Awesome, got the ball out, didn't even need a magnet, it fell out on its own.

Looks like I am 100 percent ready to open the case. One minor problem, drivers side axle, I still can't get it.


I've tried pushing it in and yanking on it, I've tried a pry bar and pounding on the prybar as hard as I can with a hammer, sticking a screwdriver in from the passenger side, still nothing. Amazing how through this whole project the hardest part will probably be getting this drivers side axle out.

Honestly, what do you do once you have tried all the above and still can't get it out?


If I put the transmission on my lawn, bellhousing down, and I go borrow a 50lb sledge hammer and just slam the pry bar, do you think I could crack my bellhousing? That is absolutely what I cannot do because then I will have two broken bellhousings.

 

I'm out of ideas mate ... sorry you are having so much trouble. I am certain it will come out, it's just a matter of finding out a way to do it. I wouldn't use a huge hammer - can only do bad things.

 

Modena ... glad you got it out mate! I am always leary of using a bigger hammer approach, but in this case, perhaps it was needed. Anyway ... did you get your lid off now? How's it looking / going? Keep us posted plz!

 

I took a break from it for today, I was so happy I got that sucker out and got the case off I felt like holding my CV axle in the air like a trophy and running around the streets screaming like I just won the World Cup or something. ROFL


Anyway, I am surprised, for as bad as the input shaft bearings are, the gears themselves are looking flawless like they just came from the factory. The differential bearings aren't too bad at all either! They must have been replaced before.

The input shaft bearings are horrible though, just turning them I can hear and feel them grinding. Here are some pics. This might be a bit overkill for pics, but I took a ton just so I can remember how it all goes back together!








On the input shaft that large bearing that has the yellow plastic lid, that thing is beat to pulp, I can hear it grind just turning it with my hands.

 

Looks like a 5spd Maxima trans to me.

The top of your MS doesn't look so cool there mate. Not good .... You'll have to take pix of the shafts when you get it all tore down. That is most likely why it was whining SO bad. The IPS head has the shims on it ... don't loose them. Also, you say the diff bearings look good ... need better pix, are they pitted at all? You can't see the pass side until it's apart, so ... again, pix when you do get a look at it.

Reason I say the MS doesn't look real healthy is due to the discoloration of the gear. That means that it got hot ... very hot. Also, it could be due in part to getting too hot too often. Heat actually changes the properties of the metal.

 

mainshaft is the one to the right in the pics right? Yea, I noticed that gear was a bit discolored, but it appears all the gears themselves seem to look fine, i've seen some people post pics of chipped gears on all the shafts, but aside from that discolored one on the top of the main shaft, they all look like they just came from the factory.


I wonder what would make that particular gear get so hot. The bearing on top spins quietly and it doesnt appear to have chips at all.

I'll have to see though. My project for today is cleaning up the "new" transmission, making sure I don't loose the detent springs and ***** and cracking that one open too. I am hoping all the gears and bearings are in good shape in that one.

According to Kzoosho it had roughly 80Kish miles on it and ran quiet. So I guess we will see in a couple hours.


BTW, I was just wondering, what do you think would make the transmission get so hot? The gear oil when it came out looked VERY burnt, and I noticed that even if I just had the car idling for like 10 minutes in neutral the transmission would get almost as warm or warmer than the engine itself. Also, could the discolored gear possibly be that the car had gear oil changes with GL5 most of its 174,000 mile life? I've only had the car for a few months.

 

ok ... the discoloration is due to heat, so yes - the trans was getting HOT. The reason it gets hot is due to friction (bad bearings) and that breaks down the gear oil (why it was burnt so bad) and causes the "spinning noise". Even if you can't hear a bad bearing by spinning it with your hand, try spinning it at 3k rpm's. (you can rig a drill to spin a bearing by using a pollisher head on the drill, and setting it next to the bearing and run the drill ... problem is, you'll hear the drill as much as the bearing so ... it's really hard to tell) I am willing to bet that the other gears will have discoloration as well. It's not just the head of the MS I see in the pix ... looks like several gears have gotten HOT.

GL-5 is differnet than GL-4 (different additives / properties) and GL-5 is bad in our cars. (here we go again ... bring it people! lol) GL-4 is recomended for our cars, because it will not eat the bronze syncronizers like GL-5 will. So .... with GL-5 the syncroz go out thus causing even more friction and wear on the whole system. Use GL-4 gear oil (I like Amsoil myself ... but you pay for it.) PM Talkinghorse - he can get you a deal on Amsoil GL-4. Good mate to deal with, fast shipping (right from the manufacture) too.

