Transmission gear photos

LopezCarguy

LopezCarguy

Senior Member
O.k...despite negative comments regarding air driving bearings.. And the super dangers therein... Here are photos of gears from transmission .. THey look good to me..but could use others opinions..
 
You never want to spin up a bearing to high speed with compressed air. I clean my bearings in gas then blow them from the side with compressed air. I spin them rather slow and while they are turning I dip them back in the gas. I do this a few times to get all the grease and oil out of them, then blow dry them well without spinning them. I want them clean and dry so I can get a good feel for looseness or rough spots, and to look at the balls and races. Even a drop of oil can make a bad bearing feel pretty good. If they feel and look good most of the time I will reuse them. It mostly depends on where they are located and the job they need to do. Front bearings on a generator I always like to replace with a new sealed bearing, because the oiler is hard to see and almost always overlooked.

****** bearings are hard to get at and take quite a load, so most people will want new ones. I do the same as many and remove the inner seal on the front and rear ****** bearings. I also put small powerful magnets in the drain and fill plugs for my ******. You'd be surprised at the fine grit they pick up.
 
photos of gears
 

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Tom; Appreciate inpute, as a firefighter for 25 years I would caution you on the use of gas to clean anything..seen too many accidents from gas...solvent better, and yes I clean bearing and dry with air..then spin to hear sound it tells me..maybe not best idea but one I'm used too..
 
If it wasn't jumping out of any gears, I would just replace the bearings and the cluster and reverse idler shafts. The shafts will usually show wear marks where the bearings have turned . If the cluster and reverse idler shafts show no wear (very rare) I would reuse them. Of course replace the gaskets. I always use the sealed on one side input and output shaft bearings to eliminate leaks . You can heat the input shaft bearing on a 100 watt light bulb to heat and expand the bearing and it will slip right in place with no effort. It usually takes about 15 minutes to heat the bearing, it gets very hot .
 
I see you have an early ****** by the oil cup on the reverse idler shaft with the wide retainer slot. The cluster gear also uses thrust washers at each end. The SERVICE BULLETINS has good information about ****** changes. Be sure the gasket and front bearing retainer is down when it's installed. I worked on a ****** once that had it up.

I agree, the gears look good.
 
Cant see the pictures well enough to know what you have.

Original NOS gears were broached and will have lines across the face. Shiny gears with a mirror surface are worn, which may not be bad. You need to look at the front edge of the teeth as they need to be rounded so that they will engage nice while shifting.

Numbers, we need numbers on sizes for the shafts. Get out your micrometer and open up thin thin shop manual (not Les's) and find the prints for the shafts. Measure the shaft sizes and the the inside dimensions of the gears. Can you feel a bump on the shafts on the edge of where the gears slide and dont slide?
That test of putting a gear on a shaft with oil and seeing how fast it slides will fail gears that measure good.
What is the size of the end of the input shaft?

Bearings are pretty simple. Clean them well, and look inside with a bright light (and a magnifier if you eyes are getting old) for any pitting. If they are perfectly smooth then then are probably fine. Any pitting then they are scrap if you plan on driving the car.
You do not want or need shielding! They are NOT sealed bearings, they have dust shields. The transmission was designed to operate without shields. The rear bearing allows oil to leak out so that it will lubricate the U joint and points south. The front has a long column with the throw out bearing shaft. So long as you do not lower the front end like some do, you will not affect the Ford engineered design that keeps everything working properly.

Anyway, that is my thoughts on the ******, I could be wrong.
 
i agree that if your trans was operating fine reuse the gears. as far as the shafts buy the ones with the orings to prevent leaks. the same ones Tom E mentions in his tutorial along with the ""REST"" of the list and put it together.
its very hard to feel a dry bearing for conditon be it roller or conical. the best way is to inspect for pits or on a roller style by lubing it with a little oil ATF or such and feel it by rotatng and using side pressure. spinning it with air wont tell you a thing
"""for the work involved vs the cost its a no brainer to replace them. """
 
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o.k. thanks for help/inpute..I ordered all the bearings... the ****** was a spare so did not know if it jumped out of gear?? Just rebuilding so when I take the one making noise out of car I can just slide this one in...will not spin bearings with air, enough people have advised not to do this I guess I will have to listen..thanks
 
If you look at the parallel lines of the outer edge of the gear teeth, you can often pick out gears that probably walked out of gear. The lines won't be quite parallel, but will slightly slope towards each other due to loose fit on the shaft, or a worn input bushing or bearing, etc. I've mostly seen it on the 2-3 slider gear.

My 1949 Chevy 1 1/2 ton truck will walk it's way out of 1st gear (granny gear) after about 100 feet, but I never drive that far in low gear, and have never removed the ****** to investigate the problem.
 
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