water transmission case

[Xavier]

Hi everyone, I'm in a bit of problem with the casing of the water transmission. I decided to open my transmission while it still sits in the car to change the gasket and the seal between water and land transmission. It was a pain to open and it seems to be even worst to put it back in place. My question : is it possible to put it back in place without pulling out the whole transmission ? I've tried pretty much everything in the book right now and i'm a bit desperate. Thanks in advance for the answers !

 

[jfriese]

Hi,

It isn't necessary to pull the transmission out. I've done what your doing a few times without any problem. There are a number of things that have to line up but they aren't loose or wobbly. Be sure the shifter fork is in place and the case should go together with taps from a rubber mallet.

The replacement big gasket from Gordon's will be dry and have shrunk a bit. Don't try to force it in place. Soak it in hot water for a minute or so and it will expand back to full size without any trouble.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Xavier]

Thank you for the answer ! I've tried the rubber hammer but I'll try again I guess.

 

[SNOWBIRD]

Seeing the condition of the oil coming out of the Land trany(very bottom) I would take the whole trany apart, looks like water contamionation .

 

[Jon March]

If what Gord is seeing is correct, he might have a good point - altho John F is right in that it can be done, it would certainly be easier to get the cover back on if you could unscrew the 4 nuts holding the tranny to the engine, get it out and rehab it right - and a lot more conveniently.

Ive never taken out a tranny up thru the back seat - i assume it would be with two guys, with long arms, ratchet straps, wood strips to help, etc. The biggest bitch is getting at the lower 2 of the 4 nuts...maybe a stubby air tool, since theres not much room to swing an manual wrench. Then you could also check the throw out bearing (mine was cracked), the clutch springs (some of mine were chewed up and loose at the bottom of the bell housing.....John Friese sells a really nice clutch if you find there are issues when you see it opened up....

 

[jfriese]

Given the place you're at now it would be crazy to do all the additional work of pulling the tranny. My clutch kit is a fine thing but it's generally replaced because the original clutch chatters and falls apart, or during a general restoration. Replacing the clutch is practically impossible with the engine in the car and you don't need to pull the tranny to replace the clutch. You're close to done with that water tranny repair and even if you wanted to replace the clutch I would suggest you leave the tranny in the car.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Jon March]

good point - i guess a clutch would be near impossible to do in the car with tranny removed. But if what Gord spotted is indeed water intrusion -and with just 4 nuts to separate the tranny from motor - im was just thinking it would be a reasonable point to pull the tranny and replace seals that might be causing such water-mixing?..especially if they are having trouble putting it together in place..

 

[jfriese]

Jon,

Are you forgetting the nightmare of pulling the wheel shafts and rear brakes that's involved with pulling the transmission? Way more than 4 bolts is involved.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Jon March]

LOL - with my shafts out for so long, i forgot about that aspect!

Can the driveshaft ends be relatively easily slid out of the double lip seals (that might be causing the water contamination Gord points out)?

ie: 6 axle tube bolts (agreed, one of my axle tubes had interior corrosion, preventing it from coming out without a 20 lb slide puller!

But assuming the tubes DID slide out freely - it would just be the 6 axle tube bolts and the bottom shock bolt, no? -
....or dont the brake lines and cables stretch away from the body far enough to get the driveshafts out? If no, i hear ya...now its getting wet and messy.
But still, If I saw water in my oil, i definitely wouldnt let that stay that way@&#. I guess if you wanted to deal with it, frequent trans oil changes would remove the water from building up in the tranny too much...?

Do some people do that? Just keey sumping out the water & gear oil mix and adding fresh gear oil to keep it going?
Maybe with diligence, it could be an accepted practice?

 

[Xavier]

Thanks for the intel guy! I already noticed the water intrusion and replaced all the axle seals. We're not planning to do a tranny rebuild this year (maybe neext year) but i did a flush both transmission and plan to do an other flush a after a short drive to drain all that contamination. The cover of the water transmission is still not in place but we're working on it !

 

[jfriese]

The trickiest thing for me about reinstalling that water tranny cover is getting the land transmission lever in right. Since it was in neutral when I took it apart I assumed that the land tranny levers were also in neutral and lined up. When you try to put the cover back on be sure those land tranny shift levers are lined up, carefully hook the shifter so that it is engaging the middle of the shifters and not ahead of one of them. It should be able to easily hand rotate it clockwise and counterclockwise through about 45 degrees. Then while holding onto the land shift shaft bring it into the water tranny cover and push things together. It would be handy to have 3 or 4 hands but it can be done alone. Before you completely seat the cover check to see that the land shift lever can still rotate through about 45 degrees. If not, pull the cover off and try again.

P.S. Don't try to run the car or fill the land tranny without having the water tranny cover on. That area below that lower divider is actually part of the land tranny and oil will simply pour out if you try to fill it.

John Friese
67 White
67 Red

 

[Xavier]

I'm putting everything back as we speak and the position of the land transmission shaft was my main concern. So i'll make sure that it rotates 45 degrees either way before closing.