Builds Doc's 1978 FJ40 Rebuild (1 Viewer)

[TractorDoc]

Next was the installation of the new rollers to the inner input shaft where it will ride on the output shaft. A good bit of grease helps hold them in place as well as a snug fit. . . I was worried that they would all drop down into the bottom of the transmission case when I went to install the shaft but they slid in fine.

A little tapping with the brass hammer had the input shaft installed in no time. Luckily I did not forget to install the new synchronizer.

Next I moved onto the counter shaft bearings. The front bearing matched up to the original just fine but there was something different about the bearing at the back of the case. It took me a minute to realize the bearing came with a new roller flange on the inside -- it was at this point that I also realized I had not removed the old flange from the counter shaft. I thought I could get away with leaving the old collar/flange on the shaft and just putting a new bearing in place.

I thought that I might be able to get away with using the new bearing on the old collar/flange, but there are some differences between the two in terms of roller/spacer thickness (new = shiny silver, old = goldish tint) so they will not just swap out.

This is where I left things for the night. I figure my options are to reuse the old bearing (last resort -- no point in putting one old bearing back in with everything else new), or try to remove the old collar/flange from the counter shaft WITHOUT having to pull all the pieces back out of the transmission again. I think if I heat it up with the torch I should be able to get it to slide off with what access I have. Stay tuned and we will see what tomorrow brings. . .

 

[TractorDoc]

I entered the shop today after dreaming about different ways I could remove/swap out the back bearing on the counter shaft thru the night. I did not intentionally go to bed with that goal in mind -- but sometimes my mind will focus on a problem until I find a solution for it even while I sleep. At first I thought I could just heat up the collar on the counter shaft and it would pop off. . . not the case. I ended up needing to use a small bearing puller in addition to heating the collar to convince it to come off. It was on there tight!

Once the old collar was off I needed to install the new one. I let the end of the counter shaft cool for a bit and then used my little propane torch to heat up the new collar just enough so it would fit on the counter shaft easily.

I remember when I was at the tractor shop in my younger days my mechanic mentor, Leonard (but we called him Smitty), would do the same thing with bearings to install them. He was in his 70's but I would watch in amazement as he heated the bearing up and in one swift motion picked it up with a welding glove and dropped it elegantly in place. I used the same technique with the collar and it fit on easily with the heat but soon snugged up to the shaft as it cooled. I set the old collar up on end at the base of the transmission to compare the differences between the two.

I was then able to install the new roller bearing and fit it on the counter shaft and into the transmission case. The retaining clip did the job of keeping the bearing on the shaft.

At this point things were looking good, but I found another problem when I went to install the front bearing. (Another post coming).

 

[TractorDoc]

I installed the front bearing, but I found I was not able to advance the bearing far enough on the counter shaft to install the retaining clip.

The only explanation I could come up with was the counter shaft needed to move forward. I sort of confirmed this to myself by looking down into the case to see the counter shaft gear was not centered under the output shaft third gear (red arrow). I know camera angles can make a big difference but I was standing directly over top of both.

The old bearing on the counter shaft did not have the large retaining ring that limited how far forward into the case the bearing could move. . . so I removed the ring and that allowed the counter shaft to move forward enough to center the gears and allow me install the front retaining ring on the counter shaft. Picture of large outside ring removed and rear counter shaft bearing moved forward:

And picture of counter shaft gear better centered up with third gear on the output shaft:

Once all the bearings, shafts, and clips were in place I was able to spin the transmission thru all the gears with no binding; everything rolled over smooth.
There is no instruction manual included with the rebuild kit/new bearings so I hope I have installed everything correctly concerning the rear output shaft bearing. If anyone has any other insight, advice, or knowledge of something I have done wrong by all means jump in and let me know. I am not ashamed of being wrong. . . I would just rather know now than later when the transmission is installed in the truck and I am trying to use it!

 

[TractorDoc]

One more post showing a couple of the bearing retainer/covers and shift quadrant bolted on. I did not take the shifting fork/top cover apart as everything looked good on the inside and all the forks shifted smoothly.

Installation of the input shaft seal in the front cover is a little backwards because you are installing the seal from the backside. Usually you drive the seal on the large face from the "dry" side. . . I found a narrow socket to fit down in the seal to install it from the back. The seal is just sitting on the front cover for the picture and is not yet installed -- wanted to show the orientation.

And finally put enough together to test out shifting thru the gears. . . at bench top speeds we are all good! The plan is to clean up a few more of the cover bolts before final assembly, install the transmission on the engine, and then paint. Just ran out of time before the dinner bell rang today.

