703crewchief

I have never had a T56 apart before, but I have recently disassembled mine. It had a horrible noise coming from the bellhousing area in every gear as long as the clutch was engaged. Pushing in the clutch instantly stopped the noise. Usually, a throwout bearing will do the oppisite and make a noise when the clutch is depressed. So after pulling the transmission, I noticed the pilot bearing was completely destroyed. What really worried me was that the clutch disc was way off center. As soon as the transmission was out from under the car I grabbed the input shaft and noticed a large amount of endplay and runout. After I tore down the trans, I noticed the input shaft bearing was obviously worn and pitted, and the countershaft front bearing was also showing signs of wear. I noticed the races for these bearings would spin freely in the front cover. I removed the races and noticed the shims behind them were worn down pretty bad as well.

My question is, are the races supposed to spin in the cover? It looks as if there are holes for fluid to get behind and around them, so I assume they are supposed to spin. The shims were obviously worn from the races spinning against them though. Keep in mind, that this is a very high mileage trans and this may be what happens after eleven years. I know I need a bearing kit, but what I don't know is if I need a new front cover. Sorry so long, thanks for reading.

85MikeTPI

iTrader: (9)

Yes, the front cover races are loosely fit, to allow easy removal during the shimming procedure.

I doubt you need a new front cover. Any small amount of wear would just be made up with more shim during the assembly procedure.

703crewchief

Thanks for the reply, I'll get the bearings in a couple of weeks and try it out.
I heard shimming these things to get the proper preload and endplay is lots of
fun.

thesource

iTrader: (60)

I would say you are fine with the front cover you have . How does the tip of the input shaft look ? That could be your noise ....