Rebuilding t-case: where to get gears pulled, cases cleaned?

[jawjatek]

I am installing a H55F and wanted to rebuild the t-case while I had it apart. Is there a good place on northside ATL to have the gears looked at? Not sure what to look for myself, when I split the case today, I saw no chipped teeth, no hunks of metal... It looks ok to my untrained eye, and everything measures ok per FSM. Anyway I cannot pull apart output gears to install the new bearings since I have no press or pullers. I figured I would just rebuild it since I had to change the tranny, and I want them both in to shape. I have the rebuild kit, and am doing this myself.

Also where somewhere between Lawrenceville and Cumming/ Alpharetta can I have the case halves hot tank cleaned? Is there a good machine/tranny shop to take the gears and kit for pulling apart and re-pressing with new bearings? Oh yeah I need flywheel resurfaced...

 

[jawjatek]

Well I found Grimes Machine nearby and they are hot-tanking my case halves, and resurfacing my flywheel. Still would like to know if there is anywhere to have the gears looked at? ACC?

 

[jynx]

ACC is kind of my defualt recommendation in GA. Give them a call. They might know someone closer to you that they might recommend.

 

[LDowney]

There are additional Land Cruiser repair shops on the north side of the metro area

Merriam Automotive (770) 814-7516 (Peter Merriam is the owner/operator. I have always found his work to be outstanding on the occasions that I have gone to him)

Straight Six Auto (404) 973-9240 (only met the owner, Mike, so far)

Good luck

 

[jawjatek]

Cool, thanks guys.

 

[TeddyBoy]

If you're a DIY kind of a guy we hit Joh's shop over in Buford 2-3 Saturdays a month. He has a press and parts washer...

 

[jawjatek]

I am all about DIY, just don't know what to look for on gears to judge what is ok and what needs to go, as this is my first t-case rebuild. I have the FSM to follow, and have searched and read plenty threads, but it isn't clearly explained in any of them.

 

[jynx]

Generally I'd say as long as they aren't missing teeth and there are no visible sign of other damage, cracking or noticably unusual wear then the gears and shafts are likely fine and dandy.

Not much else that a visible inspection can tell you. Replace all the other bits and put that bad boy back together.

 

[jawjatek]

Is it normal for the hi and low gears on the rear output shaft to have a touch of rotational slop ("spine slop")? Holding the rear output shaft stack in hand, i can feel a little slop working the hi and low gears vs the shaft (radially). Like there is a little rotational (radial) slop (play) between shaft splines and the gear splines. I have not separated the rear shaft gear stack yet. I took off the snap ring, but nothing budged and I will need a press to separate the stack any further. I really hate to go get a Horror Fright press, but my bud whose shop I am using suddenly started a contract job, so I can't work M-F, so I took gears and such with me, and had the cases cleaned and flywheel done.

Original goal was install new H55F and rebuild t-case & clutch completely so I have a solid drive train. H41 is out and here I is, brothas.

The only gripe on the truck after I bought it last year at 146,000 miles, was a slight-but-noticeable clunk when in 4L and slowly easing throttle on and off slowly rolling on a trail walking speed, like spline clunking, or U-joint, but- did not hear it in 4H. This is mysterious to me because there is a lot in common going on between 2H/4H and 4L and there is no one part to blame for an issue in 4L only. ??

Also I got records from the prev owner (2) including original bill of sale and service receipts, and in the receipts there was a huge $3k+ receipt from a service shop near Vinings that included over a thou for "rebuild/install transmission", at 135,000 miles (about 10k ago), as well as AC work and other stuff. The clutch gear all looks good, almost new. My machinist said whomever resurfaced the flywheel last time screwed the "step" up, and he had to do extra machining to put it into correct spec. I have no reason to doubt him.

So anyway, there are no chipped teeth, no chips inside case, nothing to the untrained eye. My spidey sense (actually regular logic) says if this shop replaced the tranny, then they certainly had to split the case. I noticed there was not a single gasket in the entire case, it was all done with black RTV.

So the tranny is new, thus new splines, the main thing here is no slop between input gear and new shaft.
Idler gear: I have new full kit from georg @ Valley Hybrids including new idler shaft.
Rear output shaft: gears seem a bit of slop in gear splines but do not see anything.

 

[jawjatek]

Got the rear shaft gear stack pressed apart at lunch today. Later I cleaned the parts and found my problem, looks like the low gear on rear output shaft spun its bushing which I found was totally split down one side. More pics on the thread in FJ60 tech. This could explain the clunk I was hearing in 4L, no? So hopefully I can get new bushings for both hi and lo gears. Everything else looks fine, splines nice and square, all teeth look good with no chips, no visible defects. Rear shaft journals are still a tad over the FSM minimum.

 

[HENDOG]

Looks complicated!

 

[jawjatek]

I have a full thread in the FJ60 forum with pics. It wasn't too bad, FSM really helps. Trans and case are back in and I will be finishing this job tonight.

PS while the bushings were very worn, and I replaced them as well as the rear output shaft, the split down the side is normal. Be advised if you replace the Hi & Lo gear bushings they will need to be honed to fit. I used a brake hone and ATF as a lube.