I know I post a lot of pictures. . . stopping to take pictures makes me pace myself thru the project and helps me to think things over when I hit a rough spot. I also hope that someone else may find them useful if they run into similar situations good or bad on their project. Just a heads up as I will probably be as detailed on the transfer case go through -- once the transmission is installed and painted that will be next on the bench.

 

[Jdc1]

One more post showing a couple of the bearing retainer/covers and shift quadrant bolted on. I did not take the shifting fork/top cover apart as everything looked good on the inside and all the forks shifted smoothly.
View attachment 1382834
Installation of the input shaft seal in the front cover is a little backwards because you are installing the seal from the backside. Usually you drive the seal on the large face from the "dry" side. . . I found a narrow socket to fit down in the seal to install it from the back. The seal is just sitting on the front cover for the picture and is not yet installed -- wanted to show the orientation.
View attachment 1382835
And finally put enough together to test out shifting thru the gears. . . at bench top speeds we are all good! The plan is to clean up a few more of the cover bolts before final assembly, install the transmission on the engine, and then paint. Just ran out of time before the dinner bell rang today.
View attachment 1382836
I know I post a lot of pictures. . . stopping to take pictures makes me pace myself thru the project and helps me to think things over when I hit a rough spot. I also hope that someone else may find them useful if they run into similar situations good or bad on their project. Just a heads up as I will probably be as detailed on the transfer case go through -- once the transmission is installed and painted that will be next on the bench.

Pics are a good thing, keep them coming. I have been saved more than once when someone notices something in one of my pics. Jim C even notice a nut that was backwards.

 

[TractorDoc]

Pics are a good thing, keep them coming. I have been saved more than once when someone notices something in one of my pics. Jim C even notice a nut that was backwards.

Will do Jdc1 . . . I always appreciate your comments!

 

[TheHardWay]

x2 some of us nuts actually believe you can't post too many pix, so stop and shoot - OFTEN!
Thank you

 

[TractorDoc]

I finished cleaning up the last of the bolts for the transmission covers and bolted everything up. Wanted to see if I still "had it" so I carried the transmission over to the back of the engine and installed it by hand. It slid in place easily enough. . . probably only an eighth of an inch or so gap that needed closed by the mounting bolts. Not enough time for painting today but will try to get that done later this week.

I turned the engine over via socket wrench on the large nut at the damper and could not detect any binding or tight spots with the transmission installed.

On another front the seat man called over the weekend to let me know that my seats were ready for pickup. Made it over today to pickup the rear jump seats:

A set of front door panels; these were kind of an afterthought after I dropped off the main seat pieces. I took my original panels up to him in December and he made new back panels and duplicated the pattern pressed on the front of the originals with stitching on the new ones. I will need to cut out the window crank and door latch openings.

Finally the driver and passenger seats.

He did such a nice job on them that I dont want to poke more holes to install the head rests or the back metal panels. I will see how close I can match the head rest color/pattern to the seats with the SEM paint I picked up for the vinyl. I will probably also see how they look in the truck when the time comes before I try to install the silver panels on the back.
I went with a silver stitching; I think the original color was white but it was so dirty it was difficult to see. I thought the silver stitch might match with the silver accents on the dash (glove box lid, ashtray, gauge cluster, etc.).

I know I will probably question my color choice when summer comes/the hot sun beats down on the seats. . . but I am not known to wear shorts but six or seven days a year so I should be ok.

I am still reading thru the service manuals on the topic of the transfer case rebuild; my 1980 Toyota Manual shows a two piece case (newer model?) on the H42 transmission -- I will try to use what I can from the three speed transfer section in combination with the Haynes manual to work my way thru it. Hope to have it on the workbench soon. I am also trying to wrap my brain around how the oil stays separated between the transmission and transfer case. The oil seal must ride on a gear surface as it would be impossible for a seal to work on the splines of the output shaft.

 

[Jdc1]

Seats looks awesome. Will you PM me the upholstery shops info?

Have you seen this: For Sale - 40, 50, 60, and 80 series FSM for a hell of a price. ?

 

[TractorDoc]

Seats looks awesome. Will you PM me the upholstery shops info?

Will do J, I believe I have the fella's card on my desk at work and I will PM it over to you tomorrow. Also, thanks for the service manual link. . . I am usually a book in hand kind of guy but I may be able to print off the pertinent information from the 1975 manual for the transfer case and take that with me into the shop.

