Inspection of a 904 torqueflite

Ok......so I think I figured it out.

When I put this bushing in the first time. It made a high spot in the middle. As if it compressed too much and buckled.

So the second time.....I measured where it rides on the race. Pressed it down a little further. It still buckled. So I pressed it all the way down AFTER it buckled. I pressed it down so far that it was almost seated and bottomed out......maybe 1/16” from where it could go no further. . I knew this was too far but I wanted to see if the race was causing it to bottom out. IT WASNT the race and still wouldn’t clear the high spot.

I had said earlier that there was a trick to getting this reaction shaft bushing out. Find the puzzle piece. Grind it down....weaken it......and use a bushing driver to grab the edge and it pops right out. 3 to 5 minutes. There is a special tool for this that threads in there but I wasn’t messing with that.

Well......this time. I had pressed it so far down in the hole that the trick didn’t work. I left no room for the driver to grab onto. I knew that would happen before i did it so it was fine.

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So now I can’t get the bushing out. I couldn’t find the puzzle piece. It was too far down the hole and there really wasn’t enough light to see it.

So......I ground 4 areas of the bushing .....yeah.....by the way. I ground the area on the sides of the puzzle piece and missed the joint buy 1/8” on each side. I was grinding with the dremel with the grinding fitting extended all the way out so I could reach down in there.

So now this was more like a blind bushing without the ability to get much behind it how hammer it out.

So......I decided to HAMMER IT IN......That’s the trick here. It was weak enough ground on 4 areas and one really thin on that it cocked it sideways and bent it. It buckled it to the point it came off center. The bushing was weak and so weak that it didn’t damage the housing. I knew this before I hammered it.

Once it was buckled so bad.....I took the driver from the other end and hammered it out with ease. Caught the edge like I did last time.
Plus.....the main problem with this whole thing made it harder to get out because it was tight in there......down below explains that

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So what’s the problem here. I found out when shining a narrow beam light after the bushing was out. That there is a very very fine lip right where that hole is inside the housing. I might have pressed that bushing 1/32 past that lip and buckled it. It was so fine I didn’t even see it.....several times. I pressed it to pretty close where the old one was pressed in. It has to be precise.

When the bushing was out. I felt down in there where the hole inside the housing is. It felt that rougher than where the bushing sat. It wasn’t precisely machined.
So I was pushing the bushing in too far. Just not by much.
And that lip was so fine and so small that you could
Not even see it and it allowed the bushing to push right into it.

Moral of the story.....there isn’t one. It’s an easy mistake to make.
So....
Tomorrow I will press the bushing back in a lot more precise in the depth and not go past this fine lip. That’s why it buckled and was so tight.

The rest......
The parking spring, pan bolts, and filter screws came in that rat rod al sent. The new or used output shaft is in so I’ll see if that fixes the governor play.

Waiting on the drive shell replacement that I warped......and the front ring gear support that’s a 4/4. Had to verify measurements on that as........the part number is the same.......
So check if you ever have to replace that 4/4 and 4/3.....same part number.....different heights of splines. Could cause a bad day if the 4th clutch has nothing to grab onto. I saw a thread where that particular situation drove someone nuts for a few years. So I checked it carefully

Then both transmissions should be good to go. Each failure learned just bit more.