Jim De Arras

As you know, I'm rebuilding my transmission after my kid trashed the 1st/2nd gear selector ring. I also decided to replace both the end bearings from the rear diff, and transmission, where the drive shaft connects, since the drive shaft was destroyed 2 years back in my accident, and those bearings are the first items in the impact thrust line that were not apparently damaged. I'm now replacing them as "insurance" against possible premature failure.

Well, the rear tranny one, while smooth, was slightly stiff. It was a sealed bearing, so I removed the seals to discover "groody" oil or grease. The seals puzzled me, also, since the bearing was bathed in the wash from the torsen, and had a large oil recovery port on the transmission rear seal side. it really looked as if it should have been an open bearing, with transmission oil lubricating it.

So, yesterday, I picked up the replacement bearing at the dealer, and found that it was an open bearing!

I wonder if mime was a mistake, or did they change to open bearings later. The sealed bearing would have had no "bearing" on the rear drive seal, since the oil ports would have worked both ways, allowing oil to reach both sides of the bearing even if it were sealed.

Also, they seem to have gone to a different synchro design, instead of the usual brass grooves in the contact surface, they now have an emery cloth type coating on those surfaces. Perhaps these selector rings are now SO hard that the soft brass grooves were not grabbing fast enough. when working the selector/synchro/gear stack manually (and dry) the new synchros seem to grab much harder, much sooner.

BTW, my old first gear synchro could be sold for new, not a mark on it! This matches my memory of never downshifting to 1st when mooving. The new first gear synchro is the emery type, and would probably let those of you that insist on it to shift to first while rolling with greater ease.

Mike@VAST

right ....hehe.

so, are you changing all your synchros? I heard the sliders could be filed down a hair to make the engagement more fluid and prevent any future problems.

take care, and good luck!...good info too!

Mike