This was the most epic shark attack to date. This project resulted in a month of downtime, at least a couple weeks of which was just waiting for parts. By the time you read this, the parts I was waiting for(Constantine's excellent upgraded torque tube bearings and carriers) should be readily available and you shouldn't have to wait for them. More details in the Torque Tube Rebuild section.
The complexity of this job prompted me to re-write the menu generator javascript for this site so that it could show subsections. I also tweaked the menu generator to highlight the current page and made some other minor organizational changes. You may have noticed when you clicked the "Round 30" link above a row of new links appeared. Because the various parts of this project were so intertwined it didn't make sense to have different "Shark Attack" pages for each. I had over 550 photos to sift through at the end of this project and I decided to break the project down into separate pages for the teardown, parts analysis, clutch, torque tube and shift linkage setup details, and reassembly. Additionally, there is a final section where I will note long-term observations, especially the regular checks I will be performing on the "Constantine TT Bearings".
Many of these procedures -- for example refreshing the shift linkage -- would have required an entirely different approach if undertaken individually. For example, there are ways to get at the ball cup and rear coupler without having to drop the torque tube. If you're looking for procedures that will help you do just a part of the job, you may not find what you're looking for here but you just may find that looking at the pics helps you decide how to approach your own project.
What prompted this was a collection of minor symptoms then finally a seized clutch TO bearing, but leading up to that was a very mild, occasional clutch judder that became a major problem on the way to Sharktoberfest 2008. By the time I returned from that trip, it was very difficult to let the clutch out without significant judder, and about a week after I returned the TO bearing seized. It was easy to diagnose -- every time I pushed in the clutch there was a horrible metal-on-metal "screeeee". When I left home on that trip, the only sign of trouble was a barely audible, thin scraping type noise that would disappear if I lightly rested my foot on the clutch pedal. This is just an observation, I didn't drive around with my foot on the clutch.
This noise stayed the same for some months then became noticeably worse on the 400-mile drive south.Additionally, there were a number of other issues that I was aware of:
- Torque tube was getting noisy. Not enough to be a concern, but enough that I had been waiting for the first opportunity to change the bearings.
- The car never liked downshifting into second or first while moving since I bought it. For most driving, it shifted fine(once I changed the transaxle lube) but I always had to be very careful to let the transmission engage the next gear at its own pace, and I had to be going about 20MPH or less to downshift into 2nd.
- Transmission was balky shifting into 2nd first thing in the morning, but cleared up in 1/2 mile or less.
- Shift linkage was pretty loose; The ball cup was shot when I inspected it a month or so previous, and the rear shift coupler was pretty beat up(but still functional).
- I had a Devek short shifter that I purchased back in 2004 but had not found the time to install. There was always something going on that was higher priority.
- Input shaft bearing was very noisy, as determined with the car on a lift using a stethoscope.
- Transaxle input shaft seal was seeping.
- Transaxle output shaft seals were dripping.
- Release arm pivot ball was cocked in its mounting hole, all threads in the upper bellhousing were long gone.
- Rear Main Seal was leaking.
- Incorrect TO bearing had been installed.
- Lube on stub shaft splines and guide tube had dried out(incorrect lube used)
- Lack of proper inspection plugs had allowed clutch parts and front portion of torque tube to rust.
- Front bearing carrier in torque tube had walked forward.
- Rubber portions of transmission mounts were cracking.