Chuzie's '77 Project

[bucketobolts]

How much oil did you use in all? Did you prime the torque converter?

With a 12" converter, external and internal cooler, and an aftermarket deep pan I used almost 4 gallons. About 15 qts I believe.

[chuzie]

Uhhhh, no to all the above.

Prime the TC? Never happened. Didn't know I had to.

Total was about 6.5 qts.

Further thoughts?

[chuzie]

Anyway, I was trying to go through the range one more time before I pull the valve body and noticed something. I should have P-R-N-D-1-2 (6 positions) but I only get 5 clicks from the shifter linkage which means I am missing a click. Now it is disconnected from the column which means I am doing this by hand and I didn't screw up the rigging. Would this indicate I have the manual valve in back wards or something else?

Found a clog in the vacuum line for the modulator and got it hooked back up and still no change so I pulled the valve body.

Pulled the valve body. I didn't have the manual valve in back wards and the C-clip was in the correct position so we can eliminate that. I checked the shifting gear inside the tranny and it has full range of motion and I see nothing obstructing the manual valve unless I am blind. I did observe that the spring that connects to the lower valve body and provides detent spring pressure to the shifting gear has some new wear markings outboard of the roller bearing in the center. The marks are on the outboard fork. This indicates to me that the gear may have been riding on that part of the spring rather than the bearing but would that prevent the shifter from achieving full range? That is a tough one to swallow. I can try to tweak the spring's alignment and see what happens. If that does not work I need some guidance of where to go next with the valve body.

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I am done for the day, here is the update...

I got the shift spring realigned to ride on the shift gear correctly. Just needed a little tweak. I assume this was the problem with the "lost position" because now I have P-R-N-D-2-1. Must have been binding or something but it works now. I also hoooked up the linkage as suggested and got it rigged correctly.

Now since my fluid is on the low side, because of the front oil seal leak, things are slow in the system to respond but I did have reverse and drive. There was some hesitation for them to engage but again the fluid level is suspect right?

Tomorrow I intend to lower the tranny and fix this seal problem unless anyone has any further suggestions before I do so to ensure my issues are resolved. I would certainly hate to lower it another 2 times.

Thanks again.

[broncomatt]

Too start I would fill the fluid and be sure all that is wrong is the TC seal, you are definetly very low on fluid.
Did you fill the TC with atf prier to putting it in?
No sense in pulling it untill you know all that is not right.
Becarefull not to run too long low on fluid, things can burn up fast.
It would be worth picking up a press guage and check your presser in all gears.
Broncomatt

[chuzie]

I did not prime the TC so of the 9 quarts or so that I have put in there I would say 2 or three are residing in the tranny, five in the TC, and the other is on my garage floor from the leaking.

I can't really fill it beyond what I have in there plus 1 quart because it comes right out of the front seal. I am running for about 3-5 minutes at a time with about 30min-1hour between runs.

I am going to run to the store and pick up a gage but not sure if the readings will be accurate since the fluid levels are not up to par. It is worth a shot though.

[bucketobolts]

Chuzie, did you use heavy grease or petroleum jelly during you assembly? If so you will have to get the fluid up to normal operating temp to melt it out. This can cause slow reactions.

[chuzie]

All future inquiries of "Who is the Man?" shall be met with a reply of MIKE F'ing CHUZIE!

For God's sake, it is done.

Does anyone know how HOT it was in CHS today? I was in my driveway with my coveralls in the sun. Still waiting for the symptopms of heatstroke to surface. I did drinK 1.5 gal of water though.

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I have been at it continuously since 8am. Started to do a pressure test but the equipment was jacked and I don't have $50.00 for a new tester so I took my chances and dropped the tranny anyway.

The front seal was defective so I replaced t with a new one and reinstalled the tranny. The only leak I have now, which is about 2 drops/min is at the dip stick on the pan. Looks like PTFE is going to have to fix that issue.

Filled up with a few more quarts and took her for a spin around the block. Didn't go over 20mph because, honestly, I am scared a sh*t I am going to screw something up. I just want to get it broken in for a couple of cycles and then I will take it on the road to make sure everything shifts correctly.

So far so good though. JP was right, that tranny jack is $$$ especially when you are removing and installing a tranny/transfer case combo by yourself.

Bucket- I used Lucas Oil Transmission Fix for an assembly lube. If you are familiar with it you know it is thick gooey nastiness so I would say you are correct about it needing to warm up. Seems to shift faster now.

More to come tomorrow after the actual road test.

[johnpaulgolf]

Nice...good work...good tech write up...ugly truck...but at least its a EB
I am proud of you for wrenching on your own junk and getting it right...wow what a big job...PROPS



Ravanel Sept. 6th or 7th?

[jollygrngiant]

Great job Chuzie.
I need to buy you a beer!! :beer:

Don't mind JP. He's in the first stage of denial. He really does like your rig!upergrin: