Can't Shift Into First

[rcecale]

The last pics of the evening:



What would these rub marks be an indication of?


Randy

[john walker's workshop]

take off the fork and shift sleeve. slide off the reverse idler and it's bearings. punch out the roll-pin and remove the castle nut. remove the nut on the pinion shaft. remove the hub under the big nut, and then 5th gear. remove the small gear on the mainshaft, and wiggle off the gear under it along with the shaft. shaft and gear come off together. now you can unbolt the intermediate housing and remove it. remove the square plate on the side of it first. then you can see the rest of the gears.

[rcecale]

John,

I think I have your instructions worked out. Can you take a look at this pic and lemme know if I got it right. Basically, it looks like everything here comes off...makes sense. I guess these are the nuts I'm gonna use my impact wrench on to bust them loose?


Randy

[rcecale]

Been looking at how filthy the engine actually is and was wondering what might be the easiest way to get it cleaned up. I've thought about spraying it down with a foaming engine cleaner and the hosing it off, but I don't think I should be washing all the grease and grime down the city drain systems...not to mention what all that water might do if it got into the wrong places.

Randy

[ischmitz]

Randy,

Now we get down to business, hm. Cool. I have used big Zip ties to make sure the order of things doesn't get screwed up. When you take a gear (or hub or anything) and its bearings and washers off use a zip tie through them and then pack it into ziplock bags. Also make sure the little thrust bearinngs come off in one piece. Their cases are fragile and they tend to stick to the thrust washers. Don't let them drop onto the dirty floor.

If I remember correctly only take the 5th/rev shift fork off the rod. It's easy to adjust later without special tools. Later for 1st/2nd and 3rd/4th forks do not loosen the bolts that hold the forks on their rods.

The castelated nut and the big nut are sometimes a bear to get off. You can put the transmission into reverse and a forward gear at the same time to lock it. For that you need to use a screwdriver through the access cover and push one of the shift rods until it engages. You either need an air impact wrench or a huge breaker bar to get the job done. If you have more than one guy that helps. These nuts are on there with more than 100 ft/lbs.

Once you get to the point of taking the intermediate housing off you are almost there. Loosen the M10 nuts on the bearing retainer plates and then you can take the entire package (input shaft, output shaft two shift rods and forks out as one unit. For this put it into 3rd, then wrap a shop towel around everything and genlty wiggle it free. The shift rods have spring loaded detend pins acting on them. That's what you have to wiggle against.

Ingo

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

Randy, make sure you learn the vocab for the tranny parts and things will be much easier. The 5th and reverse gears are the easiest to take off once you either impact them off or lock the tranny into 2 gears at once. Once you get your engine stand, then you'll be able to torque them at will.

Once those gears are off and you have the nuts off of the gear housing, DONT pry it off! Use a rubber mallet around until the gasket gives and it will pull right off. You dont want to crack or deform the mating surface of the gear housing, so dont pry anything.

Once you have that done and you pull out the gear stacks (more details are needed for this or read the Bently), dont try to pry off any of the bearing until you read a bit more on how to do them. There are good ways to remove the bearnings without damaging them. They cost hundreds to replace, so be careful with them.

I'm just mentioning these gotchas before you get too far ahead and maybe goof. Good advice from Ingo about tie wraps and keeping things in order. I put all my parts on newspaper on a big table in the garage.

Good luck and remember there's no stoopid question regarding this tranny rebuild! (ask me how I know)

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

Have you gotten the gasket kit yet? You may want to get that early so you can "paint" the copper gasket spray onto those thin gaskets and have it dry before handling it. In addition to spraying the gaskets with copper gasket spray, I also used the Locktite (574?) and an acid brush to lightly coat the surfaces of the gear housing on reassembly. So you may want to get some of that too.

[john walker's workshop]

when you get to rubber hammer time on the center housing, DO NOT beat on the protruding ear at the rear of the housing, as it can be broken off.

[rcecale]

Not a lot of progress tonight. I did manage to get the tranny mounted on an engine stand. Matt, you were sooo right! It's gonna be a lot easier to work on while on the stand.

One thing I noticed while studying how everything was set up is the roll pin on the shift sleeve. It sticks out about 1/2 inch. It does go all the way through the sleeve, but, like I said, it sticks out. You can even see it in a few of the pics above. Is this normal?

Randy

[john walker's workshop]

the roll-pin works the backup light switch. no need to mess with it. when you get to the point of removing the gears/shafts, it's easier to do it with the bellhousing down, rather than horizontal on a stand. same goes for reassembly.

