I have a low milage M46 J-type that has a broken gear tooth. I also have a P-type m46 from my 89 745 that needs new bearings which I can't find. Do a p-type and a J-Type have the same bearings or different ones. Obviously I'm thinking of robbing the bearings from the lower milage unit to fix the more robust P-type. Let me know what you think. I will also buy any good working m46 available, on jack stands for 6 weeks now.

The type 1 P O/D uses the same bearings as all of the J O/Ds.

The type 2 P O/D uses a different anulus bearing.

FYI, all of the bearings are still available new.

If you end up needing them, we almost always have the J and type 1 P O/D bearings in stock.

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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

Hi Eric,

I have been thinking like the poster about the M-46 and the M-47 having the same front end gear box bearings. The M-47 has its own rear true fifth gear box for those not knowing.
I have read that changes were made with bearings, around the countershaft area.
This happened within the ONE over to the Two series on the M-47s.
I haven’t figure out if it was from tapered to straight rolling elements or what?

My transmissions are a 1990 and a 1993 model years. I surmise that both have only 200K with separate stories to explain causes. Amazingly close stories though, with symptoms coming in the same way.
Both newer M-47s seem to suffer the bearing noise.

I have a 1991 with close to 300K on it and it hasn’t suffered any of the ill’s of the later transmissions. Always have used regularly changed ATF until recently.
I got scared away from reading about the experiences of the others here on the BB.
I have gone to a Fuchs Synthetic Oil on all of them. Several thousand miles, So far so good.
The stuff probably has prolonged the life of my noisy bearings, but it’s not a fix, once a bearing goes noisy, it doesn’t get better.
There is one on a bench until I can comb through it to get an exchange going around.
What I do for one, I plan to do to both. I Might as well double down!

Ever-how they set them up the information during the production run of bearings or the transmission assembly labor, stayed to form for a very long time.
How my, used to me, 1991 ever got done right or driven over it lifetime correctly must be noteworthy.
It tells me it must be correctable.
I’m not tearing it down to find that out. Im not that fanatical! (:)

I want to go through the two M-47 II transmissions but I have very little information on them. I have one service manual and a rebuilding manual I found on the Internet.
I do not have part number information but plane on measuring out all the bearings and shop for them by sizes, if I have too.

In reading, I’m finding one end play allowance setting a little bit concerning. A miss print or conversion discrepancy possible.
It Could be a heritage failure in vendor manufacturing or with assembling skills too!
In these last years, I feel that, some other writing was available but on a production lines bathroom walls, Someplace (:)


Do you offer these bearings and/or information for sale?
I recognize your effort to provide services and your staying in business is very much appreciated by all!
I have paid attention to your expertise, here on the board. It’s in the much older Volvos before my time.
Since you know about the Overdrives and the M-46s how much are you really into the 200 series?
The Wagonmeister, in the near proximity, has help keep our cars going.
I bought an automatic car from him seven years ago and added 30k to it. COVID curbed that some as it has done very well even with having to sit it out.

I also have a 1986 M-46 with the J-Type Overdrive.
I feel it needs at least new O rings as the car has about 350 K on it. It still works fine but at times it’s hesitant to shift up.
It does this when the ambient temperature above 75 degrees. I think the O rings are just old and hardened.
The oil changes and a 20% Lucas friction modification have just about ran their game as far as I can ask them to.

What would you recommend I do for both of my situations?
I’m sure you must have connections in your circles.

Phil

Hello Phil,

If given a choice, I'd suggest the M46 for several reasons.

1st, the M46s are stronger than the M47s and that's why Volvo used M46s with turbo engines.

2nd, all of the new parts we normally use during a standard rebuild of an M46 are available except for 1 part. Although M46 and M47 share some internals parts, several of the M47 specific bearings and parts are NLA and are hard to find. About a year ago, we ordered 1 of the NLA M47 bearings from Russia. It took over 4 months to get here, but it did show up.

3rd, the M46s are easier to rebuild.
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

Eric,

I have wanted to rebuild the M46 w/J type OD that I own but reading the procedure in the greenbook reminds me that there are numerous specialized tools which I do not own and probably cannot acquire.

Even if I could avail myself of these tools it would be a considerable expense for a one time use.

I imagine there are more generic versions of the same tools but I have no idea what they are or where they are available.

What do you use? Can you share any workarounds?


