guys who rebuilt their t-5's

old_blue said:

should be here on thursday since it is coming from tx. great guy too, lots of info from corral.

Click to expand...

LOL

I ordered my stuff from the same source.

I drove the car for the first time yesterday. The rebuilt T-5 seems fine.

Great thread! I'm about to tear into mine as I've got a low speed whine, which might mean my counter gearset is done. We'll see.

Got a shop press cheap off Craigslist from an auto repair shop that was going out of business. The jack on it needed a couple of o-rings, but now it is good as new.

have you done the front wheel bearings on the daewoo? the whole strut has to come out it is pressed in to the steering knuckle. the machine shop charged 50.00 to change them.

hanlon motorsports sells a very good rebuild video,for those do it yourselfers.this is not hard to do but it does take a tad bit of time and some specialty tools.oh and a bit of common sence.but most of you guys should be good to go this was info for the newbees that havent busted thier first knuckle yet.

Remember that you have to break in the trans after the rebuild, especially after putting a new 2nd gear in. Its a lot like doing rear end gears.

That is hilarious. What did you crush?

Good job man.

Ordered my parts and DVD on friday, and they are showed up today. DAMN fast shipping!!!

a few items worthy of mentioning.

a whine is not a death sentence. It's usually caused by the bearings or even gears.

just be sure your fluid is topped off and it could go for years more.

as well, I've found that I don't need a press for nearly the entire thing, although I do have a press.

the countershaft bearings are easy.

pull off the cover with the torquex bits and slide the countershaft out as far as it'll go. snip the bearing ring that holds all the rollers off. Next get your punch and put it against the bearing from inside of the mainshaft hole in the case. hard to explain, but hit with a hammer the punch against the bearing and it'll slide off. next grab a prybar for the other bearing when you pull the shaft.

installing bearings onto that shaft is simple. I never heat or cool anything. I use a socket that's the same width as the inner part of the bearing. I set the shaft up in the vice and use the socket and hammer and tap the bearing down. works like a charm.

For the bearing facing the torquex bit cover that you install after the shaft has been put into the trans, use a few old bearing races and put them on top of the new bearing. then grab that other socket and tap tap the new bearing into place.

A press is most handy to install the new bearing race for the cluster that's pressed into the case. however, on a crunch I have tapped it into place. I've also destroyed a race doing that too, so it's a fine art. If the race isn't destroyed, you can just re use it often.

mainly, the only thing I use my press for now is to remove the 3/4 slider from the main shaft. I find it's usually on too tightly. I've pryed it off before by using a prybar between third and second gear, but I've also chipped 2nd gear teeth and third gear teeth before doing this. For this reason I usually press it off. however, if you're persistent and careful, you can get it off.

Also, the master rebuild kits have a lot of crap you don't need.

For example, the keys and springs are all typical non wear items. No reason at all to replace keys and springs unless one of the keys is damaged, which is rare.

As well, caged roller bearings are a typical non wear item. You don't need to replace those unless they're damaged. They just allow the gear to freespin on the shaft.

tailshaft bushing can be inspected too and re used if it's in good condition.

I buy a rebuild kit that costs under $200...just new bearings syncro's and small parts. I re use the outer blocking rings, those are non wear too.

Keep in mind, I save all my old parts from my rebuilds and have extra stuff laying around should I find a damaged key or blocker ring.

You'll find that astroperformace sells just keys and springs for cheap. You may be able to call these guys for other stuff too

I suggest a tear down for anyone before buying a rebuild kit. this will allow you to inspect the parts before evaluating which kit you need.

I've talked with all the repitable t5 shops around, and they do the exact procedure for parts replacement I've outline above.

As well, I don't hesitate to do a "budget build"....

for example, if I have a t5 that's just grinds second, i'll tear it down and inspect 2nd gear, the 1/2 slider and the syncros.

I'll mic the syncro, and if it's under spec I'll swap in a used one from my used pile that i've inspected before. I'll throw the whole t5 back together and only replace the broken parts.

I only do this though to hook friends up. It allows you though to essentially fix your t5 for very little cost.


Often there is no reason to throw a $200-350 rebuild kit at a t5 if it's just grinding second when you know everything else is good.

couple of other tips: wack the mainshaft/cluster fairly hard with a hammer from both sides several times. this helps seats the bearings. Re shim after you've done that.

I always preload the input 2 thousands. Once it loosened up so much on me that second gear started popping out. I'm very particular now on trying to get everything seated before I call the t5 done. I preload a min of 2 thousands, up to 4k.

finally, tremec only sells a few of the shims for the counter shaft. they've stopped making most.

If you find you have play, you have two choices. buy the over sized shim and have it ground down at a machine shop.

OR, i've found the 8.8 rebuild shims are the EXACT size you need for the countershaft, and are sold in little baggies with them down to the thousands. I use them in conjuction with the larger shim to get it perfect.

Well I just skimmed the video for 15-20 minutes, and its put together very well! Its clear to see what he is doing, he explains everything very well, and it seems VERY easy to follow. I still need a press, and a couple other tools, but I think this will go very smoothly.

Any tips for cleaning up the parts and case after the teardown? In the Hanlon video he seems to stress that. I was going to buy a small, cheap parts washer, but I haven't heard you guys mention this. Can you get by with a couple cans of brake cleaner?

it's a huge mess. I've got a parts washer and sand blaster, and it's too much of a pita to get it clean.

I just pull out the high pressure washer now and blast it clean.

if you don't have a pressure washer, take it to a self service car wash and blast the case clean.