Mrplow

I decided about a month ago I was going to rebuild this T-56 my self. I read a lot about it, printed a copy of the rebuild manual from Tremec. And some people from the board gave me a lot of help and tips, especially Camaroholic. Thanks for taking the time to answer my 11ty billion e-mails. Well, I just finished it today. It all went together without a hitch. I replaced all of the syncro slider keys and blocker rings, and upgraded the 3-4 shift fork with the steel part from D&D performance. It turned out to be fairly easy, I just had to invest in a few tools. Namely a hydraulic press and some GIANT snap ring pliers. I found these great snap ring pliers at Harbor Freight Tools for 9.99 for a straight and right angle pair. They are HUGH and made removing and replacing those pain in the A** snap rings beyond easy. And the best part was the price. Everything seems to be right, it shifts through all the gears and doesn't make any weird noises. I will find out this weekend if I did it right after I instal it into my Suburban. The hardest part of the whole rebuild, is being patient and taking your time. I took my time and went trough everything. Cleaned every single part in my parts washer and then with brake parts cleaner. Dried them with compressed air and used a brush to cover all the parts with tranny fluid as I put it back together.

In the end I figure I saved a minimum of 350-400 bucks on labor by doing it my self. And that was after buying almost 200 bucks in tools. And I now have all the tools to do it again. If anyone in the San Francisco area needs a tranny rebuilt let me know. It is easy now. I will update everyone after I get it in the truck.

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

Congrats Dave
Thats how I got started LOL
Some tips I learns the hard way.
If you ever put one together and find that the shaft won't turn, Try loosening the tail housing bolt and the front plate bolts.
Turn the shaft and torque the front Plate first.
Then the tail housing.
When puttin on the tail housing and you try to get it to drop that last inch and half
turn the input shaft and it will clunk down. Then with a screw driver Just push that reverse shift rod a little.
that will drop it the rest of the way.
The two Torx bolt on the top of the tranny.
You did locktite those right?
Tip to get those off easier
HEAT
they are Locktited in and heat breaks down the locktite.
Just some thing I learned for you future rebuilds.
Again
Congrates on your first rebuild
Tom

License2Ill

iTrader: (1)

Way cool man!! I have a 93 T56 that is begging for a rebuild . I've done Rockcrushers in the past (4speeds) and have been studying it also. All it really is is a 4 speed with a tailhousing that houses the 2 additional overdrives. I feel confident I can do it. It has been awhile though so I'm doing my homework thanks for the heads up on those snap ring pliers I plan on picking some up at HArbor also. Now the press how much did that run you??? sounds expensive.

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

Harbor Freight too.
I think I paid about 170 for mine.

Mrplow

I got mine on sale for $99.99. The regular everyday price is $124.99, still a good price. It is a 12 ton, and just perfect(just barley big enough) for a T56 rebuild. I was even able to put the whole tranny in it to press the new 40 tooth VSS reluctor on that I bought. And I bought those snap ring pliers thinking what the hell, for 10 bucks if they suck I will toss em. They saved my ***, they open so far that they tweaked all of the snap rings I pulled off. Well worth 10 bucks.

Mrplow

Bugsquawsher,

I used your heat idea that I read in one of your other posts, and it worked great. And my question aboout the locktite, do you have to use red or can you use blue? Also when you say if the shaft wont turn, do you mean it wont turn at all?

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

Oh ok
That one was big enough?
I went ahead and bought the 20 Ton .
Its got all the power I need and More,
My kids love watching me turn a 2x4 into A piece of paper )

On another note?
40 tooth VSS reluctor???? What is that?

Mrplow

Well first off, I wanted the 20 ton but here it is $249.99. And I really don't think I am going to need more then 12 tons of smashing power. And "JUST BIG ENOUGH" means the press bed was just wide enough for pressing the gears off the shaft, and the over all hight was just high enough to get the whole tranny in there. Ok about the 40 tooth reluctor. First off the T56 has a 17 tooth reluctor for the speed sensor. And the Automatics have a 40 tooth. That mean 17 pulses per revolution for the T56 and 40 per revolution for the auto. Since I am putting this tranny into my Suburban the PCM is calibrated for a 40 pulse per revoluton signal. So if I put the T56 in with the stock 17 tooth, my speedo would be more then 50% slow. Basically at 100mph acctuall speed it would read less then 50mph. So I found a company called Jags That Run, they have been in business for a while and they pioneered alot of the S-10 V8 swap stuff. They sell a specially desined 40 tooth reluctor that fits on the T56 main shaft. So this will basically allow me to retain proper speedo calibration with out PCM reprograming.

