Well Hello There Fellow Technicians And Hivers!
It has been a long time since I've gotten a 5 Speed Manual Ford Transmission! Too long in-fact! I feared I might have forgotten how to tear it apart, I almost did though!
It's a laborious task to say the very least, compared to most manual build like the Nissan. The Nissan just pulls apart, you barely even need a hammer for them. The Ford's well with those you need a press.
It is a bit of a hazey one and there are lots of things to do so forgive me if I happen to miss a step or two but after all this is really not suppose to be a guide or a how to.
Well there she is!
I have to admit, I don't like them very much. It's somewhat of a love hate relationship if one can call that? I like them because it has a little effort behind the tearing down but then again I don't like them for the effort behind the tear down.
It's quick but also not, I don't know perhaps I just can't make up my mind!
Notice how very clean the table is before I started the tear down?
Yeah, most would say oh but just use a hammer! Why do we always have to be fancy like.
Well. Sure Billy because these aren't the slums, here we do it proper!
The puller that was bought solely for use on the Ford transmissions, both manual and automatic and we rarely use it at all these days. Quite odd since we mostly worked on Fords now we mostly work on Volkswagen and Mercedes.
Funny how things shift without one even taking notice of it.
After I removed the bit nut holding the tail flange in place the only thing left to do was give it a little shock with the hammer and then pull it off.
But Why Is It Fun?
Yeahp!
I've barely even started and I'm already spilling out oil like it's going out of style here!
To tell you the truth I quite enjoy tearing open the transmission and seeing the oil come pouring out! Don't even ask me why I just do and even I find it somewhat weird!
Now before we can proceed with this teardown there are a few things we need to remember to remove.
I sometimes wonder how people build these in there back yards, I mean it's one of two things. You are either brave or stupid. What I'm thinking about when I say this is that if you've never done a tear down on one of these how would you know if you are doing it correct?
Because there are things that need to be removed before certain parts can come out of place and not knowing this and going ahead beating it with a hammer can give you a few headaches by breaking things.
I suppose they just quote it in with all the rest.
Seals are the one thing of this build and when assembling the transmission you have to be so sure that you didn't forget something before fitting those new seals in, because if you need to open it up you have to break the seals again.
There is no other way of opening it up.
Oh The Irony Of Things.
Now most would think the seal would be the easy part to remove given if it was put in a category alongside a cir-clip and a big bolt.
Nope.
Those seals are pesky little things and they can stick in there, I think the main thing is we don't really want to hurt the surfaces on which the seals run because that would cause oil leaks in the long run. Small at first and then it'll grow for sure.
Let The Ripping Begin.
Okay so once I've removed the bolt and the cir-clip on the front bearing and input shaft I was free to start splitting the casings.
This was a lot harder than I first thought it would be when I did it for the first time, see that's why I'm wondering how people do these things without prior knowledge of it.
These Fords are built a little different though, they only have two sections compared to most manufacturers who actually have three and sometimes four sections. They were smart, they built the sandwhich plate internally and the bell-housing is part of the front casing.
Therefor only two parts of a whole.
This is where the hammering starts.
Believe me when I say you wont be getting those casings pried apart with tyre levers or any sort of lever. No use in trying to hammer them off as-well.
What does work is hammering it from the front, one hit on the input shaft and one hit on the counter-shaft. What I did do with the counter-shaft where I removed the bolt I got myself a piece a=of hardened steel and inserted it into the threading of the shaft in order not to damage the thread it-self.
All you do then is give each a hit until it starts moving backwards, the goal is to get the shafts out of the bearings.
Sheesh, Hammering On And On!
Well, shit. Finally!
Sometimes they can be a real pain in the ass and more than often you think that it'll never slip out from the other casing.
When that happens.
Just hit harder and harder.
The Rest A Hammer Would Be Too Light For!
We still have some tearing down ahead of us so don't get too excited here! We can see the guts but we still need to find the heart!
What we're going to do with this now is fit it into the press and give her some pure force until she gives in. Oh and she doesn't budge easily though!
There is one thing though!
See that little selector shaft over there? You've got one of two options or you can do both. You can either make sure it is selected into neutral so that the link can just slide out of there or you can unbolt the link guide from the outside of the casing.
Or both, if you wish.
I was too quick to speak.
We have to remove the dell pins as well before we can press her out.
One thing that we don't want is a broken casing, that would be very problematic. We have a lot of them but why waste and break? Going down that river we wont have much left for very long ey!
Don't loose them though.
They are very crucial when rebuilding the transmission.
They are what is aligning the two casings with each other and when they aren't fitted the gears wont mesh right with each other and it's not something that you'll pick up straight away too unless it's very off.
More than likely you'll have a comeback in the shop within a few months.
Into The Press We Go!
The most crucial part here is protecting your fingers and your eyes!
Your eyes needs those safety goggles, always! JUST DO IT! You never know if a piece of metal will splinter away and shoot straight into your eye. Well then you'll be a blind fucker in the one ey!
Fingers, well keep them away! Far away when dealing with a press. Bossman had an incident the other where he almost lost his thumb! I've never seen a big man turn as white as he did!
And The Rest Is History!
Once they are pressed out from the casing the only thing you need to worry about is catching the parts!
Oh that is tricky!
I did say keep your hands away right! Well now you need them, the trick is placing your hands in a way that if something goes wrong it wont get caught in between two pieces of metal... Easy to let it slip from the mind though!
All that is left is to give the customer his strip and quote now...
By The Looks Of It.
Taking a quick look at the parts before I washed them, so it really is just a quick glance but so far it only looks like a bearing replacement job... Nothing major except for the fact that we had to tear down the whole transmission for that.
I have to say the way this transmission sounded when it was test driven, I thought that this would be the most punished transmission I have ever seen and it is very far from that!
Dated 20/07/2023
Take note this is not a how to guide, merely myself talking about the work I do and my thoughts around certain things.
To everyone who made it this far into my post Thank you for the read and the support.
If you found this entertaining or educational please consider a re-blog and up-vote.
Most of all please leave a input in the comments below, whether is good or bad critic I would like to know, whether its your opinion or your way of doing things in a different manner I would like.
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