 

[Jdc1]

Will do J, I believe I have the fella's card on my desk at work and I will PM it over to you tomorrow. Also, thanks for the service manual link. . . I am usually a book in hand kind of guy but I may be able to print off the pertinent information from the 1975 manual for the transfer case and take that with me into the shop.

Thanks, I print off the needed pages and take them out to the garage. My 40 has alot of different years being used so the digital FSM are cost effective.

 

[thebigredrocker]

Doc- Exellent documentation of your build and no doubt very helpful to guys like me. BSEVANS built a tranny to transfer tube that looks pretty good. I think there is someone on mud selling tranny to xfer hoses

Bypass Tube, Tranny to Xfer

After seeing the bypass hose that used 18mm banjo fittings in my thread on bypass hoses, I was intrigued about their versatility in this application. I took a different approach in that I wanted to see if this could be accomplished using 3/8” seamless tubing and two 18mm banjo kits that had a -6 male 37 degree fitting at 90 degrees. The M18 banjo kits are for a Garrett Turbo.

It took a couple of iteration to find the leg length from the transfer case to the start of the bend and then the bend angle. I use an Imperial Eastman tubing bender model 364-FHB-06 and found that if I left a 3/8” gap between the back of the flair and the frame of the bender and then bent the tubing 97-99 degrees it lined up with the banjo fitting on the tranny. I then marked the tubing at the end of the male flair and you see the results.

The original bypass hose I had made has never leaked and did not need to be replaced. I did this as a design challenge to see if it would work.
What I really like about this design is as follows:

Simplicity
If you have the tools it is a straight forward project you can build yourself
Compact design
Durable (I used Corrosion-Resistant Steel Tubing coated with a thin layer of yellow zinc dichromate)
View attachment 826398

 

[TractorDoc]

Thanks for the feedback @thebigredrocker -- if my work (or mistakes!) can help anyone with their own progress or avoiding my goof ups then my time to document everything is well spent. I had looked into the bypass/transfer hose situation and it seems like more of a safety valve if the seal between the transmission and transfer case fails. Not bad insurance and I may utilize one for good measure. Once I get a closer look at the transfer case I may get a better idea how the seal separates the oil between the two. If the staked nut at the end of the output shaft maintains the preload on the driven gears in the transfer case I can understand why an oil seal was not incorporated into the shaft. . . it would likely be crushed when torqueing down the nut unless it was combined with some kind of spacer. If I manage my time right I may get a closer look at things later today. . .

 

[TractorDoc]

Stepping back in time a bit. . . I had to pull the transfer case from the back of the transmission after removing the stake nut, spacer, mounting bolts, etc. Mostly wanted to post this picture because I more or less had the same puller shown in the service manual. . . that almost never happens!

Set the transfer case on the work table for its makeover. It appears I never had a pto drive gear installed (unless it fell out and rolled away while I was not looking) -- just the drive gear, spacer, and outer bearing.

Pulled the stake nut and E-brake drum off. Things do not look too bad on the inside. . . much better than the rear axle drum brakes looked!

Pulled the E-brake housing and speedo drive. I know this is all mostly nut and bolt stuff at this point but the pictures will help me remember how everything goes back together. I will make sure to take the speedometer drive apart to replace the tiny o-rings on the inside as I think that is where one I my leaks originated from.

Removed the speedo drive housing and the front axle drive nosecone and shifting fork. The shifting collar is direction specific; orientation noted.

Moving onto the inside in the next post. . . more to come.

 

[TractorDoc]

Looking down on the inside one can see the orientation of the idler gear and drive gears. Removing the high/low shifter fork and shaft is not difficult; just pull the cottar key, unscrew the insert to relieve pressure from the spring/ball in the shaft detents, remove the locking tab on the outside of the case, and tap the shaft rearward (downward in picture).

With the shifting fork removed I was able to pull the output shaft and gears. Have new bearings in a rebuild kit from @cruiseroutfit that will be installed when everything goes back together. Tried to take a picture of the placement of each component of the output shaft before pulling everything off.

Removed the lock tab from the transmission case and I was able to tap out the idler shaft. Looks like the shaft had some wear; good thing a new one comes in the rebuild kit. There is a plug on the backside of the transmission case that popped out when I tapped the idler shaft forward, once the plug was out I pushed the idler shaft rearward out of the case. The o-ring on the shaft was letting oil leak by. . . one of the main reasons I decided to give the whole thing a rebuild.