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

It will be real stiff. Hard as hell to turn by hand even out of gear.
You won't be able to turn it all in gear.
One other thing
Sometimes you can feel it move about and 1/8th turn either direction but it won't make a full turn.
just grab ahold of it and twist real fast back and forth. Its just one of the Blocker ring sticking a little
Once it has fluid in it , it will be fine.
But you should be able to turn the input shaft by hand it all gears.
If not , You need to do that retorque thing.
I use red Locktite.
I think blue will be ok.
Just make them pretty tight.
Tom

License2Ill

iTrader: (1)

I wanted to ask you guys where I could pick up a good master rebuild kit??? Both economical and good in quality.
Also I have seen some have synchro rings, those are not the actual synchros them selves right?? Cuz for my 5th gear at top speeds when racing it will not go into it without scratching unless I let the engine settle down RPMwise so I think I will need 5th gear synchro.
I have 140k on my tranny with abuse hear and there. Do you guys know of a particular gear I will definitely have to replace, off I hand I would think 3rd gear and I have been thinking of buying maybe that one and 1st gear. Ahead of time. But I don't know what the "trend" is on wear patterns for this tranny I figured maybe you guys would. Also I was giving some consideration to haveing both the INput shaft and the mainshaft cryogenically treated as I do seem to see a lot of ppl break the mainshaft.
I plan on running a Ford 9 inch behind it with maybe 4.30 gears with slicks or drag radials eventually. My engine should be at not more than 400 hP but eventually it will get done over to 450 N/A and heavy nitrous.
But for a good while will 400 hp+slicks+ford 9+4.30= mainshaft kaboom????
Is cryo treating my parts worth the effort and do I really need it??? I think so although I don't know all it's returns but I definitely cannot afford G-force's 9130 mainshaft and also they do not offer an Input shaft.
Basically would not like to rip her apart again untill I am running N20 so I'd like to build her "stout" as I can addressing relatively whatever is it's main or biggest weakness, the part that most often in general breaks.
Damm sorry for the book, just being thorough. Thanks in advance for your know-how.

02WSsicks

iTrader: (6)

sounds like this will make a great "how to" install topic, for those of us wanting to also try it

991LE

iTrader: (2)

Are these the snap ring pliers that you used?
Snap ring pliers

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

AutoZone sells some that are specifically made for this type of Clip rings.
The look like flat nose , needle nose plyers.
I think they are call snap ring plyers.
Tom

991LE

iTrader: (2)

Did you click on the link? Just kind of wondering what size is needed?

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

Yea I did
they won't work with out some grinding.
the ones Autozone sells are actually made for these snap rings.
these snaprings don't have hole, look almost like a Lock washer .
Tom

991LE

iTrader: (2)

Ok, it just seemed that you didn't read the last post by how you replied. I misunderstood
Is this the snap ring pliers ?

Mrplow

Those are the ones I bought and they work great on everything except the 5/6 and reverse shift fork. But also I have found that the ones with the flat tips work even better. So I am going to grind my tips down to give them a flat edge instead of a rounded one. For 10 bucks it isn't going to break my heart to grind them down. And just to let everyone know, that tranny I rebuilt is in my Suburban as I type this and it shifts great. It shifts better then a factory transmission. I had 3 other people drive it who all have T56 cars and they want me to rebuild theirs now. So I guess I did something right. It is so much fun shifting gears in a 6000 pound Suburban

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

Those are the ones I have .
I did have to grind one set of the tips to work on these Big snap rings.
They work great though.
Yes the 5-6 shift fork snap ring is a bitch, only because of its placement.
you really need a smaller set of pliers to get that one out. Though it can be down with those.
But those are still not the ones I was talkin about at autozone.
Picture needle nose pliers. BIG ONES Now picture the tips being flat, not pointed. and they open as you squeeze the handle.
Tom

991LE

iTrader: (2)

It looks like one of them is for putting the snap rings on and one is for taking them off? Thanks for the info. I am a little wary of getting into the tranny, but maybe I will be prepared...........

Bugsquawsher

iTrader: (1)

One is for taking snap rings that fit inside something.
the other ones are for Snap rings that fit around the outside of something.
Tom