 

Yea, I already snatched up the last bit of GL4 at my local auto parts stores. The synchros didn't seem to be working too well in this transmission either, I found that if I wanted first gear at anything other than a dead stop I would have to double clutch and rev match. I wouldn't be surprised if the previous owners/lube shops GL5'ed it its entire life and thus the synchros aren't in great shape either, thus heating the whole thing up even more.

 

It's just a known problem in breaking down the syncroz. It's really hard to tell what has or has not been done by previous owners. Glad you have GL-4 to use.

How does the "new" trans look? Any pix yet?

 

Haven't gotten it open yet. One of the bolts was seized, I ended up tearing two 12mm sockets, so i had to run to sears a few times. One of the other bolts cracked loose no problems, but after two turns then seized up, so I had to take a 5 foot section of PVC pipe and use it as a cheater bar, and just slowly ratchet it out with this giant cheater bar.

That itself took like 30 minutes. I am hoping the innards of this transmission check out, because so far the outside of the casing is just COVERED in baked on grease, I had the problem with these two bolts, so I hope the innards of this transmission are in a lot better shape than the externals.

Right now I am trying to get the detent ***** out. On my transmission all it took was to just turn it over, tap the casing with a hammer and they fell out, these ones are a bit more resistant, so I might see about calling up some people to see if they have anything magnetic I can stick in there. If worse comes to worse I guess I will just run out and buy some magnetic screwdrivers or something.

 

Well .. I hope it goes better than it has been.

Which bolts were siezed up? For the detent ***** / springs, it will not take a large mag to get them out. I have a telescoping mag that came in a set. Very handy in deed! As I said before, you can magnatize just about anything with a mag ... so which ever is cheapest I guess. I have even seen these jars, you put the item in and shake it - transfers the + / - whatnots to the item. Works well with hard drives too. lol (my mate set a speaker ontop of his laptop hard drive ... doesn't really work so well anymore. Tard! LOL)

 

Alright here we go some pics. First off below are some closer shots of parts of my transmission that was on the car:

 

Here are pics of the "new" transmission.


You can see that where the bolt goes for the reverse thingy, somehow the casing is chipped from inside. I have no idea how that could have happened. It didn't happen when I undid the bolt either because the bolt came out easilly, and also the shards from the casing were resting on top of the yellow plastic cover on top of the input shaft bearing.


Here is the thing I believe sits up against what chipped, appears to be in ok condition to me.

 

In this last photo you can see that everything is covered in a thick greasy black film. I hope that wasn't the way the transmission ran and is just dirt in all the oil from the transmission being exposed during shipping and however long (hole for gearshift position sensor and vehicle speed sensor)

Ok so heres the dillemma:

My transmission:
OK differential bearings (at least the drivers side, but ill assume for now its similar on the passenger side)
OK mainshaft bearings
Bad input shaft bearings (the input shaft is the one with the really big bearings with the roller ***** and yellow plastic cover right?)

The new transmission:
Bad differential bearings
OK mainshaft bearings
OK input shaft bearings


None of the bearings on either transmission are in stellar shape, but I am just going to try and mix and match parts to get the best outcome.

Here is what I would like to put back into my car:
1.) My old transmission casing, both halves. It is much cleaner inside and out and neither piece is chipped unlike the "new."
2.) My old transmission's differential because the bearings on the diff are in much much better shape.
3.) The "new" transmission's input and main shafts as I believe those bearings are in better condition
4.) As far as the shift forks and all that stuff goes, I have no idea what is easiest.

 

Yikes, I have another question, how do I shift it into fourth? I have no idea what specifically each gear is, which shift fork does what, etc. Before I opened the casing I removed two detent ***** and springs. I take it when I remove all the shift forks and whatnot there is one more detent ball and spring inside? Also, when it comes time to assemble this all back together how do I make sure everything is lined up properly? For some reason I doubt it will be as simple as just dropping it all back in, throwing the case on, sticking the detent ***** and springs back in, bolting it up and throwing it on the car.

 

bet thtas expensive

 

Nah, not really since I am doing it all myself, and just taking used parts from another transmission I got for cheap.

 

Update: 4th gear meshed, reverse idler gear and reverse idler shaft removed. Working on the reverse lever assembly right now.

 

The races (outter) on the "new" trans look like crap. So do the diff bearings from what I see. You'll have to check the shims and possibly re-shim the diff ... hope you know ... no matter what which case you use or diff. I payed $200 for my bearings / seals from GT Trans ... good people. I suspect you might have problems in a very short time and you'll be redoing all of this to replace bearings. Not always the case, but why chance it?

