AU Doc

Hopefully all these pictures and the feedback will be useful to more than just me

I have a T56 that's been in the corner of my shop for the better part of 15 years. Bought her off eBay for a few hundred dollars. I'm just now getting around to putting into a project car, and I wanted to rebuild it first. I've never rebuilt a manual trans before, so I need some help identifying which parts are worn to the point of needing replacement.

I'll do my best to ID the gears as I go, but I may have some of them out of order. My table isn't quite big enough for this teardown.

First up are bearings. This is the mainshaft bearing from the mid plate as well as the races in the mid plate. I do see some scoring, but no pitting. Should I replace them, or run them?





I believe this is reverse. I would not expect much wear here, but I've never seen a new one, so I'm not completely sure what i'm looking at. From what I've read in the manual, I think this is fine. What say you? Run it or replace it?



Next up is 5th, I think. It's hard to tell the relative sizes in the pics. The engagement teeth seem to have pretty sharp points, and don't look too rounded off on the ends, but I don't know how a new one looks. I am a little concerned about the flats on the teeth. But again, I don't know what excessive wear looks like. (See edit below)



Now for what I believe is 6th. Same story here. The teeth look fairly pointed, but I'm not sure about the indentions in the sides of the teeth. (See edit below)



I believe this next one is first. The points on this one look great to me, but I'm still not sure about the sides.




I think this is second. This one looks good to me. Does anyone see an issue that I don't know to look for?



Next is third. This one looks good to me as well. Any issues?



Synchronizer sleeve. Any issues with these teeth? This is pretty typical of the others.




Lastly, this is what all the synchro clutches look like. There are raised portions on the outside, but the inside is uniform. They're not worn down to metal, but I assume this means the inside of the clutch is pretty well worn out, correct? I was planning to replace all of the synchro assemblies, anyway, but it's good to understand what I have.




I guess if I had to call it, I would say 5th and 6th should be replaced (see edit below) along with all the synchro assemblies. I'm not sure about the bearings and races, and I was sure hoping I wouldn't have to replace them. Any advice?

EDIT: Jason at Texas Drivetrain Performance took a look at the pictures of the 5th and 6th gear engagement teeth and said they looked fine him.

AU Doc

Any advice?

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

As long as the engagement teeth are still pointed, You might as well run them. I would for sure atleast get a synchro rebuild kit with new carbon fiber blockers.

AU Doc

If the sides of the engagement teeth are worn, it will cause the trans to jump out of gear, correct? I don't know how worn they need to be, or what that looks like, though.

Also, what about the bearings?

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

I'm not sure about the wear on the sides of the engagement teeth? Either call Tick or the vendor your going to purchase your parts from and they could most likely answer that question.

If the bearings arent discolored from heat and feel good run them. Does the 5-6 spool gear splines have any wear from where it mates with the mainshaft? does the main shaft have wear? Did you need a puller to get it off or did it pull off by hand.

AU Doc

5/6 came off by hand, but the splines look good. I've already sent the shaft and gear off to Texas Drivetrain Performance to be repaired. They will apparently build up the journal and machine it back down leaving it a little proud of factory spec to tighten things up and prevent future wear.

I'm seriously hoping 5th and (more importantly) 6th are useable. 6th gear is crazy expensive. Parts for these things are apparently extremely hard to come by. I was a little surprised considering how popular they are.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

Good deal, I just had Jason at Texas Drivetrain Performance do my mainshaft last month. I had a couple questions about wear on some of my t56 parts, Jason had me text him a couple pictures and he gave me his professional opinion. I'm sure he would do the same for you.

I also used his bronze fork pads and solid synchro keys.

AU Doc

I emailed pics of the 5th/6th gear, and Jason said they looked fine to him. Aside from the initial price, that's the best news I've gotten on this transmission so far!

stevieturbo

Damn all wrong with that, they look in great shape !!

AU Doc

Awesome!!!!

I'll start ordering rebuild parts on Monday when the The Gear Box opens back up. Unless you guys know of anywhere else? Tick seems to be a good bit more expensive. They do have some parts that are not available through TGB.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

I have ordered parts from D&D, TGB, AMP on ebay. Just shop around to get the best price/service.

Are you doing the solid keys/bronze fork pads?

AU Doc

Yep. Planning to do the usual upgrades. Billet keys, bronze fork pads on 1 through 6. Not sure about reverse. Steel 3/4 shift fork (this viper trans has the cast aluminum 3/4 fork). Bronze shifter cup. I'm hoping to have someone look at my bearings tomorrow and decide if I'm going to replace those.

I haven't decided on whether to do synchro assemblies or just replace the synchro rings. Thoughts on that?

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

if the synchro assemblys do show alot of wear it wouldnt be a bad idea to replace. Can you get just the outer ring?

I just did the solid keys/and bronze fork pads on 1-4 and the bronze shifter cup, but the steel shift fork is also good to do, mine already had one.

AU Doc

I think the synchro sliders look pretty good, but I really don't want to have to do this again. If the cost doesn't end up being much difference I may go ahead and at least do 1/2 and 3/4 assemblies. Then just the rebuild on 5/6 and reverse.

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

You are doing one of these kits replacing the blocker rings right?
http://www.tickperformance.com/treme...y-cobra-viper/

Hows your tail shaft bushing? If its ok Just leave it be but if it has excessive wear I would recommend the drirect replacement from AMP:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-Cobra-C...9UanV3&vxp=mtr

AU Doc

That's the kit! Or at least I'm looking at either picking up one of those kits or the stage 2 kit from TGB, which includes the synchro assemblies for 1/2 and 3/4 with the blockers and frictions for the remaining gears.

I haven't look at the bushing. Is it a common failure item?

onebadbowtie86

iTrader: (13)

They do wear, but unless your yoke has a lot of play in it I wouldn't change it. I changed mine, but in hind sight I would have left the original in as mine wasn't that bad.

AU Doc

I finally have most of my parts in hand (waiting on a race and roller bearing due to a small shipping mixup). I got my mainshaft back from Texas Drivetrain Performance yesterday. Great service. Jason worked their magic and test fit the gear before sending it back.

I decided to go ahead and start reassembly. I don't have a lot of time during the week, but I did manage to get two of my countershaft bearings swapped. I'm trying to keep everything as clean as possible, hence the plastic bin she'll stay in until I'm ready to use it



Next up, I think I'll go ahead and swap the other bearings that need to be pressed on. Hopefully I'll have everything ready and waiting for reassembly and endplay and preload checks this weekend.