Breaking free old frozen transmissions: Tricks?

Kilroy

Kilroy

Junior Member
I have this 49 Merc transmission that I'd like to see what I can salvage from it... It didn't look bad on the outside but the inside is frozen with some combination of rust and old grease. It's been soaking in penetrating oil and Posphoric acid in rotation for a couple days now and it's getting pretty clean inside, but unless it gets to where I can rotate the gears etc, it's probably all just wasted effort, so I'm starting to think maybe I've lost this one...

Are there any tricks to getting these old trans free enough to break apart? Take it to get hot tanked? Some chemical I haven't thought of? Or just a crap ton of torching? Can you just dump the whole thing is a tub and electrolysis its butt?

This one has an overdrive attached and I'd really like to get that off so I can attack both separately, but it won't budge...
 
I have always drained the grease and soaked them in diesel oil. Give it more time to soak, like a week or more.
 
Get as much grease and oil out of it as you can and then fill it with Evaporust or similar to attack the rust. Maybe a couple of two or three day soaks.
 
The other thing that will help would be to put some sort of torque on the input shaft and/or output shaft while it is soaking. You would need to make up something with a cheater bar and a weight or similar and have the ****** firmly in a large vice. On frozen engines, I have found that consistent pressure helps the motor free up a little easier. Would think the same would hold true for a transmission.
 
I’ve soaked them and then used a long brass drift and tap the gears back and forth till they free up.
 
I would not say acetone and ATF works well. I would say,”works Better than anything else”.
As SLow Forty says, “mix it 50/50”. It tends to separate so shake it up every few hours.
Add some MEK to the mix if you have some. Methyl Ethel Keatone.
 
Water works better than any penetrating oil, put the ****** in a drum of water and leave it to soak , 3 to 4 weeks if rust is not too bad, but up to 3 months if really rusted solid. The rust is caused by water and water will dissolve the rust and penetrate better than anything else on earth. I have used this method on several motors, the latest was a Model A that had sat in the rain for 10 years with no spark plugs in the head, it took 6 weeks and some gentle persuasion with a 4lb hammer and block of wood. I got all the pistons and valve train out and even got the rings off the pistons without breaking a single ring.
If you don't believe me, try it .
 
always liker ATF and diesel fuel or kerosene, acetone evaporates to fast. acetone is too expensive. and kerosene, a small amount spreads everywhere
 
Aarongriffey said:
I would not say acetone and ATF works well. I would say,”works Better than anything else”.
As SLow Forty says, “mix it 50/50”. It tends to separate so shake it up every few hours.
Add some MEK to the mix if you have some. Methyl Ethel Keatone.
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===============================================


I've been experimenting with acetone/trans fluid 50-50 mix for over
two years now.
I've had this RUSTY nut/bolt that holds two pieces of trailer hitch
metal together, did I mention it's RUSTY. :eek:

For the first couple months or more, I always kept adding the acetone
a couple times a day, because it does evaporate very fast.
Every few days, I would take the nut/bolt out and try to get it loose
with 1/2 inch drive tools, after a couple months, that got REAL OLD.

Screw the acetone, what a joke... So, for 2 years or more now, it has
been soaking in just the trans fluid. I take it out about once a month
and try the 1/2" drive tools, and still NOT a chance in heck is it budging.

If you are getting rusty stuff loose with a 50-50 mix of that crap. THEN
your stuff is Not really very rusty, and a good penetrating spray would
have worked better for you, and a lot less hassle then the mix crap.

I'm going to experiment with "the soaking it in water trick" for a
month or two, and see how that works, wish me luck. ;):)

Click on pic to Enlarge...
 

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Lanny said:
===============================================


I've been experimenting with acetone/trans fluid 50-50 mix for over
two years now.
I've had this RUSTY nut/bolt that holds two pieces of trailer hitch
metal together, did I mention it's RUSTY. :eek:

For the first couple months or more, I always kept adding the acetone
a couple times a day, because it does evaporate very fast.
Every few days, I would take the nut/bolt out and try to get it loose
with 1/2 inch drive tools, after a couple months, that got REAL OLD.

Screw the acetone, what a joke... So, for 2 years or more now, it has
been soaking in just the trans fluid. I take it out about once a month
and try the 1/2" drive tools, and still NOT a chance in heck is it budging.

If you are getting rusty stuff loose with a 50-50 mix of that crap. THEN
your stuff is Not really very rusty, and a good penetrating spray would
have worked better for you, and a lot less hassle then the mix crap.