As for putting it all back together ... hahahah have fun. It's not really that hard if you look at the FSM pix and line it out right. Look at the exploded views of the internals and make sure you put all the check ***** back where they go.

For removing the R assmby ... use a long punch or screwdriver like I had mentioned earlier - between the shafts and punch that pin out. Should go ... but if it doesn't, you can bypass it. (you really don't want to go to the trouble of bypassing removing the R assmby, but sometimes they get gunked in there and will NOT come out.) PM if you need to ... I can go into greater detail. Also ... use my write up if it helps. That's why I did it.

 

Man u know i never had any noise out of that tranny when i pulled it. And as far as the grease man trully dont know. I only run Royal Purple gear oil. Maybe some moisture got in it while sitting here. SOrry about all than man.

 

Thanks for the help and input everyone, everything is going pretty awesome so far. The reverse pin was a pain, I couldn't figure out how to do it, but didn't want to bypass it like in JTZ's awesome guide either.

So I manufactured my own tool to remove it. It is a super sexy sleek carbonfiber and titanium piece just designed for this single purpose. In fact, I am thinking about trying to sell this tool design to Nissan for use as standard equipment for dealerships.


wait for it.....



wait for it........
































bwahahahaha

All joking aside, this thing really did the trick for pushing that pin out. I just took some giant pliers and coiled up a coat hanger and wrapped it in duct tape. Voila! It did the trick.


Ok, at this point, I think I am ready to remove the 5th/3rd and 4th fork rods. So far my problem of the moment is this:

1.) The 5th/reverse check ball is stuck in there. Turning the casing over on its side and tapping it, plus using a magnetic screwdriver have all failed at removing this. Maybe once I start jiggling things and trying to remove fork rods it will come out.

2.) The retaining pins holding the fork rods in and stopper rings, how do I remove them? I am thinking about putting a center punch in the front of the pins and bashing them out the back, and prying the stopper rings out. Anything wrong with this?


Oh, and yea the diff bearings on the new tranny are pretty well smooshed, but the outer races on the input shaft bearing, that is mostly just dirt in the pics, the input shaft bearings on the new transmission aren't in stellar shape, but are lightyears better than on mine, so I know everyone is recommending I get new parts, honestly I don't have the money or time at this point because I must get the car back together soon.

I figure though, if I use kzoosho's input and mainshaft, and my casing+ differential, I should have a pretty good transmission with bearings that should last quite a while. Maybe in 1-2 years once I have some $$$ saved up, since I know how to do all this now (or will know how to do all this by the end of the project lol ) then I will tear it all down again, do all new bearings, maybe look into installing a limited slip diff of some sort, and do a more aggressive clutch while I have it all apart. I am actually kindof happy because with the noises my old transmission was making I was expecting to see tons of chipped gears and metal shavings all over. But reusing the good parts from kzooshos tranny and my old tranny together, I think I will have something that should run pretty good for a while anyway.

 

Wow .... stop, hold the phone mate! Don't pop the shift rods apart if you don't have to. There is a bolt (12mm) on the side oppisite the diff, with a long spring and ball there ... there are many more ***** (5 total if memory serves me right) and 2 plungers. They slide thru the bottom of the rod / forks so you have to remove things in order here. (again ... FSM and exploded pix help lots!) Once you remove the bolt, spring, first ball, then the first (5th) rod should slide out. Next, 2 ***** and a plunger, then 3/4 rod will come out ... then another ball and plunger and 1/2 rod will slide out.

Nice make on the tool btw ... clever! I did notice on some of your pix that your syncorz (I think on the "old" trans) look pretty rounded. They really should have a "U" or "V" shape to them. *likely not going to have a "V" shape unless they are new, which we know they're not - so a "U" shape is better than rounded anyway. How do they look on the "new" trans? As for the gunkyness (grime) inside ... as noted, just used somewhat burnt gear oil, no big deal. If you find chunks of metal ... then get concerned. lol Clean it out well before putting it all back together and you'll be fine. And the chip on the R holder, not going to hurt anything as long as it's still solid. You could patch it with JB if you wanted, not anything to really worry about honestly. All that bolt does is hold the gate in place, so unless it leaks around there ... I wouldn't bother. If it leaks after it is all together, put silicone over the hole and put the damn bolt in.

Jamaha80 - since when are "old" bearings better and in what way?

