Transmission Preparation

This morning I painted the front of the transmission with the VHT Cast Iron paint. I wanted to wait until the RTV dried before painting the front. Painting it in the morning will allow plenty of time for it to dry so I can install the front bearing retainer after work today.

When I made it home, I installed the front bearing retainer using the original bolts and a new gasket which came in my rebuild kit. I coated the gasket with a thin layer of RTV to avoid a leak. I torqued all the bolts down to 34 ft/lbs per the Shop Manual.

I then installed the tail housing on the transmission. I reused the original bolts which I have already cleaned a phosphate coated. The bolts were covered with thread sealant (like those on the front bearing retainer) so oil would not seap through the threads. I slid the driveshaft into the end of the tail housing before torquing it down completely as I did not want it to bind.

The last thing I did for the night was bolt up the shifter to set the shift linkages properly. The shifter works much better now. The setup is very simple. You put the transmission in neutral, push an alignment pin in the shifter mechanism, and then tighten the shift linkage to the shifter. It then works perfectly without any additional adjustment.

I unfortunately lost one of the nuts which go on the shift levers. They are a standard size with no special marks. I’ll need to pick up another one at Ace Hardware tomorrow at lunch. Once I have that, I should have no trouble finishing up the project this weekend.