I'm going to experiment with "the soaking it in water trick" for a
month or two, and see how that works, wish me luck. ;):)

Click on pic to Enlarge...
Click to expand...

Soaking that in water is just going to make a nice place for a fish to hide... I think I'd be more inclined to see what Molasses does to it. I mean, if you're thinking 2 months anyway.

That said, I don't think 'unscrewing that' is in any kind of realistic future... That looks like no matter how much rust you get off of it, it's still going to be a torch/cut job.

But I bet 2 months in a molasses bath might make it a different color at least.
 
Lanny,

As a last resort, try the soak in Evaporust I suggested earlier. I think you can buy a quart at Advanced Auto or some such for less than $10. That should be more than enough to immerse the rusty part. Just another test procedure. (After soaking it in water, it'll probably need this.):rolleyes:

If it doesn't work, I'll pay for the Evaporust next time I see you.

Denny
 
tubman said:
Lanny,

As a last resort, try the soak in Evaporust I suggested earlier. I think you can buy a quart at Advanced Auto or some such for less than $10. That should be more than enough to immerse the rusty part. Just another test procedure. (After soaking it in water, it'll probably need this.):rolleyes:

If it doesn't work, I'll pay for the Evaporust next time I see you.

Denny
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==============================================


hey Denny, how ya doin...
I used this old very Rusty nut and bolt just for the experiment, to see
if the "50-50 mix" was worth a hoot to free up very rusty stuff. It Isn't.

Here is a picture of a very rusty little hinge that I had placed in the mix
back a couple years ago too. I pounded a screw driver into one end of it
this morning, and as you can see, the little hinge would NOT budge loose.

Click on pix to Enlarge ;)
 

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Kilroy said:
Soaking that in water is just going to make a nice place for a fish to hide... I think I'd be more inclined to see what Molasses does to it. I mean, if you're thinking 2 months anyway.

That said, I don't think 'unscrewing that' is in any kind of realistic future... That looks like no matter how much rust you get off of it, it's still going to be a torch/cut job.

But I bet 2 months in a molasses bath might make it a different color at least.
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===============================================

I said in my post, I was doing an EXPERIMENT.

Why don't you try molasses in your transmission then ?
I've experimented with molasses and that eats into certain metals.
Vinegar works better than molasses, but it sounds like Denny has
been Experimenting with Evaporust, and sounds like it works good.



.
 
Molasses is an acid, and if you let it go too long, it will harm the surface of the metal. There was a thread on the H.A.M.B. a few years back where a guy soaked a block in molasses for an undefined period. When he pulled it out, the whole engine (including the deck) was deeply pitted to the point of being ruined. If you are going to use molasses CHECK IT OFTEN.

I had an old set of Craftsman automatically adjustable pliers (not a vice-grip, but not plain pliers either) that had dropped in a damp corner in my shop for several years. They were a mass of rust and frozen solid. A couple of days in Evaporust and a little 3-in-1 oil and they looked and worked like new (which still isn't very good).

Unlike acids, Evaporust and it's clones will not harm ferrous metal. It's kind of expensive. so I have been trying for years to find out exactly what it is with not luck. It works by chelation which I am not enough of a chemist to fully understand.
 
Lanny said:
===============================================

I said in my post, I was doing an EXPERIMENT.

Why don't you try molasses in your transmission then ?
I've experimented with molasses and that eats into certain metals.
Vinegar works better than molasses, but it sounds like Denny has
been Experimenting with Evaporust, and sounds like it works good.



.
Click to expand...

Because it eats metal... But that wouldn't matter on that bolt and nut because it's so far gone anyway... Hence, why I suggested it...

It seemed like a better EXPERIMENT... Since simple water is pretty obviously not going to have much effect on anything other than surface rust.
 
Denny (tubman), I did some checking on the Evaporust today, and
the store I called said that Evaoprust is a Water-Based product.

They told me that buyers keep coming back with praise for how it works.



.
 
Usually the transmissions have enough old gear lube in them to keep them from rusting up too bad. It must have set out in the weather for too long. The input should turn with the cluster gear if it's in neutral. Both shift arms have to be in mid position. If the thing has overdrive then it may have a problem in the planetary. If that's the case, it will have to come apart to get any final drive movement.

A lot of the gears and the synchronizer are usable in the earlier Ford transmissions if they aren't ruined. The mainshaft is different whether its a standard drive or overdrive since it's the longer open drive type
 
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