Manual Transmission Removal and Re-Installation

[tercle]

Just returned from a short test drive.
All gears and synchros work OK.
Second gear is a little noisy.
CORRECTION: 1st and 2nd gear are noisy.

This transmission is an 83 with the 3.73 ratio, but since my wagon is a 2WD, there's no problem.

I soldered the 86-type connector onto the reverse switch, because it looked like it needed a special socket to remove it.

Going on a long test drive to Tacoma and back later today.

~time passes~~~

Got back OK. I didn't notice any parts flying off or anything.

[dlb]

nice creative solution with the bamboo. whatever works.

[papa smurf]

How long does this take? Assuming I don't suck, which I do, but I'll recalculate hours accordingly.

[Petros]

with the car up on jacks I have removed a trans in as little as 45 min (I was in a hurry the wrecking yard was going to close, and I was not too worried about damaging the parts I was not going to keep). If nothing gets stuck and you have all the correct tools with you (so you are not crawling out to get something else every few min), about 2 hours would be typical with hand tools and working on jack stands. For your first time you might double that for finding where everything is located, learning sequence and what sockets/tools you need, etc. There are always a few bolts you do not notice and do not remove, and it will act like it is stuck. It still happens to me every once in a while too.

It is strange, but every once in a while for some reason when you have all the bolts out, it is loose and you are able to wiggle it, but it will not pull off the back of engine as if the tunnel was too small. If that happens see if there is anything like the distributor or upper radiator hose stopping the engine from rotating back far enough to allow it to drop out.

[MorToy]

For what it's worth, took me an extended afternoon on my 4wd 83'--with couple of anger management cool down breaks--and I had never dropped a transmission before. xirdneh posted the big tip right off the bat: make sure you have that sucker jacked up high enough. I could not roll on my side without hitting transmission and it was a bear. Dropping it wasn't so bad--gravity is a great assistant. Putting it back in was more difficult.

[TURTCEL]

I will be doing my first Terc clutch job this coming Tues so I am sure that all these tips will help. I have not read this posting yet but it is ironic that MorToy replied to it and it brought it back up, I was just about to search for it.

Any tips on installing the rear main seal in the engine? Do I install it dry with only oil on the lip that mates to the crankshaft or should I be using some type of oil or sealer to install it? I only want to pull this tranny once.

Also, it has been recommended that I remove the input shaft before lowering trans. Does this mean just sliding it forward out of the trans after removing the cover plate?

Any other tips would be awesome? What type of grease do I use to put on the input shaft that won't melt and get on the clutch?

Peace

[MorToy]

Yea, I troll through the forum and find old posts about jobs I've undertaken--mainly to see how I *should* have done it.

I used Moly EP grease on the rear main seal, shaft, and face of throw out bearing. Autozone has it--Coastal brand in a silver can. I did not have a seal driver big enough so I carefully tapped it in using a "star" type pattern.

I had the engine out at the same time for a rebuild so I was mating it the opposite route.

[larry mcgrath]

Turtcel: by removing the 5 bolts on the cover to the input shaft allows you to slide the input shaft to the rear to clear the the pilot bearing and clutch plate which makes removing the trany a lot easier, the best thing about this is reinstaling the trany, with the shaft slid to the rear and out of the trany it will allow you to align the trany with the engine and then slide in the input shaft fwd into the clutch, pilot brg this will make it verry easy to align ---the main benifit is your not risking distorting the clutch plate by hanging the trany on it when you instal the trany (not a bad time to rent or borrow a trany jack if you have the room to use one.. By the way I instaled my tilt steering column yesterday,sure is nice iooks great works nice, looks great with the trim you sent me Thanks again Larry

[dlb]

By the way I instaled my tilt steering column yesterday,sure is nice iooks great works nice, looks great with the trim you sent me Thanks again Larry

pics, larry!!

[TURTCEL]

Turtcel: By the way I instaled my tilt steering column yesterday,sure is nice iooks great works nice, looks great with the trim you sent me Thanks again Larry

Awesome Larry, I would definitely like to see pics too. Your Terc is definitely up there as being one of my favorites. You have put so much pride and time into your project...truly one sweet ride.

How did the front diff job go for you? Any write ups on that one coming?

I have to appologize to everyone that I keep asking to see pics of their projects so I can see the job instead of just reading about it. This is because I have promised many times to get pics up of my jobs, even just pics of TURTCEL but I am just not savvy with downloading pics and knowing how to post them...computer idiot for sure, I just never learned how. I will figure it out and post some stuff from my camera. I really want you guys to see my girl.

Peace

[TURTCEL]

Just finished pulling my trans out. Took a little while since I just made sure to take my time and do everything slowly and correctly so I would not damage anything.

It was a little tough wiggling it out (help from a friend) but we got it. We were rotating it the wrong way initially so the shift lever kept hitting the firewall. I thought it was hanging up on the cat convertor hanger and I wasn't gonna take the exhaust off so I cut the hanger off. turns out that I didn't need to cut anything, just needed to rotate it the other way.

My clutch was toast...almost to the rivets. my friend it surface cutting it tonight and I will be putting it back in tomorrow. I used a small piece of chain bolted to the flywheel and the engine block to keep it from moving like suggested, worked awesome. Sure wish I could have that extra weight machined off the flywheel though...what a boat anchor. If weight is removed from the flywheel by machining is a static balance sufficient to rebalance the flywheel? My friend said that is how he could balance it if we machined it?

I could not get one input shaft cover bolt out so I had to remove trans with shaft forward...no problem with that. I still couldn't get the bolt out while on the ground so I will work on it tomorrow.

The drain plugs only had normal metal collection on the magnets so no worries there.

When I pack the shifter ball joint do I fill that whole open area with grease or just the ball joint area at the bottom of the shifter? Also, am I correct that it is suggested to use 50% full synthetic and 50% conventional gear oil to refill the trans? What weight should I use? Just the recommended factory weight or is something else suggested?


Thanks for all the tips.

Peace

[dlb]

Also, am I correct that it is suggested to use 50% full synthetic and 50% conventional gear oil to refill the trans? What weight should I use? Just the recommended factory weight or is something else suggested?

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... 51l#p64351

[TURTCEL]

That's funny, mine own post.

Peace

[Petros]

there should not be any issues with the balance of the flywheel, it should be fine with the resurface and a static balance check.

Some people fill the shift lever linkage compartment with grease to keep moisture out, this is only necessary if the inner boot is compromised. Moisture gets in the compartment and will freeze is cold weather making shifting difficult and causing rust on the linkage parts. If your inner boot is good enough to keep water out this is not as much an issue.

[TURTCEL]

The boot is actually in "like new" condition, suprisingly.

Peace