Another Sad Transaxle story...

[mikepellegrini]

I was driving home from work in my 83 NA a few days ago and while on the freeway, I noticed a sudden change in the whine from my transaxle - it's always been kinda noisy, but this was a sudden change where it was now really whining.

I got off the freeway and took side streets home, slowly. I noticed a rumbling now, as well, coming from the trans. Sounds like gears not properly meshed - or maybe one of the gears has a tooth missing.

I've prepared for this - I got a new trans some time ago - only has 79,000 on it (from another 83).

I got the whole thing installed today and here is the problem: the clamping collar won't quite fit - the bolt indents in the shafts just don't line up so you can get both bolts in to the collar. You bolt one side in, the other side's maybe 1/8" short.

I've tried prying (with one bolt in, but loose) and the collar won't budge - not quite true - it slides almost 1/4" the wrong way - it just won't slide the way I need it to.

The only thing I can figure is that my old trans had more end-play in the input shaft - the shaft pulled out enough so the coupler could be bolted on.

The trans is bolted to the bellhousing with all the bolts properly torqued so it's not a question of the trans/bellhousing being properly mated.

What I figure to do is to slide the clamping collar back onto the trans side, then with a die grinder, grind the ends off some of the splines on the torque tube shaft end - to enlarge the bolt indent. I have a die grinder with a long skinny tool that will fit up in the TT side hole.

That sound reasonable or is there some easier way I've missed?

I thought about drilling it out (with the coupler in-place) but discarded that because I'm afraid of screwing up the threads in the coupler.

I haven't tried bolting it on on the TT side, then prying back, to get more end-play out of the TT shaft.

[Techno Duck]

Loosen the bolts on the trans to torque tube bell housing and give it another shot... have someone rock the transmission around a little to help. It can be a bear to get back on.. and is even worse to get off if it is not the first thing done. This has worked for me in the past.. give it a shot.

[mikepellegrini]

No, I got the coupler back on covering both shafts - it's just the distance between the two shafts is maybe 1/8" too much, so the bolt indents don't line up for the clamping sleeve.

[944 Ecology]

Mike, you have the right idea. The driveshaft in the tt will move front to rear so you can make those indentations line up.

First remove both bolts, then line up the bolthole with the indent in the tt. insert and tighten the bolt. Then, use a large screwdriver or prybar to move the coupler frontwards or backwards until the bolthole lines up with the indent in the input shaft of the trans. Insert the second bolt and tighten it. Voila!

The idea is that the trans input shaft needs to be in its place, without pressure on the bearings that locate it. Pressure like that can cause premature failure...

[mikepellegrini]

Hey, thanks, I'll try it tomorrow AM.

[HondaDustR]

A crowbar is probably the best choice. I had to heave on mine pretty good with one to get it to move.

[mikepellegrini]

Naw. it didn't work.

I bolted on the TT end, then absolutely hauled backwards on the coupler with a pickle fork. As far as I could see looking in the hole, it looked lined up on the trans end. So I cautiously put in a bolt and turned it by hand until I thought I had a few threads - it looked good - from the depth, it looked like it was well into the far side of the coupler.

So I put a rachet wrench on it and began turning. It went well till it was maybe 1/4 from the end then stopped going in - obviously stripped.

I backed it out with an air rachet - the bolt is totally toasted.



Turning the drive shaft around, the threads in the coupler look okay - pristine.

I'm not sure exactly how I did this. I mean, looking at the portion that's stripped, it must have been rubbing against the splines on the shaft, but the end of the bolt where it would have been threaded into the bolt on the coupler is relatively un-touched and should have continued pulling the bolt in, no matter what happened to the threads on the center part of the bolt - you'd think.

I'll buy a couple new bolts tomorrow (luckily, there's a place in town that has them) and try again, in case the threads were too messed up to begin with (they were about as you see them on the end - servicable, but not great)

If that doesn't work, what I'm gonna do is take the trans back off and knock the spot weld off the coupler so the end floats.

We did the trans in my kid's 951 a couple weeks ago and one end of the coupler on that was loose (the spot weld was broken). I thought it was kinda weird at the time, but it really made it easy getting the coupler lined up when we put it back together.

[944 Ecology]

Do not knock the spot weld on your coupler.... two reasons: 1) Those things are balanced at the factory. 2) the bolt has to go through a notch in the coupler... hidden by the flange.

So, get some new bolts and try again. If that doesn't work, get a new coupler...

If you can't do it right, wait until you can do it right.

[HondaDustR]

what if you hammer on the prybar? I think that's what I also did now that I think about it. I remember really trying to fudge stuff as far apart as possible so there was room for the tranny to come far enough back, which seemed to force the shaft forward. I think what I did was slide the coupler onto the drive shaft and bolted it just to the driveshaft, then got a crowbar prying against the edge of the clamp and the bellhousing and beat on it until it came far enough out to line up with the tranny input shaft. Impact may be what's needed to move it. I think I actually may have tried unsuccessfully just pulling on the bar which didn't budge anything. This part was, by far, the most puzzling and frustrating part of the job, but it should all fit back together if it was correctly fitting beforehand.

[mikepellegrini]

I haven't actually tried beating on it, but I s'pose that's next. I had a 2' long pickle fork I was using to pry on it against the bellhousing - I used quite a bit of force.

This transaxle is new to the car (the old one is toast). I'm using my old clamping sleeve.

This is the third time I've had the trans out in this car - 1st time to repair the gas tank, 2nd time for a clutch job and now this. It's always been a PITA to align the clamping sleeve, but never this bad.

I'll buy brand new bolts tomorrow then beat on it and see if I can get it aligned.

[944 Ecology]

Are you sure that you don't have an extra dowel pin in one of the holes? It can make aligning the two shafts all but impossible.

[mikepellegrini]

There are two dowel pins in the bellhousing - if that's what you're talking about. Both top holes. My old trans had one in the pass side top hole; the new one in the driver's side top hole - so I left both.

But the trans and TT shafts are aligned. I can slide the coupler relatively easily from the TT side to the trans side and back. The shafts are just spaced 1/8" or so too far apart for the bolt-indents in the shafts to line up with the bolt-holes in the clamping collar.

The trans and TT bellhousings are perfectly mated and torqued down to spec. There is no gap in-between.

[golfduke]

Call it half assed or not, but I had nothing but issues with the POS thread-in bolts on the driveshaft coupler. I bored out the threads and just used an equally sized Grade 8 hex bolt w/locknut, essentially through-bolting the coupler on. With a stubby box wrench and ratchet, you can get to both ends without too much difficulty.

Oh, and I agree with everyone else. The Driveshaft tends to want to "stick" into the carrier bearing as well as the guide bearings in the torque tube. It takes quite a bit of effort to move it back. Like, 3lb sledge and a 2' prybar effort. Don't be afraid to give her hell.

[bazar01]

You might be off by one tooth on the spline which caused the bolt to get stripped. Make sure the TT shaft indentation lines up perpendicular to the coupler slit.

[mikepellegrini]

Got it. I banged and banged on the sleeve - actually broke the spot weld (wasn't trying, it just happened).

In the end, I forced a bolt into it - and it worked. Put a lot of pressure on the end of the rachet and just cranked on it.

I wasn't concerned about ruining the bolt, because I'd just bought a half a dozen new ones. The clamp on the trans end (where the spot weld broke) was maybe a 16th farther out.

Whatever, it worked.

It's back together and runs great.

Thanks for all the help.