H55F Disassembly with home made SST (1 Viewer)

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rover67

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I thought I'd post up. Some of the pictures are not great since I had to use a phone camera, but hopefully it gets the idea across...

As far as the steps to take this thing apart, I'd recommend the FSM. I could detail it all, but if you are going to be taking an H55f apart you should have an FSM handy anyways. These will be most of the steps that I had to use the pullers I made. I did take some "shortcuts" like using a brass drift for a few of the steps where another puller would have been ideal.

first steps are to take the top cover off, then remove the front bearing retainer and the circlips on the bearing.. The layshaft bearing up front is what comes out first. I noticed that both layshaft bearings had to be out to give the input shaft enough space to come out.
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next bit is the puller i made for the front layshaft bearing. it worked really well.

Then I went to pull the rear layshaft bearing.... my puller was too short. I modified the legs to make it work for hopefully the rest of the stuff. pic shows it setup to pull the bearing. one of the important pieces for the whole setup was the strap around both puller legs with the bolt. That part keeps the puller legs tight against the bearing. The bearing retainer for the rear mainshaft bearing has to come off to let the layshaft bearing slide out. I also removed the circlips on the layshaft bearing.
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here is the rear layshaft bearing out..

Next step is the input shaft. I made an adapter piece for my slap hammer that has a collet on it. the collet grips the input shaft. This worked really well. It only took a few taps to get the bearing out
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Here is a pic of the input shaft pulled out....

one thing to note is that there are 17 needle bearings in it... they all fall out when you pull the shaft. I spent a while digging them all out of the bottom of the tranny.

also, I forgot to mention that to pull the rear layshaft bearing, the 5th gear parts had to come off of it. Busting the nut loose was easy with the impact wrench....

I was able to use a brass drift on the center of the shaft and hit the shaft through the gear assembly. Supporting the back of the gear with a piece of wood and hitting the shaft carefully got it off in a relatively easy fashion. below are a few pics of that process...
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So next came the bearing on the back of the mainshaft, along with the spacer and the output gear for 5th. I was able to use the puller I made for the layshaft bearings on this mainshaft rear bearing and on the gear. The bearing was on there TIGHT.... but the gear came right off. I didn't even use a wrench on the puller, I just spun the threaded rod with my hand. The little spacer sleeve slid right off.
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last part for tonight was trying to pull the center bearing on the main shaft. I had to make a new strap that fit around the thick main shaft. Anywho, I started to use the same puller again with the new strap, but the shaft was just getting pressed out of the center of the bearing since the shaft was no longer supported on the front. I'll have to figure that one out tomorrow or maybe next week..

anyways, enjoy.. and sorry for the crappy pics and lack of detail. I am trying to get it all written down in a hurry.
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How did you form the jaws on you pullers
Bench grinder or a mill?
Did you retemper the metal?
What grade bolt used 8?

Nice work my attempts have failed so far my jaws keep sheering off...I did not have tempered steel to work with I should have torched them and a quick quench to harden.

If you ever come to Canada bring your tools along and we will try them on my trans.... for the last month I just keep staring at my trany hoping the front counter bearing will just drop out ...no luck so far.
 
Nice work with the pullers.... They look professional!! I made some similar ones a while ago and that rear mainshaft was a pita to remove. To help with your problem of the shaft being pressed out use a puller as per the FSM pic. I came across the same problem and once I put the puller on the front..... Wola!!! Out she came.
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Nice tool fabrication. :cheers:

Let me know if you need a hand with anything over the weekend. I'll just be putting in a new starter.
 
I used grade 8 bolts and an angle grinder to make the jaws...

I went really slowly and cooled them in water as I went. if they got warm to the touch I stuck them in water. It was a long process..

I also tried to keep the jaws as thick as possible by grinding the minimum off and trial fitting them over and over again. Also, I think one of the keys is to have the outer strap piece like the FSM shows to keep the jaws held tightly to the bearing.

ivy4x4, I saw how you were supposed to support the front of the mainshaft in the FSM this morning... thanks for posting that up. Also this morning before work I was looking at it and I think it'll be easy to do by sticking a piece of steel inside the case and letting that main shaft press up against it. Last night I started tightening the puller on that center mainshaft case bearing and it was really hard to move at first but finally it went. I think it is a tight press on that mainshaft. I'll try the steel trick tonight or this weekend.

Bruce, I am going out of town on saturday, so if I can't get to it tonight it'll move to sunday. Thanks for the offer to come help :cheers:

How did you form the jaws on you pullers
Bench grinder or a mill?
Did you retemper the metal?
What grade bolt used 8?
 
Nice work with the pullers.... They look professional!! I made some similar ones a while ago and that rear mainshaft was a pita to remove. To help with your problem of the shaft being pressed out use a puller as per the FSM pic. I came across the same problem and once I put the puller on the front..... Wola!!! Out she came.


BTW you were my inspiration! Thanks!
 
Thank you.. i have a dead H55 on the shelf i need to work on and determine if the output shaft matches an output on a long h42.. This shows me how to take it apart..
 
Very nice - A writeup like this is long overdue. Thanks.
 
H55f

Hi Mike,

Nice job on the pullers. Inspired to make some now. Looked at a puller set which picks up in the ball race, does many different size bearings. the cost is pretty high for casual use. $800 Don't know why you have to support the front of the main shaft when pulling the back bearing? I always just stand the trans on it's end and let the main shaft hang down and gravity seems to keep it in line. A couple of pieces of wood help as well. Why worry about the 17 rollers when you are taking the whole trans apart? They are in the bottom of the case and you will find them when everything is nearly out anyway. It would be important of you where just changing the front input bearing.
https://forum.ih8mud.com/40-55-series-tech/324980-help-4-speed-trouble-shooting.html see post 15
Nice job on the pullers, they make a difficult job a lot easier. If you search H55f you will find a post about pulling the bearings the outback style. Works but not as neat as yours. Also a post regarding the countershaft journal repair on the cheap.

Thanks for posting
jb
 

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