Got the tranny out of the car today. Pretty proud of that moment since my friend James took the motor and transmission out last time. I had to do it on my own this time. Fairly simple actually, since the tranny is all that is in there now. Just remove the wheel hubs from the struts and the steering control rods and then knock the half shafts out of the hubs. Take a screw driver and a hammer and give a whack to the CV joints connected to the tranny and there you have most of the work done. Climb under and undo one bolt and knock a pin out of the stick shift control arms and you are almost there. Then put a jack under the transmission and undo the bolts connecting it to the rubber mounts and lower it down. Thats it. I didn't take any photos of that journey, but coming next is the reason I got it out of the car. Broken Input Shaft Bearing.
Before...
Removed the cover to the 5th gear section
Close up of 5th gear bearing, selector arm and countershaft
5th gear bearing, arm, synchro and gear removed
Keeping track of the order pieces are removed
Remove bolts, springs and ball bearings from gear shift shafts
Main case removed - Differential on left, Main and countershafts on right
Over the top
Game of Thrones shot
Reverse is removed
My Neighbor, Paco, removing some bolts
Main Shaft and Counter Shaft removed - See broken bearing on upper right
Center of broken bearing removed - Real pain to get outer bearing case removed when it is broken
Shafts on the table - Notice bits of metal on cardboard - broken bearings that came out of tranny
Here is the outer bearing case stuck in its home - Paco saved the day and got it out
Put in new Input Shaft Bearing and started reassembly
Another Game of Thrones shot - Winterfell rising from the Flames
The work table
All re-assembled - Number 5 is alive
Spin the shaft and magically, no clicky clicky sound and the shaft doesn't wiggle about
So, theres it is. What a day. So glad we got it all back together and it appears it should be good to go now. Next weekend I will get some Transmission fluid in it and mate it to the motor. Then give it a low voltage test and see how it sounds. If all goes well, then it will go back into the car for some more testing. Pretty pumped about everything I learned today and how smoothly it went.
Well, the 1 solution will not fix the two problems, but I believe we have fixed one problem. The other issue is going to be tougher, but I think I can do it.
My neighbor, Fransisco, made me a new coupler out of some hard steel and it looks great. It is longer and covers most of the shaft. He also got me a hardened cobalt alloy key which is pretty hard. Hopefully it will not snap. The coupler fits nice and snug, although I thought he was going to make it a tad small and we were going to heat it up to get it on. He thinks the two set screws with loktite and the full length key and coupler will keep it all together very well. It fit perfectly and I feel confident this problem is solved. The coupler is welded to the other piece from the original coupler that mates to the transmission. He added two pins between them which will help secure them together when the torque is added from the motor.
Motor, adapter plate and coupler attached and ready to go
Close up of the coupler
He also made a 1/4" aluminum plate that goes between the motor and the adapter plate. My original plate was not wide enough and the coupler bottomed out, so I added some large square washers the first time. Now I have a nice 9" round 1/4" thick plate that is perfect.
We got the motor back in the car and applied power for a test. Uh oh..... still got the noise. We are pretty confident in the new coupler and its connection and we did not hear any noise from the electric motor by itself, so it must be the transmission. I have suspected something is up with the tranny for a while and it just happened that I had two problems. The tranny and the coupler. Well, we had to take the motor out and once we did, Paco, that is what we call Fransisco, spun the tranny shaft, and sure enough, we heard the same noises as I have heard from the beginning. Paco's mind started spinning and then he said, "I think you have some bad bearings on the transmission shaft." We spun it a few more times, and sure enough, that is exactly what it sounds like. Could be bearings somewhere else in the transmission, but when we listened it sounded close to the shaft. Also, the shaft had some play in it. He said that was not good.
So, we fixed the coupler issue, but have found, and I think identified, another problem. I now have to figure out how to pull the half shafts, and get the tranny out. It cannot be used, so I might as well open it up and take a look. Maybe it will be an easy fix with some new bearings just on the shaft and I won't have to muck around in the gear box at all. I have never done this, so I will be watching some videos and seeking help on some Honda CRX forums.
