD the camera burned the images to had errors.. so I went back out to snap a few more.

[img]http://www.geekoasis.com/the46/bell01.jpg[/img]
[img]http://www.geekoasis.com/the46/bell02.jpg[/img]

The truck wasn't sitting in water, and no other part of the undercarrage looks rusty.. my guess is that the bell housing here must have gotten ripped open by road debris before it was parked.

I didn't suspect anything wrong with the tranny, since it seemed to click smoothly into all 4 gears and reverse.. but lo and behold.. it's got problems!

I called around a few junk yards, and a guy about 30 miles from here says he has two trannys.. one he says is in a truck that drives, the other is unknown condition.

So we'll see.. I really want to see if the engine i've got will start and run before I make a final decision, since I may end up having to buy an engine, too.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but it looks like it might be just the sheet metal cover that rotted away (what Chevy calls the flywheel underpan). The rest of the bellhousing is probably fine.

Well I guess my first step will be to drop the tranny and get a look at whats going on in there.

That flywheel looks pretty nasty, and is bound to need replacing.. and I won't even be able to even try to start it to see if the engine is any good until I get a flywheel on it.

Another setback, but it will make the day she finally runs under her own power all the more sweeter.

Hopefully the mice have not been in your engine. Anyplace that they got into will look exactly like those pictures. I believe that mouse p*** is the most caustic substance on earth!!! Good luck!!

That bell housing, is separate from the transmission. Like was said earlier, the cover is all that's rotted. The bellhousing, joins the trans., to the engine. If tranny is still full of grease, & no water has entered, it should be o.k. You definitely need to remove it, & the clutch, pressure plate, & bell housing, for cleaning.

Looking at those pictures you wonder why any steel ship full of rats is still floating...

The bell housing on my 42 looked the same way when I first got it. I just picked a windy day, rolled the truck outside, and got to work. I had the best sucess using a piece of brake line (3/16") hooked to an air hose. Make sure the clutch area is cleaned out very good, including blowing out the holes in the pressure plate housing.

Worst case scenerio would be that the clutch disc is stuck to the flywheel or pressure plate. If this happens you can push down on the clutch pedal but the clutch will not disengage. I have had some limited sucess getting these unstuck by having an assistant hold the clutch pedal to the floor while I hit the disc with a hammer and punch. I suspect you may have more trouble with the teeth on the flywheel that the starter engages. Some of the teeth on my 42 were nearly rusted off.

BTW, what part of 'western Nebraska' are you in? I live in McCook.

The bell housing on my 42 looked the same way when I first got it. I just picked a windy day, rolled the truck outside, and got to work. I had the best sucess using a piece of brake line (3/16") hooked to an air hose. Make sure the clutch area is cleaned out very good, including blowing out the holes in the pressure plate housing.

Worst case scenerio would be that the clutch disc is stuck to the flywheel or pressure plate. If this happens you can push down on the clutch pedal but the clutch will not disengage. I have had some limited sucess getting these unstuck by having an assistant hold the clutch pedal to the floor while I hit the disc with a hammer and punch. I suspect you may have more trouble with the teeth on the flywheel that the starter engages. Some of the teeth on my 42 were nearly rusted off.

BTW, what part of 'western Nebraska' are you in? I live in McCook.

Your about 250 miles away from me.. I live just outside of Gering, NE

I got a real good look at the "spot" today, and i'm pretty confident now that simply pulling the tranny and doing a rebuild outta be the way to go.

I sprayed the heck out of the area with some WD40 after sucking all the loose crap out with the shop vac, and with it clean and wet with WD40, it didn't look so bad at all.

The flywheel teeth at the bottom are bretty rough looking, but i'm not sure how much of that is just crud between the gears and how much is rusted crusty gears.

In the pics, the flywheel looks kinda bent, but my visual inspection of it today it didn't look bent.. perhaps it was an optical illusion due to the camera angle

When I get the tranny out, i'll have a better idea of whats going on.

Didn't get to work on it much today, but I did have time early in the evening to get the fuel tank removed and I was pleased to see she has some light surface rust on the top, but the bottom is beautiful clear steel!

With the tank not having a cap on it for god only knows how long, I was expecting to have some water and/or lots of crud in the tank.. but she's clean as a whistle! I'm still going to flush it, clean it, and seal it before putting it back in, tho.

The rest of the truck looked pretty solid. I wonder if water and junk collected in that inspection pan and caused that problem to fester. I think the challenge will be getting it apart, that is getting the pressure plate off.

How did you get a camera to focus that close to the subject?

Slow down, you seem determined the tran is bad while your looking at the clutch, bell housing and pressure plate. The transmission simply bolts to the bell housing and may be perfectly sound. Pull the bottom plug if the oil is still dark not gray you may get away with just a flush and fill. The clutch and pressure plate you may be able to blow out but they are looking pretty rough. Good luck and don't be too frustrated