[rcecale]

So, in reality, maybe I didn't need the engine stand after all. And after I went through all the trouble of hanging it myself.

Anyway, John, are you saying that roll pin does NOT have to come out? Do I just need to remove that bolt attaching the fork, and the whole thing comes out?

Randy

[john walker's workshop]

bolt out, pull off fork and sleeve together. for reassembly purposes, and because you might err on reassembly, perish the thought, measure and record the amount of shaft protruding from the fork. if the fork is reassembled too far out on the shaft, the outer teeth on the sleeve will contact the teeth on the reverse idler and you will have to pull the trans again and correct the problem. the last pic shows reverse engaged. the sleeve is moved inward toward the housing to get into neutral. check it out now to see how much clearance is between the two sets of teeth for future reference. remember that i said this!

[rcecale]

Well...if I were progressing any slower, I'd be putting it back together!

Got the fork and the shift sleeve off, quite painlessly, I might add. Didn't have to remove the bolt at all, it just popped right out. I actually played with it a bit, moving it from reverse to neutral. there was a gap of about 1/16th of an inch clearance between the two gears you mentioned. (I'm recording this here for future reference) I also removed it and re-installed it a few times, just to get the feel of things.

Also removed the reverse idler and the bearings. Tied it all together and have it sitting in a plastic bag to keep it clean.

Should have the 43mm and 27mm sockets tomorrow, so I should be able to actually make some progress.

I did another search on transmission rebuild and found a link to Markesq's tech article on rebuilding. A ton of pics, and it seems to be well written. Following along with that as well as my other sources. Sometimes it gets a bit confusing, but I think if I continue to go slow and methodical and of course heed all the advice here, I should be able to work through this with hardly a problem.



Randy

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

Very nice Randy, the gear housing is next! Take lots of high-res pics so you can figure out where things go at which steps...helped me alot.

[rcecale]

Thanks, Matt!!!

I'm hoping thes pics will come in handy when it does come time for putting it back together.

I've been kinda playing with all the parts that I've taken off just so I can get the feel of how it's supposed to go back together. I'm hoping to be able to "remember" putting it all together....

Keep the advice coming, I'm reading and heeding it all!

Randy

[GSpreeman]

Dang. I'll probably need to do the same at some point during the summer. Until I saw this post I was enthused. Now, I'm just queezy.

[rcecale]

GSpreeman,

Don't be queezy! I was actually feeling the same way before I started this job, but with the help of everybody here, it's actually coming along.

I don't have a lot of automobile experience, I mean, I've changed out the heads on a 79 Camaro, and also on a 75 Chevy Luv...and also swapped out a few transmissions, so this is the most involved undertaking I've ever done. I worked on military aircraft for 20 years in the Corps, so I'm not inexperienced with the use of tools.

John Walker, Ingo, Matt, Grady, my neighbors, Jay and Josh, and everyone else that's posted here have all been a big help. They all have given great advice and have given it freely...so I'm pretty confident it will turn out a success. GO FOR IT!!!

Another thing to do is scour this board for "Transmission Rebuild" threads. I found one yesterday that had a link to an article Marcesq wrote. I printed the article, but I'll post a link to it later so you can read it. I believe Red Beard is going to have an article out soon as well. This board is the best source of information you'll find on this subject, IMHO!

Randy

edit: Here is the link to the article.

[ischmitz]

Uhuum Randy,

I hope you have access to a big old impact wrench for the two nuts.

If you do the breaker bar method you need to be able to prevent both the input and the output shaft from rotating. You do this by either locking the transmission into two gears (one of them is reverse) or using a special factory tool.

Some have tried to use an old clutch disk instead or other means. One website How NOT to rebuild A Porsche 915 is by far the funniest thing I ever read on this subject.

Ingo

[UTKarmann_Ghia]

Regardless of how you take it off, you'll need to be able to lock the tranny in 2 gears to get it back on. I tried variations of the clutch disc with no luck. Your best bet is to lock the tranny into the 2 gears at once while it's on your engine stand. Worked like a charm for me.

[rcecale]

Ingo, yes indeed, I DO have an impact wrench

And I found that page "How not to rebuild a 915" just yesterday. I'm still laughing pretty hard at it. I only wish they would have written about the complete job...hopefully I won't be able to add my own personal experience to it!

Anyway, got the impact wrench and a 27mm socket. Still haven't been able to locate the 43mm, but I'm still looking. I read in Wayne's book (I believe) that I'll also need a 30mm...got that one too...nobody seems to carry something as big as a 43...Sears, Home Depot, NAPA....none of the Parts chains...but I'm still looking.

Randy