--
'79 242, '84 DL 2 door, '80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon, '15 XC70 T6 AWD

I have to admit, I'm not the transmission rebuilder at our shop although I've assisted enough times to know what has to be done.

That being said, I will tell you that we learned how to rebuild M40/M41 transmissions by using the Haynes manual and we didn't have any of the Volvo special tools back then.

However that was many years ago and we now have most of the special Volvo tools needed to rebuild M4, M30/M40, M31/M41, M400/M410 and M45/M46/M47 transmissions and some tools we custom made.

I reviewed the M46 procedure in the Haynes manual and it looks like it can be rebuilt without all of the Volvo special tools.

--
Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

So the bearings in the gearbox are all the same? My over drive and trans worked fine just kinda loud in 1st and 2nd. And very loud in third unless I let off the gas then it was quiet on decel. How do I know which P-Type I have? Mine is from a 1989 745 Turbo. I believe that I talked to you before on Turbobricks before it crashed.
I'm interested in doing this cheap and I have 2 gearboxes to play with. The J-type I have was out of a car with less than 80K on it.

If your asking about the 4 speed section of the M46, there are a couple of variants of the M45/M46 gearboxes that use different sets of bearings and other internals.

To be honest, we've never seen a type 2 P O/D, but your O/D's should have an ID tag attached and that should give us a clue.
--
Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

My P serial# 28 11902611764

My J serial# 27 115938 010309

SIDE NOTE: While taking my J type apart I see what went wrong inside of it. I guess that when I was removing and installing driveshaft flange from the 740 (with the bell housing removed) Somehow I separated the input shaft from the output shaft, hence why my bearing was sticking out too far to install the bellhousing. Before I knew this I tried to move the shift lever and something popped inside. one of the locating keys had fallen out and I found a snap spring that is about 3/4 of a circle with hooked ends. It is bent and I have no clue where it went. Thinking I can just take it apart and reassemble it. But I also noticed that there is a gear on my layshaft that has 2 big chips missing. Gear clash I guess. I'm starting to think I need to to just find a good used transmission.

From what I can tell from your serial number, I believe you have a type 1 P O/D.

The spring wire you found is 1 of 4 on the mainshaft and you're going to have to remove the input shaft to replace it.

Which gear has chipped teeth? It's not unusual for the reverse gears to have some chips because reverse doesn't have a synchro. Depending of what you have, you might be able to use parts from both of your M46s to make 1 good transmisson.
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

The chipped gear is the second gear back on the layshaft. I took some good pics but I don't know how to upload them.

Send me the web addresses for your pictures using the link below and I will post them for you.

http://hiperformanceautoservice.com/contact_us.php
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

I don't know what that means. haha I use a Mac computer and usually I can drag and drop stuff from my photo library. But I always have trouble on these forums. I guess you can't just add attachments on the site.
I can fix cars pretty darn good but computers are my weak point.

Can you drag and drop your pictures into an email?
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Eric
Hi Performance Automotive Service (formerly OVO or Old Volvos Only)
Torrance, CA 90502
hiperformanceautoservice.com or oldvolvosonly.com

yes, I'm guessing to upload pic on here I would have to have the images saved on some sort of photo sharing site.

These instructions courtesy of Art Benstein


--
'79 242, '84 DL 2 door, '80 DL 2 door, '89 DL Wagon, '15 XC70 T6 AWD

Thanks, I'll try to figure it out. I am laughing at myself because I don't know what URL is. I'll do some research.lol

Obviously I never posted pics. I'm just confused on that matter. I have taken my J-type m46 apart. removed the OD with a slide hammer. hopefully this didn't destroy my OD unit. Under further inspection I need a different layshaft. However, there is a store in Atlanta with a nice iron case gearbox with no overdrive attached for a reasonable price with shipping. Wondering if my aluminum case J type will fit on the earlier iron box without issues. Also would you suggest rebuilding my OD unit if the oil looked terrible and was full of metal flakes? I know there are a few filters in there but the fluid was pretty metallic. And the magnetic drain plug was full of shavings and chunks.

I do intend to continue on with rebuilding mine just as an experiment. but at this point I really want to drive my car again. Also, I figure with the amount of noise my P-type made it wouldn't be fixable without getting all new internals, even the gear surfaces look worn out. I wouldn't want to even rob the layshaft.

Any advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance.