Transmission Rebuild about to begin

lance leblanc

lance leblanc

Senior Member
My '29 Tudor was a daily driver up to when it was parked in 1985 for no particular reason by its former owner. (My father-in-law) He remembers it running and driving fine at the time he parked it in the garage.

Not being satisfied to just get it back on the road the way it was.
I have sent the engine off for a complete rebuild and disassembled just about 80% of the car thus car.
I plan to rebuild the transmission myself. Upon inspection of the transmission gears I see no evidence of any damage but then again I really dont know what I'm looking for other than the obvious.
But I don't want to buy a bunch of parts I don't need.
I figure that replacing the bearings are a must. Is there any advise out there you would give a man who has never built a transmission before?

I have the model A shop manual (Clutch and Tranmisson Assembly) and a experienced freind who will be helping with the rebuild. I need to place my parts order this week.

Any advise is appreciated.

Lance
 
I did not re-build my own trans., this time (my hands shake too much), but had a well known guy do it for me. He put 90W gear oil in it and it grinds bad! Put the right oil in and you will be fine, I did one a few years ago and remember thinking how easy it was. Good Luck!
 
Is there a way to judge the condition of the gears by visual inspection ?

Assuming no rust pits, galling, cracks, chips, or missing teeth, are there visual clues as to whether a given gear will run noisy and should be replaced ?

It would sure stink to pull down a ******, replace the bearings and gaskets, put it back in, and find the gears were worn-out and noisy...

I have two spare trannies, plus the noisy one in my '28 (second really grumbles ).

Any advice appreciated.

SC Frank
 
The gears were broached. This leaves the parallel lines across the face.
If the gear teeth are smooth, shiny then they are worn.

The engagement face should have a nose that allows a smooth engagement.

The sliding gear shaft should not have a noticeable ( by finger nail) ridge at the ends of travel for the sliding gears. The fit to the spline shaft should be measured to know the actual wear. There is a test that says take some oil and put it on the shaft and the gear should slide slowly. I had some gears that measured factory on a spline shaft that was factory and they slide fast with oil.

Look at the pilot bearing, well measure the pilot bearing nose and check against specs.

If you do not have inside and outside mics that are known to be accurate to check measurements then you will never be sure of the condition.

Put new bearing in the shafts. I inspected the used bearings that felt good. That is I cleaned them and rolled them feeling for problems. I put them under a light with a magnifying glass and found some area that were failing. They might last a long time, but I am restoring the car.

As always the devil is in the details. Sorry I do not have dimensions handy my books are scattered about and I am heading to bed.
 
I guess to shorten my question... Is only changing the bearings and the gaskets acceptable by any standards of reason? I dread the thought of regret.
I plan on using the 600wt oil that is suggested.
 
lance leblanc said:
I guess to shorten my question... Is only changing the bearings and the gaskets acceptable by any standards of reason? I dread the thought of regret.
I plan on using the 600wt oil that is suggested.
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I think Kurt offered some good things too look for, in terms of contact faces being worn smooth and shiny, ridges worn across the splines on sliding shafts, galling / pitting / bluing on the pilot nose of the output shaft, etc.

While noisy gears are not the end of the world, pulling / installing the ****** in these beasts is enough of a pain that one would certainly not want to have to do it a second time... :confused:

( One design feature where I believe Chevy had the edge: a slip-joint at the front of the torque-tube, that allowed access to the U-joint, as well as ****** removal w/o dropping the rear or pulling the engine.)
 
Having been through it, I would say close inspection to parts and tolerances is a must. That does not preclude the possibility your trans could be in excellent shape. Good common sense and good used parts are fine to use. I would even reuse Ford bearings if they are in good shape and tight. Just because its old does not mean its worn out. One good thing, if you did have to do it at a later date, it's not that difficult to R&R one.
 
If the gears and shafts are good then just replacing bearings and gaskets would be just fine. Replacing a lot of the gears / shafts etc... can certainly put a dent in the pocket book. If possible take a few good pics and post them. I'm sure some here could let you know which direction you might want to go by taking a look.
 
I bought a grungy looking trans at a swap meet for $5 not long ago,thinking the case should be worth that if the guts were shot.I took it all apart & it was like new inside-even the brgs were good.I installed it in my S/W sedan & its quiet-for straight-cut gears & doesnt jump out off high gear.I have found that if you can see a bit of wear on the gears,they will be a bit noisier than they should be but will still last for many years.On my 1st A,low was very noisy and when I checked it out, the teeth were almost as thin as a knife blade.By using low just enough to get into 2nd it was still working when I sold the car 10,000 miles later.
 
In addition to all the above good advice, check the inner bearing surface on the input shaft, and the cluster gear. I used the cluster gear shaft and reverse idler gear shafts with the o-ring to reduce oil leakage. I used the sealed bearings and removed a seal from the side nearest the inside of the case. And I used shortened 1/2 inch copper pipe end caps to seal the ends of the shift rail holes in the bell housing to keep the transmission fluid from leaking into the bell housing.
 
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great advise above!

it may seen obvious but be sure to check the oil for metallic chips of any sort... also be super sure to install the bearing grease cup between the transmission and drive line housing flange. I pulled apart a transmission that did not have this installed and the drive shaft pressed up so hard against the trans output shaft that it twisted the bearings.

I rebuilt that transmission (replacing the bearings and gaskets only) using only the Snyders catalog as a reference... They are pretty simple and you should have no problems.
 
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My ****** sounded like a cement mixer fill with nuts and bolts. Every part inside looked like NOS except for the bearing between the input and output shafts. It had a few bad rollers, and that's the only part I replaced. I never replace any good original parts, including bearings.

The cluster gear shaft should be removed and installed from the front of the case.
 
In a case like this I try to get the engine running enough that I can shift and drive it to determine ****** noise and rear-end noise before I tear everything apart. Sometimes less is more. Original Henry parts sometimes can't be beat, don't fix'em if they ain't broke. Sometimes people are throwing away parts that are better than what they are putting in new.
 
tbirdtbird said:
In a case like this I try to get the engine running enough that I can shift and drive it to determine ****** noise and rear-end noise before I tear everything apart. Sometimes less is more. Original Henry parts sometimes can't be beat, don't fix'em if they ain't broke. Sometimes people are throwing away parts that are better than what they are putting in new.
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I agree completely here... I rebuilt the gas gauge a while ago and the available parts could have come out of a cracker jack box compared to the original equipment.
 
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