the tranny has 54,000 miles and the front is in perfect shape besides the stripped headlights....with such low mileage, i would think the trans would be in near perfect shape but that little play is worrying me...its not THAT MUCH MOVEMENT but would u guys say there should be NO MOVEMENT WHAT SO EVER? or will like a tiny movement be bad...

if anyone (particularly ericdwong) has an idea of how bad this may be, please let me know...atleast i could prepare for future. When i say slight movement, i mean real slight...

the side giving little movement is the driver side driveshaft...like i said, 1/8 of an inch....let me know everyone....

 

Are you talking 1/8" into and out of the transmission or up-down/side-to-side? It's normal to have play into and out of the tranny, but not the other motion.

 

He means the up and down moving of the driveshaft. Like when you press up on it with your thumb, not pulling it in and out.

 

precisely....help?

 

Do you have any fluid leakage, noises (grinding, whirring, clunks, etc) or any other drivetrain related problems?

If not I sure wouldn't worry about it.... Not enough certainly to rip out the whole tranny and rebuild it...

Mine seems to have a tiny amount of the same movement. It's a 1998 5spd with 82k on it. No problems yet.

-RMB

 

mecca - I coulda swore, but I thought I saw ericdwong mention that some vertical play was normal in the driveshaft. You might do a search with key words like "play" AND "driveshaft" along with his name and see what you find.

 

thanks, i'll do so....there was no leakage, we heard no noises and skeelo said the feel of the shifting was good...don't know if it will be same on my car but everything points towards a great tranny

if your 98 wit 82,000 miles is still going strong then this with 54,000 miles should be fine hopefully...i'll search a little more....

any other input would be appreciated

 

Grr sorry, i still don't understand what you're saying... do you mean when you have the car in neutral and u push forward or back lightly on the stick (not actually into 3rd or 4th gear)

 

Get under the car transmission, push the driveshaft up and down. That is what I mean, sorry for the confusion. There was no leak from the hole, but the bottom of the tranny seemed wet, I don't know what it was related to, might have been the gear sensor. It could have been something else, the car was in an accident that pushed the back in so much that it looked like a ford fiesta.

 

skeelo's just talking about going underneath the car and touching the driveshaft area...its like this rubber thing (my vocabulary sucks) that is connected to tranny and he pushed it in and it went in....i think it was supposed to stay still...correct me if i'm wrong....but i want to find out if little movement in the rubber thing up and down is ok....people have complained about movement in that area as a sign of a soon to be bad bearings and i just want to know how much movement is bad...

hope my HORRIBLE explanation makes things a little easier to understand?

 

First off- 54,000 miles on these POS transmissions is not considered low by me. 54k or so seems to be when the imfamous differential bearing failure crops up. What play are you describing and where? Is it the 1/2 shaft?

Since the transmission is off of the car, I strongly recommend you pull both seals off and look at the bearings from the side. If they are loose then chances are the bearings are toast. If you want to be more ballsy, open the transmission and you will visually be able to see the driver side bearing. You will also be able to see the strainer magnet at the bottom of the case. If this case is coated with metal shavings then there is no doubt the bearings are toast. You will also be able to completely change and clean the transmission and put in fresh fluid if you open it.

There should be zero play in the differential. If you saw how the tapered bearings (roller bearings arranged in a cone) looked, there shouold be no play at all. If there is play where the drive shaft rod fits in the hole where the rubber boot is thats normal, but if its the tripod part that goes into the transmission has play then you've got problems.

 

wow, thank u ericdwong.....for making me FEEL SO STUPID!!! Tripod, differential? only thing u said which i understood was rubber boot...i'm hoping skeelo comes in here so he can tell me if u gave me good news or not....

 

change yer tranny fluid put a magnet in the bottom of the pan u drain it into let it sit over night then take the magnet out either by draining or just reaching in and grabbing it. if theres a bit of metal on it then check the bearings and such , i have a vlsd in my maxima that is also my third tranny , and it leaks yet i have no metal in my fluid or play in my driveshaft ive changed the seal many times but while it was in the car. when i do the clutch ill try the seal thing again till then ill just top it off every few weeks. BTW motor mounts dont cause wheel hop , tires do, ask a maxima friend who doesnt experience wheel hop to try his or her tires and u will see what i mean -Pete

 

never heard of that magnet testing...but wouldn't there be like little metal due to shifting badly or something? well...i'll try that...

 

There would be some fine metal filings in any transmission or differential.... So unless you come up with chunks I think it would be hard to quantify "lots" of filings.

Don't fix it if it aint broke....


-RMB

 

Ahh yes, but this one very well could be broke. After all it is out of a 97 which is one of the years this failure occurs and its got the amount of miles. For the tranny not being in the car, it doesnt take more then 10 minutes tops to open it up. You'll have to seal it back up but you get to completely flush out the old tranny fuild.

 

for most people its hardly feasible to pull their tranny , most donthave the time. unless it ****es fluid out i wouldnt be concerned
like i said ive had two fail one due to my driving the other due to the improper bearing preload and a very sneaky org member
-Pete

 

But he is doing a tranny swap and the tranny is already right there. So... why not?

