T45 rebuild

[blacksheep-1]

I'm going to write a piece on the T45, hopefully the local douchenozzle who loves to screw up other people's threads will leave this one alone.

OK took the beast out to an autocross and the 1-2 shifts were horrible, missed a few gears, grinding both on the up and the downs, so I did a little checking, found the car had one of those aftermarket "Quadrants" that I personally think suck, tried to adjust it, ripped it out of the car and replaced it with a UPR unit that has much more adjustability and a detent in the adjuster..nice piece.

things improved with a properly adjusted clutch but it was obviouse the trans had more issues
So I searched the net for some info and found a great link..

http://www.pomoforacing.com/tech/PreliminaryT45rebuild.pdf

and dug in, with the neighbor's help I pulled the trans

pulled the tailshaft housing and drained the oil out of it

I noticed the oil was real thick, maybe the wrong type..part of the problem no doubt.

The link suggests using a puller on the rear bearing but a brass drift and a hammer worked fine

and this is the naked tailshaft..the hard part is now over

 

[blacksheep-1]

So now we unbolt the bellhousing,and remove the innards from the front of the case
You should now have this in front of you..

in this trans the bearing retainers were a little weak in their bores. I don't know how you would align bore this case since it comes apart the way it does, so I replaced the shells, staked the sides, added a little JB weld and punched the new shells in with a brass drift. Not the best solution, the best solution looks like this....

link.http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...ront-cover-quicktime-bellhousing-install.html

but we're lobuck so I did it the other way

Again, after removing the snap rings, a brass drift was used to remove all the parts from the mainshaft front side

Picking up the mainshaft and dropping it straight down on a piece of steel, on the concrete floor, magically "unpressed" the parts aft on the mainshaft

 

[blacksheep-1]

OK, now we approach the crux of the issue, the fiber clutch/synchro pack that allows gear changes, the fiber either gets worn away or, if the wrong fluid is used, saturated in the bad stuff enough so that it doesn't work..or drags.

I also replaced all the dogs and energizer springs while I was there..(using some slang, may not be the correct names)

and re-assembly begins, The brass drift sets all the parts and then re-install the snap rings. I found it was much easier to sit the case on 2 wooden stools and load everything in from the front..

some silicone love since the trans uses no gaskets....

I re-installed the bell and then checked for operation..yep 4 gears in the main case

Installed the tailhousing parts (5th and reverse) and again sealed it with silicone, and checked for operation.. (sorry about the oil, it was clean but got messed up from moving it around, I re-cleaned it before the install)

and away we go...shifted like....butter

a few notes:
The t45 is not that great IMO, I'm used to old school Muncie 4 speeds and Super T10s, where the cluster gear is totally supported, these only are supported on the ends. I prefer the T5WC to the T45 simply because it has a top cover that you can take off and look at, and check operation, it also has a removable bellhousing which makes installation and removal much easier. I also keep track of the snap rings, there are some places where it looks like a snap ring goes, but doesn't, so I keep an exploded view handy, take pics as I go and tie wrap all parts together in sub categories (like gears/synchro/hubs) I also place a painted dot on all forward facing parts to denote which way the part faces.
This was my first t45, if you are moderately detail oriented, I would jump in, it is not that big of a deal. Getting the trans in and out was actually the hard part.

 

[Whistler98]

What fluid do you use? I used royal purple the last time I filled it. I might just put stock style fluid in it next time.

 

[blacksheep-1]

What fluid do you use? I used royal purple the last time I filled it. I might just put stock style fluid in it next time.

Just standard Dexron-2 not even a synthetic, supposedly the synthetic stuff is noisier but may be better for wear. Personally, I just used what was recommended by the mfgr.

 

[Brutal Metal]

Just standard Dexron-2 not even a synthetic, supposedly the synthetic stuff is noisier but may be better for wear. Personally, I just used what was recommended by the mfgr.

I as well use a conventional ATF, Nice writeup:beer:

 

[DHG4410]

Agree nice writeup. There have been many post about what fluid to use in the T45 but it always comes back to the non synthetic.
Great Job!

 

[Charged99]

Awesome write up. Maybe I will try and tackle my tranny myself after all

 

[blacksheep-1]

Awesome write up. Maybe I will try and tackle my tranny myself after all

Read those links the pomoforacing was a great article! It covers a lot of the details that I left out. The trans is pretty straight forward, it's just too bad you have to tear it all the way down to fix the 1-2 synchros. Like I said, if you are at least moderately detail oriented, you can pull it off.

 

[KLeech]

Awesome job man! Wish I had the guts to do it, but I didn't so that's why I just went big and got a T-45source trans. Major props to you for doing it yourself though!

 

[CJK440]

The t45 is not that great IMO, I'm used to old school Muncie 4 speeds and Super T10s, where the cluster gear is totally supported, these only are supported on the ends.

I've been inside a few Muncies, S-T-10's and A833's along with a couple of T-45's, T-5's, TR 3650's etc. and for comparisons sake, never thought the cluster and the bearings it rides on an issue. Granted, there are a couple rows of needle bearings on around the the counter shaft in the old school boxes that may appear more supportive but that's because the technology wasn't there. I bet that shaft deflects more than the T-45 cluster does.

IMHO the T-45 is a beautiful transmission for what it was intended. The shortcomings are the integral bell, torque capacity and now that Tremec doesn't have to support them, OE quality replacement parts (only aftermarket). Mine old one shifted like no other.

Good writeup. I love the down and dirty approach to disassembly without the shop manual specific tools.

 

[trent1000rr]

Did you really say you added jb weld to hold the bearing races in. They are supposed to be slightly loose so shimming is possible.

 

[Ike Turner]

Wish I had the balls to attempt this...good job

 

[blacksheep-1]

Did you really say you added jb weld to hold the bearing races in. They are supposed to be slightly loose so shimming is possible.

Yes, and they are shimmed, the concern was the race spinning in the bore, no issue with the shims. They have a certain amount of preload, and they still do, they're just a little more "solid".

I've been inside a few Muncies, S-T-10's and A833's along with a couple of T-45's, T-5's, TR 3650's etc. and for comparisons sake, never thought the cluster and the bearings it rides on an issue. Granted, there are a couple rows of needle bearings on around the the counter shaft in the old school boxes that may appear more supportive but that's because the technology wasn't there. I bet that shaft deflects more than the T-45 cluster does.

IMHO the T-45 is a beautiful transmission for what it was intended. The shortcomings are the integral bell, torque capacity and now that Tremec doesn't have to support them, OE quality replacement parts (only aftermarket). Mine old one shifted like no other.

Good writeup. I love the down and dirty approach to disassembly without the shop manual specific tools.

LOL! back in the day we used to try and find the 7/8 (or was it 3/4?) counter shaft Muncie boxes, then offset bore them to the larger 1 inch bore, but closer to the mainshaft so the boxes would live longer. Of course those old (small counter shaft) boxes are probably worth a ton for the restoration guys now. As far as deflection..I don't know I'd have to see that, those old boxes were pretty solid. I know the European T5 road race guys actually made a girdle for the trans to keep it from "expanding" front to rear..that's pretty bad.