tranny clatter

[nick123]

Hi all,

94 ranger xl, 4x4, 3.0 liter, 5 speed

i am trying to trouble shoot a noisy tranny.

i have my transfer diconnected and fired up the engine.
i have a very loud clatter coming from the tranny, in every gear except 1st
i have no noise when the clutch pedal is depressed.
anyone here had this issue before or could offer some possible causes.
i am about to pull the tranny but thought i would post this first.

thanks in advance
nick

 

[Shran]

Was it making this noise while you were driving the truck? I assume so?

Does it make the noise if you put the transmission in neutral and let the clutch out? What about if you put the transfer case in neutral (if you can with manual shifter, disregard if push button.)

I don't know why 1st gear would not make the noise but the others would. 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th are all on the main shaft. My guess is that you will find a bearing has exploded or the teeth are sheared off one or more gears, but that is just a wild guess.

In any case unless you can narrow it down to either a clutch issue or the t-case, I would immediately stop running it and pull the transmission so that you can save whatever good pieces are left inside it, if there are any.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

t-case disconnected how?

Driveshaft(s) pulled or in tcase in neutral?

It might not be exactly in neutral and grinding the gears in there. I know mine is finicky getting into neutral.

 

[nick123]

the transfer case is unbolted from the tranny.
the tranny makes no noise when in neutral or when clutch depressed.
only makes the clatter noise when in 2 3 4 od

 

[Shran]

A couple things you could try:

First would be to drain the transmission and pull the tailhousing off the back...and see if there is obvious damage to anything back there.

Or pull the top cover/shift assembly out and look at things from the top, but this would require you to remove most of the interior, including the carpet, seat and floor plate.

Might just be easier to pull the transmission since you're already this deep into it.

 

[nick123]

i have the tranny out now
cover off and tranny drained.

first thing i noticed is that the input shaft seems to have an awful lot of up and down play.
i can watch its bearing and it seems to move around a fair bit.
can anyone tell me if this is normal.

the drain plug magnet didnt have a lot of material on it.
the fluid looked very old.
i am going to pulll the cover off of the output end tomorrow and have a look there.
i did spin the input shaft with the shifter cover off and could hear some noises that seemed to come from the output end of things.

i will keep you posted

thanks for the posts

 

[Shran]

A lot of movement in the input shaft is not normal - a little tiny bit is OK. The main shaft is two pieces and so a tiny bit is to be expected.

That is odd that there was not a lot of metal on the magnet. I have always wiped off quite a bit, even on transmissions that are in good condition. Perhaps if there are big chunks in there, they may have not gotten ground up yet.

 

[AllanD]

there should be ~0.004" play in the input shaft MAX.

NOTE: 0.004" is an amount of play you can "feel" but not see...

When I build a trans I try to set them up slightly negative play, because I understand that when the transmission comes up to operating temp the case will expand more than the gears inside it.


Additionally according to Timken (who knows more about bearings that any of us) tapered roller bearings last longest if slightly preloaded and having them even a tiny bit loose
will destroy them much ore quickly than being grossly overloaded.


The input shaft can be loose from any of several causes, improper assembly, worn bearings, worn bearing retainers, or even a worn case...