Getrag 101

[MMiller]

Ok guys, this summer I went and re bearing-ed and resealed my factory reman Getrag, that had about 180,000 miles of tire smoking launches, mud up to the rocker panels, truck pulls, 3rd gear tire squaks, and loads up to about 29,000 gross weight. The output shaft bearing had started making noise, because the rollers were flaking off. Caught it before destruction. When I was putting the countershaft together, I chipped one of the new bearings, and I needed the truck bad, so I used the old countershaft bearings as they were fine. Everything ran fine, no leaks, towed the crap out of it, and even drove it to SOP #3 and home with no problems. Fast forward to the Thursday before Christmas. My wife drove the truck, and she is excellent about hearing noises, and noticing problems, better then ANY operator/driver/owner I've ever been around. She commented it was making a new noise. I could not hear it so I let it slide a while. The Friday before Christmas, her durango laid down with a tranny failure about 2.5 hours from home. I went after her with my faithful 93 and trailer. About 2.25 hours into the trip there was a loud bang, and I lost all gears but 4th. I limped it into the truckstop knowing we would not be driving it home. I got the trucks home, durango repaired and promptly traded, and the 93 in the garage with the getrag out. I dropped the front countershaft bearing...............Now tonight I pulled the adapter off the back of the transmission to embark on repairing the getrag, and I found the problem right away. Upon final assembly the shims for the countershaft shifted slightly and got out of the bore, thus changing the preload on the bearings. One shim was off far enough to be pinched by the adapter housing and transmission housing. I really think part of the problem was the fact I could not locate the perfect shims, and used some that were nearly the same diameter, but not perfect.

So in closing, I have boughten through Zumbrota Bearing & Gear a new bearing and snycro set, counter shaft cluster, counter shaft, and input shaft, shim kits, plus the two small snap rings. I need to find the large snap ring as its ruined too. I also recieved a new Con O/flywheel from SBC, and yes its the 13"er. I've also received my tranny temp gauge and mounting pod to hold three gauges, and before summer pulling season, I will probably install fast coolers for added capacity.

I will post pictures up in the near future, as soon as I can figure out how to put them here.

Michael, member of the Getrag Preservation Society.

[CAJUN 93]

man, my countershaft bearings been growling in 4th for over a year now. i need to have it rebuilt, but the shops in my town can't spell getrag lel alone build one. i also have a 97 nv4500 sitting in the storage building waiting for a swap. i guess i haven't fixed the rag yet cause i'd like to install the 4500. man my subconcieous is lazy.

[MMiller]

Are you sure its your countershaft bearings? In 4th gear, there is no load on the countershaft, its just locking the input and output shaft together for 1:1 ratio. Have you pulled the covers off, and tried to move the countershaft for and aft?

I'll bet dollars to donuts that your noise in 4th gear is coming from the clutch.

Michael

[CAJUN 93]

i haven't pulled any covers. i didn't think about 4th being 1 to 1 (straight drive). i do now it you lug it in 4th it will REALLY growl at you. when i ferst got the truck, while sitting in neutral idling, the pocket bearing in the back of the input shaft would start raising hell, but after a couple overfills with a little lucas thrown in that stopped. i need to fix it before i get stuck pulling a really heavy load and grenade this thing.

[dpuckett]

No, you just need to install that NV4500 and send me the leftovers from the Getrag.

Daniel

[MMiller]

Mine started growling a few years ago and it happened in 4th, when I lugged it down, pulling trailer. I thought the same as you, then after some direction on the TDR, I then found out if I lugged it hard in any gear, or rolled on the power at lower PRMs in a tall gear it made the same noise. We deduced the clutch is making the noise. I'll see if the Con O makes a different noise or not.

Michael

[g1625s]

Most 'rags growl in direct (4th) and the noise is actually the gears on the mainshaft rattling around due to worn torrington berarings. In any event, it is a very wise practice to not lug a 'rag, especially under load...they just don't like it. A cheap fix it the 3200 rpm spring;)

I would be very interested in a source for the proper preload shims...

[MMiller]

I ordered shim kits from Zumbrota Gear. They had a kit for upper and lower shafts, $7.50 each. I've not opened them up to check for proper sizing. That will be this week when I finally get a new snap ring to hold the countershaft bearing cup in the front.

To bring this topic up to date: I've completely disassembled the entire Getrag and cleaned all the iron filings from all the speed bearings, sycronizers, and such. Cleaned the gearcase all out. The bellhousing has been removed, clutch removed and flywheel. The rear main seal has been replaced and new flywheel and Con O clutch is installed, as is the clean bellhousing and new throw out bearing. The main shaft in the getrag is full assembled with new bearings and sycros courtesy of Zumbrota gear. I also drilled the PTO cover and installed the temp sender for oil temp. I need to start throwing the new countershaft and cluster in and together with the new bearings.

Michael

[g1625s]

Cool, thanks for the info! Keep us posted on your progress--I know it was pretty satisfying when I finished re-assembling mine:)

[RumbleFish]

You might want to make it to SOP this year. There was a guy there last year, also from Iowa (perhaps you know him ), and he put on an exceptional getrag educational session. I can't speak for anybody else, but he showed me more than I ever wanted to about warming up Bill's nut.

[MMiller]

You might want to make it to SOP this year. There was a guy there last year, also from Iowa (perhaps you know him ), and he put on an exceptional getrag educational session. I can't speak for anybody else, but he showed me more than I ever wanted to about warming up Bill's nut.

Hmm from Iowa huh, I guess I need to find him and have him help me. He surely can't be to far from where I live..... I'm not going to touch the one about Bill's nut either.

Tonight I got the shimming all done. The shim kit left a little to be desired, but it was better then what I had the first time around. The countershaft shims were still loose in the bore, but were not too bad. The shims for the mainshaft said they were for a NV5600, I'm calling them tomorrow to see if they made a mistake.

Tomorrow night I'm going to do a final assembly of the trans, and I'm going to try and get some sort of dipstick setup done. We've been discussing it over in the mother church of diesels, and I'm going to experiment. I think we've got the fill tube figured out in the engine compartment, its just making a dipstick work. Whatever I come up with, I will post.

Michael

[dpuckett]

Shims from a NV4500 will work on the mainshaft. Not sure what they were from, but g/f's boss had some that worked well for the countershaft.

DP

[MMiller]

I put about 25 miles on the old girl today. Finally got the fill tube worked out and the clutch presented some problems. I've still not finalized a dipstick yet, I had a piece of cable cut that had a clear plastic sheath, it worked ok, but with the new synthetic oil I put in, it was so clear that I could not see the level on the "stick". Back to the drawing board. I was very nice to be able to fill the trans from the top, and not through the shifter. I put in 5 quarts.

The clutch install went fine. I had troubles making it work though, or not work I guess. Putting it back together with stock slave cylinder, the clutch pedal would stop about 3" from the floor, and not disengage the clutch to allow a gear to be selected. I made a spacer between the slave cylinder rod and the fork, and this made it work, but I still was not fully disengaged. I could not make the spacer any larger as it would cause the rod to bind. So I was about to the end of my rope, and I thought, duh, I can pull the rod out of the cylinder. I then promptly cut an old 440 push rod longer then the stock rod, and then installed. I made it considerably longer, but not too long to bottom out the slave cylinder when installing. Now I get nice shifts, and for the most part easy gear selection. Occasionally it won't go in, but I think this has more to do with the new syncros I just installed.

It sure was nice to let a little smoke out again, its been 1.5 months since she broke down.

Michael

[CDReyn]

[CDReyn]

Too late to help with this thread, but I have teh FSM for the Getrag in PDF form if anyone wants it, email me...