I still have to pull the front drive pinion out of the nose cone but more or less everything came apart quickly. I spent about as much time cleaning up the transfer case as it took to get everything out of it. I was tempted to clean it off in the blast cabinet but I have a "nothing with bearings on the inside" policy when it comes to sandblasting parts. A little bit of time with some solvent and a wire brush cleaned it up nicely. Having a hard time deciding if I should paint it with the Alumi-blast that I used on the starter/alternator or give it a coat of clear. I will probably wait until most of the parts are back on before I make that call.

Will work on getting everything else cleaned up this week and hope to start putting things back together.

Also, for the record I talked with Kurt at Cruiser Outfitters today and he confirmed that the lower counter shaft bearing on the transmission is used without the external retaining ring in the 1978 transmission application. The bearing updates to the newer style used in later transmissions (81 and after?) but still specs to the right fit/use in earlier four speeds. Thanks Kurt!

 

[FJ40Jim]

Looks good. There is a spacer sleeve in lieu of the PTO gear in 76-later T-cases.

Yours is also new enough to have the ribbed nosecone, fine spline RWD-4WD shift collar, fine spline frt d-shaft yoke. All good stuff that shows up in the 77-79 window.

Consider replacing the main drive gear since it has as much wear as the tranny output splines. That would cut the slop down by 50%.

 

[TractorDoc]

Nothing too dramatic or exciting today. Had a couple other projects to accomplish but I did manage to disassemble the last of the transfer case components and spent a bit of time cleaning everything up before reassembly. The aluminum cleaned up well enough that I think I will give it a clear coat vs. painting it with the alumi-blast paint.

I also went with Jim C's recommendation to acquire a transfer drive gear that is in potentially better condition; he happened to have one and I hope to have it in my possession next week. That is good salesmanship on his part!
Weekend is looking full with several tasks on the list but I will still try to work in some shop time if I can. Besides the steering gear box and universal joints I am thinking this (transfer case) is one of the last components with a dirty/gooey/oily inside, Im looking forward to the dirty but dry parts that await me.

 

[rrv333]

, I'm about to start the transmission and transfer case rebuilds. I'm having the transmission done by an outfit in Ft. Worth that comes highly recommended. The transfer case rebuild will be done by myself and an outstanding friend who's mechanical skills are light years above mine.

 

[TractorDoc]

You should have no problem with the transfer case rebuild @rrv333 . Just take your time and keep track of where everything goes! I did notice there is a shim on mine between the speedo housing and rear bearing race that sits in the transfer housing. . . probably something good to keep track of and monitor the preload on the output shaft when things go back together. . . maybe not a big deal but I will focus more on that during reassembly.

On the topic of the transmission. . . I was advised both before and after I went thru mine that most people do not rebuild their transmissions because its not really cost effective. Good used transmissions can be had for a couple hundred dollars (or less). On mine the bearings, synchros, gaskets, etc. added up to a little over three hundred. Add in frustration and labor and I can see how it would just be easier to swap in a good used transmission -- they are sturdy, dependable, and hold up well. I only went thru mine because I have a sick and twisted mind that likes to know how things work and go together. . . and a bunch of water came out when I went to drain the oil so I was worried the bearings were compromised. In the end I probably could have flushed it out with some clean oil and ATF and have been fine.
Not saying you shouldn't rebuild yours if you want to. . . just passing on some advice that was given to me by folks that know much more than I do.

As far as my progress I did paint the E-brake drum, speedo housing, and other non aluminum parts today. I also had a chance to install a couple bearings on the transfer output shaft. I actually used my little baby press to install both the front wheel drive pilot bearing:

And the first output shaft cone bearing:

I pressed in the races into the nosecone and transfer case as well but did not take pictures. . . I think you get the idea.

Sorry about the dusty conditions on the press, it sits in my garage at home next to the chicken house and only gets used a couple times a year. I picked it up at a garage sale years ago for about 50 bucks and it works great for little bearing projects like this when I dont want to beat on the bearing with a hammer. Takes me back to the days when I used the big electric/hydraulic press to pop dozer track sprockets off final drives. . . those took a little more pressure to remove -- in fact I can remember sneaking outside around the corner of the building when parts would be super tight and the pressure was higher than I felt comfortable standing in front of. Even though youd expect it I would still jump when the POP came and the two pieces came apart. . . ahh the good old days!

I may start putting pieces back in the case tomorrow if time allows. . . wet and squishy here in North Central Ohio but I will take this all month long for January.

 

[rrv333]

Thanks for the advice, Doc