November 1, 200916 yr I was out playing around in RWD because a front axle blew up.I was trying to get out of deep mud hole.I had reverse fully engaged an all of the power of an ea81 going to the rear wheels to get it out, then I heard a bang.Thought a broke a rear axle until I found that I could still move forwards.I can find the other gears but where reverse normally would be its like reverse doesnt exist any more.Is this a simple linkage problem or did I break the transmission? car is an 84 GL with 235/75/15 mud tires and an old tired EA81 with a bad carb..
November 1, 200916 yr this loud bang you heard, can you describe a little more. sounds like it may have killed your trans. usually, loud bangs are not a good thing.
November 1, 200916 yr Replace the Trans............. cheaper and faster................... Its done.... Jeff
November 1, 200916 yr Author Im guess the torque the motor was making probally snapped the reverse fork.I will replace the transmission for sure, Im just wondering if there might be a way to prevent it
November 2, 200916 yr Typically, the reverse gears break because of years of partial engagement. The linkage leaves much to be desired with respect to fully engaging the reverse gear set. The tranny is junk. It will have eaten most of the teeth off the reverse gears - one of which is part of the main shaft. It would be a mistake to repair it as the cost would be high and you still have a lot of metal floating around in there. This is not as common with the 5 speeds - they have a better linkage for one - you should probably ugrade. GD Edited November 2, 200916 yr by GeneralDisorder
November 2, 200916 yr Yeah - the 4's are good for boat anchor's and I would much rather just install a 5 and be done with it than burn through all the 4's in the world till I run out. Changing transmissions is a biotch. I would almost rather chew my arm off. GD
November 3, 200916 yr Really its worth your time to replace it with a 5speed, I've gone through 3 4 speeds, and none of the 5 speeds have blown.............. and I put them through the mill....... Jeff
November 3, 200916 yr Really its worth your time to replace it with a 5speed, I've gone through 3 4 speeds, and none of the 5 speeds have blown.............. and I put them through the mill....... Jeff I've never blown up either, but I've had the 4 speeds get pretty bad (3rd gear and reverse mostly), but I agree, the 5 speed is a better transmission -- we'll see how long it lasts behind the EJ22 in the impreza (that I just blew up the stock awd 5 speed in -- mostly the previous owner, not me)
November 4, 200916 yr Author while a 5 speed would be ideal, putting a another 4 speed in means that I might have a chance to go wheeling again this year...Hell my car sat for 3 months because I couldnt afford to to put headgaskets on an engine I had... I read an old post on the matter and it seems that if: Most of your driving is street on small tires= 5 speed Most of your driving is offroad with big tires=4 speed That and I just remembered that my parts car is an 82... Edited November 4, 200916 yr by Uberoo
November 4, 200916 yr I read an old post on the matter and it seems that if: Most of your driving is street on small tires= 5 speed Most of your driving is offroad with big tires=4 speed No. The 3.9 5 speed D/R trannies have 1.59 low range. The 4-speeds have only 1.4 low range. The 4 speeds, as you have found, do not handle too much abuse like a 5 speed can. 5 speeds dont have the shifter problems, have lower gears, better ratios, and stronger internals. They are damn easy to come by around here, and will probably outlast the rest of your car. To make it simple, 5 speeds are for Off-road, 4 speeds are for the street. -Bill
November 4, 200916 yr Author Ok then.I will put a 5 speed in when I go to put an ej in...(just takes money,and I have to find a parts car...
November 5, 200916 yr No. The 3.9 5 speed D/R trannies have 1.59 low range. The 4-speeds have only 1.4 low range. Not to quibble over minutia... but it's actually 1.46 for the 4 speed, and it has a slightly lower 1st gear, so it's really only a tad different than the 5 speed -- 5.315 vs 5.636. 4th gear is different for the '81 and '82 4 speeds, but it looks like the later ones actually give you about the same highway gearing as the 5 speeds, just wider spacing because you are missing one gear.
November 5, 200916 yr Author Anyone have a technical drawing of a 4 or 5 speed?i will be taking apart the busted one,but it might be nice to be able to take one apart and put it back together with some slight changes...
November 5, 200916 yr What changes were you wanting to make? I can tell you right now that unless you have a parts tranny it won't be viable to repair it. You will need a 35mm thin-wall socket to dissasemble the 4's. These are not easy to come by - I had a 35mm axle nut impact socket turned down on the lathe till it fit. GD
November 5, 200916 yr Anyone have a technical drawing of a 4 or 5 speed?i will be taking apart the busted one,but it might be nice to be able to take one apart and put it back together with some slight changes... Fail! Jeff
November 6, 200916 yr Author I plain to take apart the busted one to maybe get a feel for the transmissions.Then maybe take apart another one to shim the diff with grinder disks for a redneck limited slip.
November 6, 200916 yr The 4 speed's are so stupidly complicated inside that it's not even worth the trouble to dissasemble them. The 5's are incredibly easy by comparison. GD
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now