 

Eric, what did you use to cut off the bearings? I couldnt even scratch the damn thing. I used a scredriver and a sledge hammer to chip & crack it off. SUrely, ther emust be an easier way?

 

Was this for yours or was this for his tranny? I never took the bearings off. I installed the Quaife diffy and bought new bearings and speedo gear. However my friend has a press and I have bearing plates. I can press them off if need be

 

its still on car right now, about to be pulled out, and its not leaking so i think i'm just going to take my chances and HOPE it lasts atleast a year if not longer...by then, if things go bad, i SHOULD be financially stable and what not...i just don't have the patience nor the money right now to fix bearings...I MIGHT not experience problems hopefully...

ericdwong, u said the 97 is notorious for these bad bearings? if u can start all over, what 4th gen tranny would u get? what year and what model? and maximum mileage...

 

what is the best 4th gen tranny?

 

No, this was mine. I did rebuild it recently. It tooke me a few hours to get those damn bearings off. How much did the quaife cost you?

 

If its not leaking yet then you might be OK for the time being. However, if indeed your bearings are going bad, you're sending shards of metal throughout your tranny. Make sure you do not run out of lube. Very important.

I Probably still would get a 97 model. I honestly dont think any other ones are built any better. I think I have the best combination going right now. A 16,000 mile tranny, for $250. I had the guts cryogenically treated.

BTW: Quaife diffy was like $1400. I still cant believe I spent that much on a single mod, but its the coolest mod ever. I'll never drive any vehicle without positraction of some sort.

 

How much did it cost you to get the guts cryogenically treated? Does it really help? What is that anyway?

 

has anyone taken into consideration that for those of us who have blown gears that the alloy case is the weak point? i know that Borg Warner t-5's often lose 3 and reverse due to the case stretching
-Pete

 

Maxima 5spd dif bearings = bad

Mine was shot to **** about 4,000km ago (at 100,000km now). I think something to do with the factory tolerances were way off or something. Very common problem, with all 4th gens I think.

 

My 98 SE 5 spd, at 120K km has the fluid puring now from the bottom, I often need to refill it.
I had the tranny opened up before, but the bearings seemed fine, a few tiny scratches as I was told. The driveshaft has play up and down, that is not suppose to happen, and the seal has been replaced twice, yet still leaks.



Is it the bearings for sure? or can I add shims to the bearing to prevent it from moving?
I was told by a mechanic that the bearing moves and therefore allows play for the driveshaft. He said if I add shims to it, it will prevent the movement, and stop the leak. Yet the transmition guys told me Never to add shims to the bearing.

WHAT THE HELL FOR ME TO DO????

 

if its pouring its the bearings take it out and have it rebuilt , sorry for the bad news, dont drive it either there should be almost no play up or down, get it done asap or u might have the bearing seize. id suggest a new drivers side axle from www.raxles.com too because the bearing race on the axle is probably chewed -Pete

 

I am gonna do this at my dad's garage.
How can I tell if it's the bearrings when I take the tranny out?
When I took it out before, the bearings seemed alright, but they were a bit scratched up. I didn't see them, the mechanic told me.

Should they be absolutely flawless or is it normal to have wear on them?

How much would it cost to do it yourself in a garage with a mechanic?

 

My bearings completely failed. When i opened the tranny, they just poured out with the fluid. Look at the bearings, see if they look worn, chipped or abnormal. I don't know what eles to look for. And just a warning, if you dont have the right tools to get the bearings off, you're in for some fun. That hardened steel is a bitc*. Anyway, the two bearings cost about 40 bucks each from tustin nissan.

 

Can you tell me the names of the bearrings you replaced?
As well as the toll(s) you used to get them off.
This will be greatly appreciated and will save me a bunch of time.
How long it it take you to do the entire "surgery" on your car?

Any info will be VERY VERY Helpful!

Thank you so much in advance!

 

if your dad has a shop and he plans on helping u then id say go ahead, tranny removal in my opinion scares most into opening there wallet and bending over for old fashion jail time fun, anyways, any scratches in my opinion are bad the races should all wear equally. once my tranny was out i was able to stick my fingers in the axleshaft hole on the drivers side (like warm apple pie) and move the diff around , if u can do that your bearings ARE SHOT
-Pete

 

I think you watch too much American Pie

But... The previous time I had the tranny out, the Driver Side bearing was moving by quite a bit. There was one shim holding it in place, but it was not enough. The bearing seemed ok though, so I am thinking that it "MAY" not be the bearing, but the shim(s). Maybe if I knew exactly what shim I need, I can add it to prevent the bearing from moving. The mechanic said, it needs about 3 more shims to hold it tightly in place.
You think it is still the bearing? eventhough it was in relatively good shape?

Thanks for the input

 

id suggest getting an FSM from your local nissan dealer , they are espensivo but if u plan on keeping the car for a while its worth it. it will have every spec you can imagine. there was a site that explained all this VERY WELL i think the url is www.motorvate.ca try that and see where it gets u
-pete

 

Seen it, but I am confused about the shims stuff!
What size? how many?

 

u need a gauge to measure bearing preload and u need the factory recomendation , its not like shimming a bolt this has to be exact