 

Oh yikes, I don't need to get the shift rods apart? From my take on the FSM and motorvate as well as your write up it looked like all I had to do was take those pins out of the shift forks, take those two C clips off each one, slide the 5th/reverse shaft and forks out, slide the 3rd/4th shaft and forks out, then from what I gather the entire input shaft, mainshaft, and 1/2 rod and forks all come out as one unit.

If I can get away with not having to do that, that would be great! So what you are saying is I can just slide both input and mainshafts AND their forks right out without having to bother with taking apart the forks?

EDIT:

Ok, I checked out the syncros, lol both transmissions look about the same, somewhere between a U and round. LOL. Oh well, it worked okay enough in the transmission I had in there and both are about the same. It's ok, I know how to double clutch and rev match anyway. Maybe in 1-2 years I'll do a 6sp swap or something.

 

This might help .... direct link to DL this pic ::: http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/e...tControl-1.gif


Ok ... you need to remove the interlock ***** / plungers or you will never get the rod itsefl out of the trans. I only removed the rod becasue I couldn't get the R assembly out (due to the stuck pin) so ... yea, to remove the rod with the R asby in, you need to do what you did / thought to do. The interlock plungers / ***** hold the rod up or down as needed per what gear it's in. Remove the 5/R bolt (well .. really it's all the gears) on the side and pull all that out, then the rods will slip right out. I hope this makes sense and helps ... not trying to lead you astray at all.

 

Awesome. Looks like at this point all I need to do is go get a more powerful magnet to get the check ball out, then I guess once that is out, I can slide the 5th fork rod straight up, and out, take the 5th fork off, then from there the interlock ***** and plungers, then once the 3rd / 4th rod and forks are out, then I can just pull the input shaft and main shaft out of my transmission with the 1st/2nd fork rod and fork still attached is that correct? It pretty much sounds like it from the FSM.

 

wow congrats to f1 for having the ***** and going through with this you doing good. and plus one for JTZ the 5speed rebuild king. just looking at post 66 scared me away from trying this myself lol. junkyard when the time comes good luck!

 

Haha, thanks man. Hey, the reason I bought another transmission instead of changing the bearings on mine was for two reasons, 1.) I wasn't sure if the shafts and gears were damaged. 2.) MAINLY this is the reason though, the bearing replacement and rebuild guides honestly scared the **** out of me, I was like "f*** that, just swapping out the transmission itself might be over my head"

Then I realized that to swap bellhousings you have to do all this.

And now that I got into it, it isn't as hard as you think, plus you learn a lot and it is almost fun doing it.

Honestly, I am not too worried if my bearings go out in 30K miles, because I know by then I will have the money to do all new bearings and I know it's a piece of cake and I can do it.

If and when the time comes for you and you are pondering whether or not to junkyard it, keep in mind you can always PM me and I'll help you through it like JTZ is helpin me right now.

 

It really isn't that bad once you are in it. lol

As far as me being a rebuild king .... LOL not so sure that is acurate! I needed help when doing mine as well. However ... like Modena said, you do learn a LOT when doing this, and it is sortta fun. Like a giant jigsaw puzzle in a sense. (only ... 3D) Keep us posted mate. Sounds like you are doing fine.

btw ::: the 1/2 rod / fork lift out with the IPS and MS all at the same time. Don't forget to remove the plungers though ... or you'll get hung up in doing this.

Cheers!

 

Update:

Once I understood it all, time to remove input shaft, main shaft, and differential from the transmission, clean EVERYTHING, and install it all back into my transmission: 1.5-2 hours.

Time it took trying to get that damned ball in the reverse assembly to stay put and not fall into the transmission casing and get the reverse assembly installed: 2 hours.

That damn thing argahrhagh.

Anyway, my transmission is completely back together now. Before I throw the casing on, do I have to do anything to line up the gears and whatnot? What fork should be on what gear? For some reason when turning the shift linkage by hand, I cannot get it over to control the 5th/reverse fork, nor can I really move the 5th/reverse fork for some reason.

What steps do I need to do to ensure that this works ok because I put the whole thing back on the car only to find out there are gears I can't shift into?

 

I was wondering if you had gotten this done yet or not?

You should be able to shift thru all gears (including R) when it's all done. If you can't, don't install it untill you can. Did you get all the ***** / plungers in the right place? When it's done, all gears should be in N. You can slide the forks up or down - the middle slot is N. As for using the selector rod ( use a screwdriver thru the hole and use it as leverage) pushing in will get you 2, 4 and R, pulling out will get you 1,3, 5. It might not go real smooth with the lid off .... but should still work. As for the R check ball ... vasaline is our friend here! ... and of course some patience. lol That one frustrated me too for a while my first goround.

