attempting 5 sp tranny rebuild

[aa8jzdial]

2000 forester. manual

Replaced noisy tranny with used unit. All seems ok.

A fellow at work is interested in rebuilding the failed tranny.

He is anxious to get into it and will bill me $100 labor.

In fact he has it apart and has identified the problem as the large bearing on the main (input shaft). We both looked it over and with my limited understanding would say the rest of the gears/bearings look ok. This tranny has 120k miles.

Is this a common failure?

Is this job so tricky to do correctly that the likelyhood of success is pretty

low?

What all should be replaced besides the obvious bearings and seals?

Ballpark $ for parts?

Only available from Subaru?

 

He has not done Subes but seems to be competent with a wrench.

This will sort of be a test rebuild and maybe this guy will turn into a good resource.

Thoughts?

thanks

rick

w mi

[Fairtax4me]

Shouldn't be too hard.

Check out this thread for some pics. http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=90182&highlight=input+seal

[lostinthe202]

It's not too hard at all. My trans ('96 outback 5spd) had the same bearing failure. The EJ trans design is basically the same as for the older EA series cars which mostly had a dual range transmission. As seen in this pic of an EA trans, the red arrow points to the input shaft bearing that is just about right behind the clutch (in front of the reduction gears for the low range)

 

 

Compare that of this shot of my EJ trans when I had it apart. Notice that there is a whole lot of unsupported shaft with just a little seal up front. This puts a whole lot more stress on that rear roller bearing.

 

 

It's really a bummer that Subaru cheaped out there. But the bearing is really easy to change. You have to take fifth gear off, and you'll need some sort of puller to pull off the bad bearing (or remnants of it) and ideally a press to put the new one back on. You should consider replacing the input shaft seal while you have it apart and maybe even the dowelled input shaft bearing up front.

 

Also, make sure you're mechanic friend has the tightening sequence and torque values for the case bolts.

 

Also, make sure he doesn't screw with the two retaining rings around the stub axles in front (on the outside of the case). They control the bearing preload for the front diff and will cause bearing failure if not set properly.

 

Good Luck!

 

Will-

[Animal_Gso]

MY 5 speed in My 90 legacy wagon EJ-22 engine has been jumping out of 4th gear, only stays in forth if I hold it there while power shifting. if I do decide to tear into it where do I look?

 

I have torn into some automatics in the past, but the only manual transmission I have done where on my old pan head harley Chopper I use to have and it was a 1938 transmission in it. is it better to pull the engine with the transmission or just jack the car up and drop it out of the bottom.

 

where do you get the replacement parts?

 

thanks for help .

 

Tim.

[lostinthe202]

Animal_Gso,

 

Welcome to the board,

 

Do you have any bearing noise? Like growling? If it's popping out, my guess would be a bad bearing someplace, like maybe the needle bearing on either the input or pinion shafts for fourth gear. But I'm no expert, you might want to start your own thread as you'll be more likely to elicit responses to your particular question.

 

Parts are going to come from the dealer. Some dealers do online business and usually have a bit better prices. such as 1stsubaruparts.com and subarugenuineparts.com

[Animal_Gso]

this whole car is making noise, it was worn out when I got it..lol

 

it has 290,000 miles on it. it may not even be worth doing much to.

 

that is one reason I am looking for a Forester.

 

but thought if it is not to major or expensive a job I might try and fix it to at least make it throe the winter with.

[lostinthe202]

Depends on your definition of "major repair" I guess. The trans has to come out and taken apart. I'd say if you were having a shop do the work, find a trans from a JY and go with that. If you're doing the work yourself, well that's up to you how you want to spend your time.

 

It would've been about the same price for me to replace the trans with a used unit as I spent on seals and bearings, but I wanted to take the trans apart so I wasn't worried about the time it took.

[Animal_Gso]

yeah that is kind of what I am thinking, maybe easier to just get a junk yard trans and install. I wish it had an automatic as I hear they are better for towing with. I use my wagon to tow my lawn care trailer. 1,200 pound commercial John Deere mower on a modified boat trailer. so far my only issues with towing was roasting the clutch on hills.

 

since I am looking for a Forester, I may just let it go for now and just try and fix the head issue.

 

thanks for the Info. the price of the parts would be my main concern,as like I said, with the miles on it, I don't feel like dumping a ton of money back into it.

 

it has primer spots on the hood, but not to rusty, but it sure ain't pretty..lol

[aa8jzdial]

Great pile of info guys.

Much appreciated.

 

How about the peanned over nuts, if that is a good term.

Should they be replaced?

 

It may be a bit before this project gets tackled but this surely will help.

I will try and blast an update when things progress.

 

 

 

 

Now to find the best prices.

Thanks

rick

w mi

[lostinthe202]

How about the peanned over nuts, if that is a good term.

Should they be replaced?

 

 

my pop taught me the term "stake nut", not sure if that's the common term or not.

 

Ya know, when I saw that giant nut, I thought the torque rating was going to be huge, but as it turns out, it's not on all that tight so I didn't bother to replace it. If you split the part that stakes bad so it can't act as a lock anymore then I'd replace it, but otherwise I don't see the point.

 

make sure to watch out when you pull fifth gear off, the syncros have three small parts that will go flying if you're not careful.

 

Will-

[GeneralDisorder]

This is a common failure. I also have one in the garage with the same bearing shot. I really don't know what Subaru was thinking - I guess they figure it will last "long enough" or something.

 

IIRC, that's exactly the failure I said it would have in your other thread.

 

You don't have to replace the stake-nut. Just lift the staked portion with a punch and then impact it off. Should be able to straighten the stake ring enough to reuse it. As Will said - you can reuse it till you break it. Same goes for EJ axle nuts.

 

GD

[Fairtax4me]

What If I wanted to replace the second gear synchro? How much of a PITA would that be? Or would it even be worth it? I've got a bearing noise in mine in first and a little in second gear, and the input shaft seal is leaking.

[lostinthe202]

I didn't replace any synchros when I did my trans work, but I did read up on it in the FSM and if you get into taking apart the pinion shaft you'll need to reset the backlash on the front diff. It didn't look all that difficult, just potentially time consuming. You'll need the appropriate shim pack and a spring scale.

 

It may be that you could reuse the shim setup that's currently in the trans for the backlash, again I don't know.

[GatorIsaac]

When that bearing went at 170k miles in my Baja the shelled out pieces ate much more of the gearbox. Parts list was $1,700. Replaced with a complete new driveline from a salvage yard for less. Replacement now has 162k miles. (100k from me). We'll see if it holds up longer than the original.

 

BTW: that bearing gets nothing for lube when engine is idling in neutral. Long warm-ups are not good. Especially after sitting for long. The 6 speeds have oilers, not the 5's.