Hey guys, last night I was experiencing an issue with my shifter. After driving a ways in a higher gear (4th or 5th), I could not get it back into first or second. The other gears were fine. After a bit, it eventually went into the gears, but it was very tight, almost like the shifter was rubbing against something rubber. If I moved the shifter back and forth between 1st and 2nd, the bind eventually cleared up and it would shift fine for awhile, no grinding or anything. I dont know if it has anything to do with it, but I had been driving mostly all day before this happened. Has anyone had a similar problem? Is my tranny on its last legs?

 

i had the same problem in my max a couple of days ago. i really couldn't tell you what's wrong with it but it seems to go away. one day it wouldn't go into 1st or 2nd. the next i could get it into reverse. i thought my clutch or pressure plate was bad but it seems fine now?

 

if your input shaft beairng is bad its probobly metal shavings inside the trans interfering with the shift rods movment

that happend to my last 5spd and when i took apart i had all kinds of metal shaving from the bad input bearing every where. there is a magnet and that caught most of them but there were still more next time i can barrow a digicam im going to take some pics

 

Is this a symptom of a bad input shaft bearing, or would there be others. I know my TO bearing is kinda taking a crap, would that cause this? Something is interfering with the shift linkage movement, since I had a little trouble getting the shifter moved to the 1st/2nd gate from neutral. Would a drain/fill take care of most of the problem, or a rebuild the only way to do it?

 

is there a knocking/ticking sound with the car stoped and in nuetral and if so doe sit go away when you push in the clutch

if the shifter went into all other gears freely (3rd/4rd/5th) its not the throwout bearing

 

The only noise I have is a whirring sound when the clutch is out. I can be either parked or driving, and it goes away with the clutch pressed in, and is quieter when the car is warm. I'm guessing thats from the TO bearing.

 

thats probobly input shaft bearings

if the throwout bearing was bad it would do the exact oppisite it would make that noise when you push the clutch in

you probobly should look into getting the trans rebiult

how many miles are on it just out of curiousity

 

well with the power you're making now, i think that tranny won't last that much longer

hope you'll resolve the issue though.

 

fro reference this is what the bearing should look like



but once it gets bad it will look like this



heres 2 pics of the metal shavings that float around in the trans most of its stuck to the magnet

 

^^ Well I dont think the tranny will take much more abuse, I don't slam through the gears at all. I only get on it when everything is already engaged.

Man, that looks pretty nasty! Is there any way to get the magnet out without pulling the tranny? Im at 60K miles now.

 

exactly what Subs said...
my tranny looked exactly the same way, had the same symptoms as his and yours.
same pics here, except from my tranny:
http://mattblehm.com/pics/car/tranny/


The ONLY way you can get to that magnet is to split the tranny case open.
you CAN do it without removing the tranny from the car, but IMO I'd take it off. it's much easier to do your first time while it's on the bench.
lots of little things you have to do when putting it back together.. line up shift rods and shaft bearings and such..

 

Alright, looks like I have another project to tackle... It was bound to happen sometime though. Any recommendation as to what I should get? Such as good brands of rebuild kits, etc. I would get the gears cryo-treated, but I dont really have time/money for that right now. Another thing, what all is included in a rebuild kit? I assume the synchros come with that, and the bearing does not.

 

http://www.drivetrain.com/ will have the rebiuld kit which includes bearings for around 200$ but that does not include any sycros you have to call them and order a sycro kit which comes with all of them for about an extra 250$

best bet would be to get a spare 5spd and rebiuld/beef up then swap it in and rebiuld beef up your current for a spare that is if you dont like down time

 

Thanks subs. Thats what I would like to do, but the problem is serious enough right now to affect daily drivability, so I have to get it taken care of now. It'll be more money in the long run I know, since I want to have a tranny that can take the abuse sometime, but I dont have the cash right now.

 

well you could pull the trans and just replace the front input bearing and clean the debree out for now and that should buy you some time and be cheap

 

Matt, can you give me an idea of how long it took you? Were you using a lift or jacks? How much of the tranny did you rebuild? I've been thinking about diving in to replace a noisy input shaft bearing, thought I'd get a "just in case" cost for total rebuild while it's out. Thanks.

 

Ok. Should I replace anything else as of right now though while I have the tranny out? Anything that would wear out or cause more problems down the line? I will probably not do a full rebuild for at least a few months, probably not till August.

 

nelledge, it took me 8 hours from jacking it up in the morning until I was test driving it in the evening.. took me about 5-6 hours to rebuild the tranny, but I had to stop and look for some tools, stopped for lunch, took some phone calls, etc..

I could probably do the same thing in 4-5 hours now, but plan a full day for your first time to crack the tranny open... and you MUST have a real nissan FSM on hand. I wouldn't trust a cheapo manual for this, and I'm not even sure if it covers this stuff.

I bought the input and mainshaft bearings from the local nissan dealer for about $120. (that was 4 bearings total)

and you'll also need some special tools...
2-3 jaw puller, (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=45977)
bearing separator tool, (http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=3979)
and hydraulic press. (It's possible to do it with a vise and a big hammer, but the last thing I want to be hammering on is a shaft full of $300 synchros)


If you don't have at least those puller tools, then don't even think about doing the job.
there's also a lof ot other small thigns you need, but they're just general hand tools.

Honestly, you should also re-shim it to adjust for proper bearing preload and stuff, but I didn't mess with it myself.


As far as replacing anything else while you're in there, I wouldn't worry about it. these trannies are fairly strong as long as you're not beating on it (the internals are the same as what's in 4th gens, and we've seen what Hal and the other turbo guys do to them).. if you're not having problems with the synchros or anything, then I'd just put new bearings in it and keep driving like I did. no problems yet and I'm about 10,000 miles later.

 

Thanks for the info. That helps a lot. I have all the tools except the press, but I have access to one at our shop. As for the shims, I'll probably bypass that as well. The bearings aren't horrible, just annoying. Probably crack the case in a few weeks. I figure I'll replace the clutch at the same time.

Again, thanks for the help. Be prepared to hear from me if I get stuck in the middle of the job.

 

don't call me about it.. look in your FSM. follow it letter by letter and mark all your parts when you're taking it apart... once you get the shafts out, then you just press off the old bearings and press the new ones on.. then go to the re-assembly section at the end. skip the middle section showing how to tear down the synchros and everything else.

there's nothing I can do over the phone to help on the tranny job. it's all in the FSM.

 

Matt. Thanks for the description. I linked this thread to the Gen main sticky. I forget if you have one for the tranny there or not.

 

coo... I don't know if I ever linked this one in there or not..

 

Just bustin' your *****. Not literally going to call you. I don't have money to be dialing all the way over to Houston for something in a book. But thanks.