71autoxr
Well-Known Member
I finally had time to tear into my 833 O.D. transmission. Some of you know this was in my freshly built 69 Dart that took me around the country over the summer. The drive ended in New Mexico when the car ground to a halt on the side of the road leaving me stranded. The prognosis of the transmission is "fatality". FWIW i did not build the transmission, but had someone go through it for me.
Once the car got home I drained the fluid. It looked like metallic paint as it was FULL of very small metal flake particles, and nothing at all like the redline fluid I filled it with. First bad sign.
I tore the side cover off hoping to catch a glimpse of the cause of failure. No such luck. It looked intact.
So the transmission came out, and plopped on the bench. Once I could see into the case I could see that the magnet at the bottom of the aluminum case was FULL of metal of various sizes, mostly silt like. There were a few pieces of metal at the bottom of the case, but still no cause was apparent.
Once dis assembly began I could tell the rear bearing had let loose. And I mean that both figuratively and literally. The steel bearing retainer was almost nonexistant and was the source of all the metal in the case. The bearing and shaft had became heated during our high spirited drive through New Mexico and the heat, and proliferation of metal caused first gear to fuse to the main shaft.
The roller balls of the bearing are beat all to hell, the bearing shells have pits, gouges, scores, and every other bad word for things that you don;t want to happen to your bearings. The bearing were the original MRC ones, never replaced.
I'm chalking this up to rebuilder error (not replacing bearings) and I learned my lesson of not doing it myself. I know you all enjoy carnage pics!!!
ps anyone have an A body O.D. for parts????
Once the car got home I drained the fluid. It looked like metallic paint as it was FULL of very small metal flake particles, and nothing at all like the redline fluid I filled it with. First bad sign.
I tore the side cover off hoping to catch a glimpse of the cause of failure. No such luck. It looked intact.
So the transmission came out, and plopped on the bench. Once I could see into the case I could see that the magnet at the bottom of the aluminum case was FULL of metal of various sizes, mostly silt like. There were a few pieces of metal at the bottom of the case, but still no cause was apparent.
Once dis assembly began I could tell the rear bearing had let loose. And I mean that both figuratively and literally. The steel bearing retainer was almost nonexistant and was the source of all the metal in the case. The bearing and shaft had became heated during our high spirited drive through New Mexico and the heat, and proliferation of metal caused first gear to fuse to the main shaft.
The roller balls of the bearing are beat all to hell, the bearing shells have pits, gouges, scores, and every other bad word for things that you don;t want to happen to your bearings. The bearing were the original MRC ones, never replaced.
I'm chalking this up to rebuilder error (not replacing bearings) and I learned my lesson of not doing it myself. I know you all enjoy carnage pics!!!
ps anyone have an A body O.D. for parts????
