stupid 915 tranny question...

[fanaudical]

I purchased my project in a non-running condition and have zero drive time with the transmission to ascertain condition. The transmission is now out of the car along with the motor.

Are there any "easy" methods to determine if the transmission is in decent shape without disassembly?

[yelcab1]

You know the saying, don't judge a book by its cover?

Well, don't judge a transmission by looking at its cover. Open it up.

[john walker's workshop]

no way to tell. a clean drainplug magnet can shed some hope though.

[arbita1]

I had bought a used (core) transmission to rebuild which supposedly just needed a new 2nd gear syncro. This thing was destroyed inside. Looked fine from the outside though.

[Peter Zimmermann]

Originally Posted by fanaudical

I purchased my project in a non-running condition and have zero drive time with the transmission to ascertain condition. The transmission is now out of the car along with the motor.

Are there any "easy" methods to determine if the transmission is in decent shape without disassembly?

It's not a be-all, tell-all, but if you remove the shift fork plate (on the bottom of the trans), held in place with four 8mm (13mm wrench size) nuts, you can get a glimpse of some pretty important parts. You can't see 5th or R, and you can't see the diff, but by slowly rotating the M/S you can get a fair idea how bad it might be.

[KTL]

To Peter's point about inspection, the side cover is not hard to take off either. Remove the axle flange by counterholding flange and removing the center bolt. Flange slides right out. Take the perimeter nuts off the side cover in a diagonal fashion and gently pry it off (with a non-damaging tool- no gouging of the case or cover surfaces!) at opposing sides, going around and around the edge of the cover. Once you get the o-ring to let go, the cover will pop off and you'll see the differential inside the final drive housing. You can remove the diff and get a closer look at the ring gear and pinion gear.

[fanaudical]

Thanks for the advice.

I did drain the fluid prior to dropping the engine and trans; the plug looked relatively clean. No "big" pieces were present, and only a light coating of fine metallic stuff. I'll drop the bottom access plate this weekend and investigate further.

[Peter Zimmermann]

fan, this is a must-read site if you're planning to do something with the trans yourself!

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