Manual trans good?

takza · Post by **takza** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 7:07 am

Looking for ideas for trying to determine if a 6-speed is likely to be in good shape when you have a trans that is out of the car and can't be driven to check it out............

What I know about my recently pulled xtra trans....

* car shows 162 K miles...not too bad for a Tercel 4WD

* did notice that the clutch & brake pedals were very worn..which made me wonder about the actual mileage on the car...pedal pads on my 220K car are in much better shape (replaced?)

* output shaft to the rear was not loose to speak of...not as loose as current trans with 220K on it.

* it would shift thru all gears including into 4WD and EL.

* it had a good level of oil in it...enough to run out of the diff shaft opening when an axle was pulled.

* trans drain plug had a pretty good amount of metal on the magnet...but it was very fine stuff...not the larger metal bits as with my current trans with the chipped 3rd gears

* input shaft from engine/clutch has some very slight sideplay

Any ideas of other things to check?

How difficult is it to open the case and check for condition inside? What to look for?

** Did notice that the shifter boot on this trans was split and things were rusted real well in the ball & socket area and below that...thinking that most trans (espec in the rust belt) should have some gear oil poured into the boot split (using a turkey baster) ...I used about 1/4 to 1/2 cup with my current one to improve the shifting...most of it ran out on top of the trans.

3A-C Power · Post by **3A-C Power** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 11:36 am

Some play in the input shaft is normal because of how close the bearings are together and the input shaft is meant to be supported by the pilot bearing. My trans with 20,000 miles on it had some play and I thought it had a bad bearing, but I pulled the bearing and it looked fine and it works fine in the car. Your 5th gear is exposed already so that may be an indicator of the shape of the gears and synchros. 5th will look better than the rest of course. It takes alot of work to get at the main part of the tranny, you have to remove the transfer adapter first. Getting the case open is about halfway through a complete disassembly.

takza · Post by **takza** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 4:27 am

Thanks. I might have a good trans...it looks that way.

Gasoline Fumes · Post by **Gasoline Fumes** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 5:16 am

I think the fluid is a pretty good indicator of the internal condition. I have two Suzuki transmissions. One with 208k miles, which works fine and only had a little metallic paste on the drain plug. The other one with 133k miles, had chunky fluid and a couple of gear teeth on the drain plug! I pulled it apart and found a broken differential.