 

Hotness...its all back in the car. So get this, I would be driving around by now, but this took an extra couple of days because I got it all closed up and sealed, then I realized I forgot to put the magnet back into the casing.

I took it all apart again, put the magnet back in, double checked everything, cleaned the edges, resealed it, bolted it back up.

I then saw that little pin for the reverse shaft laying on the ground, took it apart again, got that in, sealed it up.

So now, I then got it all bolted up and ready to go, then I realized that the support for the top of the reverse idler shaft wasn't lined up with the bolt hole at all. Took it apart again, sealed it back up.

So now I had my friend come over, to line it up from the top, I got under it and lifted it up, went back in the car smooth as butter, nothing could have gone more perfect. I go to get a tool for the bolts, and then....I find an input shaft bearing shim on the garage floor, I guess from opening the case a bunch of times it fell out the last time and I didn't notice it.

Sooooooo transmission came off the car, opened it all up again, got that in, closed it up, bolted the case down, and that reverse thing got bumped out of whack.

Open the case again, aligned that, cleaned it all again, resealed it, then it was a pain in the butt getting it back on the car and aligned, after an hour of that, finally got it back on the car.

Other than that, I think everything is good to go and it was pretty painless lol.


I don't have the halfshafts in it or oil in it yet though, so we shall see.

 

 

Awesomeness! Everything works great! I have a wee bit of input shaft noise when I let off the clutch in neutral, but it is pretty much nothing compared to my old input shaft!!!

The synchros work a bit better in this transmission too.


I must say again, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!! to everyone who helped me, especially JTZmax, he obviously took a lot of time responding to all my questions.

I most definitely would not have been able to do it without everyone's help!

 

I'm glad I could be of help! It really is a good feeling to get it done, know you did it (that you could do it), and that it works! Congrats mate. Save up some $$ for a bearing / seal kit and you'll be able to do it in a weekend next time. (just don't forget, you'll have to order new diff shims)

 

Duuuude - awesome thread !!! LOL, I cannot believe how many times you got the thing on and off, and then the shim on the floor just tops it wow

Anyway - inspired by brave noobs like yourself, I will be attempting a similar task in the very near future. I have to replace all the bearings in my tranny. JtzMax - you mentioned that there is a bearing/seals kit that you can purchase for ~$200. Where exactly did you buy it from - do I just walk to a nearby nissan dealer?

Finally, since it's a massive undertaking, are there any additional parts that I might as well replace since I have the thing apart anyway? My car is at 142K right now. The clutch is an obvious one, but my clutch should be on less than 10K miles (previous owner says -let's hope he didn't just tell a fat lie). Any other sensors, wires, seals that might as well be replaced?

Again great job with the tranny and let's hope it lasts!

 

I can't think of anything else that would really need to be replaced. I would suggest doing the transmission seals, although I didn't do them and ended up being ok it would probably be a good idea to do the seals where the driveshafts meet the differential and the shift linkage possibly. Other than that, I can't think of much. If you have any questions regarding disassembly or getting it off the car or anything, feel free to post it up here and I will try my best.

 

Alex -

You can pick up a bearing / seal kit from GT Transmission, I think his name is Gary, but it may be Greg ... he'll tell you. lol He will ask for your # and call you back, normal. Nissan would charge you more than you wanna pay, and these are good bearings. NTN IIRC. As for the only thing else you might need, shims for the differential - which you'll have to special order after getting the measurements. GL-4 gear oil ... if you want good stuff, you can PM Talkinghorse and he'll hook you up some Amsoil (hi grade!) GL-4. Other than that ..... tools, mates to help, beer!

 

I can get ones for $235 + shipping, they're all jap bearings as well, same ones nissan uses NTK etc

 

Since this thread has a lot of picture of transmission, can anyone please point out where is the transmission bolt that most people advise to put the new ground wire?
Also, according to picture of starter, it has a thick black wire attached to. Is this a extra ground wire you would connect it off from Negative(-) terminal from battery?

As far as a new ground wire, what should be the sufficient length? Do you advise to get it from autoshop(premade one) or a raw wire from Lowes/HomeDepot?
I am sorry about being off topic.

 

Why are you posting here ???? This isn't really the right place for this post, you already have another thread started ... right? Then use that one!

Just because you see a lot of pictures in a thread doesn't mean that you go posting off topic in someone elses thread. Post these pictures in YOUR thread and you might, might get help.