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rear transmission seal, vibration[200/86] posted by Adam on
Sunday, 11 April 1999, at 1:59 p.m.
In my 86 240 I have noticed a vibration that has been getting worse over the last few months. I replaced the shot center bearing and mount. this reduced the vibration somewhat but after a month it is actually worse. the intensity of teh vibration changes with road speed. it still shakes while coasting in N. I feel it more through the wheel and the seat. There is trany fluid leaking out of where the drive shaft comes out of the housing. Is the bearing and seal shot? the U-joints do not seem to be loose, I can grab them, twist and pull the drive shaft and it is solid.
How big of a job is it to replace the rear seal? Obviously i have to take out the two halves of the drive shaft, i can easily do that. what about the seal? I have to drain the fluid right? could someone give me a rundown of the steps involved in replacing this seal/bearing? thanks adam
Re: rear transmission seal, vibration[200/86] posted by Don Foster on
Sunday, 11 April 1999, at 5:08 p.m.
Adam --
I've done that job on my '83 (at around 200k) and my '86 (surprise! also at 200k).
I estimate it's a 3 hour job, and not difficult or messy.
You must remove the driveshaft. Obviously.
You do not need to drain the tranny.
- Chock the front wheels and jack up the rear.
- Drop the driveshaft front flange and push it aside.
- Jack up the rear of the tranny using a block of wood between the pan and jack.
- Drop the crossmember.
- Remove the rear flange. With the tranny in "park", you should be able to remove the big nut in the center. I used an air impact wrench, though I'm sure others will recoil in horror -- yet the '83 clocked another 90k without any problems (aside from serious rust). You can obviously use a breaker bar.
- Remove the tailshaft housing -- six to eight small bolts.
- You can remove the bushing by cutting it with a hacksaw blade and "peeling" it inwards. First make a sketch of the orientation of the hole in the bushing relative to the housing. I think it goes toward 12 o'clock, yet the open clearance (conveniently for the hacksaw blade) is at 6 o'clock.
- Knock to old seal out.
- Install the mew bushing. I used a large socket as a driver, and tapped it in gently.
- Install a new seal. If possible, install it 1/16" to 1/8" further into the housing.
- Scrape off any remaining gasket. (Or, if the gasket remained intact, leave it on and use a touch of red RTV when you reinstall.)
- Thoroughly and completely wash out the housing. It's full of chips from cutting the old bushing.
- If needed, clean the old gasket off the tranny housing. (Or put a light coating of red RTV on instead.)
- Lube the bushing and seal with ATF.
- Install the housing.
- Clean the flange, lubed it, and install it carefully into the new seal.
- Reinstall the nut and sock it down -- sorry, don't have a torque value -- I just leaned into it.
- Reinstall the crossmember (a pain) and tranny mount.
- Reinstall the driveshaft.
Check the tranny level, and watch for leaks over the next several days.
--
Monday, 12 April 1999, at 3:02 p.m.
There is a much better way to do those rear bushings. There is a tool that consists of a multi-fingered puller and a bolt - just remove the drive shaft and the tranny rear drive flange, pull out the seal. Insert the puller and jack out the bushing. use the same tool to install the new bushing. Install new seal and reassemble - no mess with draining fluid, scraping gasket, removing tranny crossmember, etc. Whole job takes about 15 to 20 minutes!! Well worth the cost of the tool - particularly if you have more than one brick! I think that the tool came with about 10 bushings in a kit.
--Steve Seekins