4wd shifter seal replacement

[dlb]

this is really easy but considering how often the topic has come up, i decided to take pics of when i replaced this in my current project car.

first step, jack up the front left side of the car as high as you safely can and put a stand under it. then put the jack under the rear end of the trans, just in front of the crossmember, and jack it up a little bit to take the weight off the crossmember.

now remove the five 12 mm bolts from the crossmember-to-trans mount (a flex head ratchet wrench works great for these), then the two 17 mm bolts from the crossmember-to-body. now you can drop the crossmember down as shown here.



now undo the 12 mm nuts at either end of the 4wd shifter linkage and remove it so you have more room to work. the stud spins but there are 9 mm flats at the base of the stud to hold it. i only disconnected the front end of the linkage for this pic.



here's a pic of the flats on the stud. i've never seen any other 9 mm part on a tercel before so this was a real red letter day.



now undo the 12 mm nut on the pinch bolt one or two turns and f***ing SMASH the nut end as hard as you can. i had a hell of a time getting a clear shot at it due to the floor pan and trans and brake and fuel lines all being so close together. i beat the hell out of it for half an hour before it gave but you really want to break the pinch bolt free in as few strikes as possible because you will end up damaging it.



here's the nut after i finally got the pinch bolt out. ugly. lucky for me, the bolt was fine.



crawl back under, remove the arm and washer, and use a small screwdriver to carefully pry the old seal out. be careful not to gouge the soft aluminum of the trans when you do this. here's the old seal out of it's seat and resting on the shaft.





lube the inner lip of the new seal with some grease and push it into place as far as you can. i had to tap tap tap it in the rest of the way with a punch because of the tight work space. here's the new seal (thanks, c_j!) installed.



...and reassemble. reinstall the washer, arm, and pinch bolt. i found the key to getting the pinch bolt in place was to gently fiddle with it until it easily slid almost all the way into position—no forcing should be necessary. do up the nut with lock washer and reinstall the 4wd shift linkage and crossmember, drop the car down, and you're done.

also, here's a good pic here of the shaft and pinch bolt since you can't see how the two fit together in any of my pics. c_j did this when he had a trans out of a car. if anyone has a chance to do this then, it's sure easier than doing it with the trans in the car.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=9522

[ARCHINSTL]

THANKS, David. I meant to ask Colin about this, as when I changed the trans fluid last month, it was my intent to replace the seal which I got from him. While under the car, I noticed that there was absolutely NO room to bang on the pin without removing the X-member. I didn't recall him mentioning that procedure, so I thought he'd discovered some cool trick method. Of course, in a Bang The Forehead moment, I finally realized that he did it with the trans out of the car. It then turned crappy outside and has remained so, so I put it off until Spring.

A help if someone boogers up the pin: It is very similar to the pins (called "cotters") in my old bicycle trade that are used to hold the crank arms to the spindle in old English and Continental bikes from the '70s and before. They came in 3 diameters; 8.5mm, 9.0mm, and 9.5mm.
A VERY good explanation of this - and help in removing - is contained here: http://sheldonbrown.com/cotters.html Filing may be required. Of course, we in the trade had some special tools for cotter removal, but none would work on our cars because of the space limitations.
While these are still used in third world bike manufacture (very inexpensive), they haven't reached these shores since around the middle '80s or so.
You will probably have to visit a bike shop that's been around for some years, though. Like young techs puzzling over carbs, many young bike wrenches are baffled by cottered cranks, as they stopped being imported before these guys were born. Pick up a couple.
It's possible this tool may fit - it came out after I closed the store, so I'm not familiar with its size - maybe borrow it from a very friendly store? http://www.bikesmithdesign.com/CotterPress/

NOTE the way the pin is inserted - inserting from the rear will change the angle of the arm. I would also use Loctite Blue on the threads of the pin, as it will be virtually impossible to bang the pin in with the same force as used at the factory before the trans is installed.

Now a sticky! Good work on the part of David and Colin!
Tom M.

[xirdneh]

Replaced that seal yesterday on tranny sitting on the workbench.
seal had a metal shell so i drilled two 1/16" dia holes (180 deg apart) installed two small screws and used two vice grips clamped to the screws to lever seal out.
installed a Timken # 16X24X6

Mine was not as rusty as the above pictures but the pin was not budging
i heated the 4wd lever with a propane torch till it was a bit too hot to touch and that did it
i also used a copper hammer to keep the damage to a minimum