Rebuild t56 myself or pay someone?
Thread Starter
Launching!
Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 275
Likes: 0
From: Miami
Rebuild t56 myself or pay someone? I'm moving to a new home in the summer and will buying a lift to put in my garage. I have limited skills in mechanics, but I'm semi confident in doing this if I have the right tools and done quite a bit of reading on the subject. So with this in mind I was hoping I would be able to rebuild my transmission. I will have help with more experienced guys, but no tranny experts and only mechanics to a degree because of all the work they've done on their cars. Should I attempt to do this or pay someone experienced with transmissions? The rebuild kit I see for like 199 and I'm not sure if that is all I would need. I think my 1st gear fork is totally bent or 1st gear itself is damaged. I'm not sure what exaclty the rebuild kit comes with. How much labor is this? How much would I get charged for something of this manner? Should I do it? I would be super close to work, so my car could be in the garage for a good while before I would miss it. If you've done this yourself let me know what I am up against.
The first time is kinda awkward.
It *really* helps to have the manual. D&D sells them for like $15. The exploded views are priceless for when you're putting them back together.
My first one, I laid out everything in order, was very careful.
Now I usually end up carrying it all around in a box and reassembling as I go.
It gets easier the 2nd time around.
The most critical tool is the snap ring plier. You must have a badass set. No cheap AutoZone or Harbor Freight stuff. I have a SnapOn unit (goes for about $35) that makes the snap rings a breeze. Worth its weight in gold. My first one, I flat out tore up some AutoZone units. The second, I wore out a complete set of Harbor Freight ones. I got the SnapOn unit for the third tranny - and haven't looked back.
I'd never done one before, and my tranny turned out fine. I broke second gear.
The thing to do - don't order any parts until you get the tranny apart. Yes, this delays you, but you don't know what's broken, so you don't really know what to order. The "rebuild kit" contains the bare minimum that you should replace (blocker rings, plastic guide tabs, slider keys & springs). Any gears, sliders, forks, etc that are worn - are not included. A 'tough going in to gear' problem could be the slider, the gear, the fork, or something else.
I say do it. But be forewarned, once you've done it once, you'll want to do it again. It's pretty fun.
It *really* helps to have the manual. D&D sells them for like $15. The exploded views are priceless for when you're putting them back together.
My first one, I laid out everything in order, was very careful.
Now I usually end up carrying it all around in a box and reassembling as I go.
It gets easier the 2nd time around.The most critical tool is the snap ring plier. You must have a badass set. No cheap AutoZone or Harbor Freight stuff. I have a SnapOn unit (goes for about $35) that makes the snap rings a breeze. Worth its weight in gold. My first one, I flat out tore up some AutoZone units. The second, I wore out a complete set of Harbor Freight ones. I got the SnapOn unit for the third tranny - and haven't looked back.
I'd never done one before, and my tranny turned out fine. I broke second gear.
The thing to do - don't order any parts until you get the tranny apart. Yes, this delays you, but you don't know what's broken, so you don't really know what to order. The "rebuild kit" contains the bare minimum that you should replace (blocker rings, plastic guide tabs, slider keys & springs). Any gears, sliders, forks, etc that are worn - are not included. A 'tough going in to gear' problem could be the slider, the gear, the fork, or something else.
I say do it. But be forewarned, once you've done it once, you'll want to do it again. It's pretty fun.
12 Second Club
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,371
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta
What about mine?
How difficult would this work be? What the hell did I break anyway? I'm thinking at least two synchros and maybe some forks?
Ok, started racing this morning. After the second run, tranny felt noticably harder to get shifter out of fourth after the traps. On the third run it simply got stuck in fourth and took some strong arming to persuade out, and then it was very reluctant to go into any other gear. This got progressively worse for several runs. It felt like there ws some **** in the transmission that was between the linkage/gear and where ever I wanted it to go. Even seemed to get stuck at odd places in neutral. Not really grinding grinding at this point, just refusal to cooperate. Let it sit for awhile and tried again. This time it didn't really stick in any gear. But for therest of my ~10 runs today, it scratched 2nd,3rd, and 4th shifts consistently while racing, but had a problem scratchin and even grinding 3rd and 4th under normal driving.
BadAndy,
I think you broke the slider keys. When you strong armed it out of 4th, you broke the keys. They keys help keep the synchros / blocker rings aligned. Without the 3-4 slider keys, it will grind the blocker rings every time you try to put it in to gear, but it will still go in to gear.
Keys are cheap, but you may be trashing the blocker ring teeth & slider gear teeth in the process of driving it. Sliders are $$$ (about $120 for the 3-4).
I think you broke the slider keys. When you strong armed it out of 4th, you broke the keys. They keys help keep the synchros / blocker rings aligned. Without the 3-4 slider keys, it will grind the blocker rings every time you try to put it in to gear, but it will still go in to gear.
Keys are cheap, but you may be trashing the blocker ring teeth & slider gear teeth in the process of driving it. Sliders are $$$ (about $120 for the 3-4).
12 Second Club
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,371
Likes: 0
From: Atlanta
Camaroholic,
Why did this happen? I saw you were talking about overextension in another post. Is that whats happening here? Is this a problem with stops in the shifter, my driving, or just a 75,000 mile wear issue? Thanks.
Why did this happen? I saw you were talking about overextension in another post. Is that whats happening here? Is this a problem with stops in the shifter, my driving, or just a 75,000 mile wear issue? Thanks.
Trending Topics
IMO it could be an aggressive shift to 4th that does it.
When the shift fork takes the slider past a certain point - the keys will pop out of the slider gear. This makes it get stuck in 4th.
A shift stop would likely have prevented it from happening. But the T56 does have internal stops, but tolerances may be such that it happens anyway. I have seen it first hand on trannies I've dug in to (broken 3-4 slider keys). Why exactly it happens? I honestly don't know. But pushing it too far / hard towards fourth can make it happen.
Check out these posts:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/94391-stuck-fourth-help.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/117610-trans-stuck-4th-gear.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/85448-t-56-technical-bulletin-freakz.html
They cover this exact issue in more detail.
When the shift fork takes the slider past a certain point - the keys will pop out of the slider gear. This makes it get stuck in 4th.
A shift stop would likely have prevented it from happening. But the T56 does have internal stops, but tolerances may be such that it happens anyway. I have seen it first hand on trannies I've dug in to (broken 3-4 slider keys). Why exactly it happens? I honestly don't know. But pushing it too far / hard towards fourth can make it happen.
Check out these posts:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/94391-stuck-fourth-help.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/117610-trans-stuck-4th-gear.html
https://ls1tech.com/forums/manual-transmission/85448-t-56-technical-bulletin-freakz.html
They cover this exact issue in more detail.
Last edited by Camaroholic; Mar 30, 2004 at 12:56 PM.
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Awesome K5 Blazer Restomod Comes With C7 Corvette Power
Verdad Gallardo
10 Camaros You Should Never Buy
10 LS Engine Myths That Refuse to Die
Verdad Gallardo
Five Reasons the Camaro Was the Most Pivotal Player in the Pony Car Wars 2.0
Brett Foote
10 Reasons the LS7 Is GM's Most Extreme Naturally Aspirated V8 Engine Ever
Verdad Gallardo
Staging Lane
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 63
Likes: 0
No responses on my posting this link before on it's own thread, but here ya go, it's pretty detailed on tearing it down.
Detailed pix of T56
Detailed pix of T56
