Aluminum in the gear oil?

[ValiantOne]

Hey All,

I drove my 833 o/d for a few miles and then drained the fluid (mix of atf and gear oil) and it looks to have sparklie bits of aluminum in it. The only thing aluminum in the trans that I am aware of is the case. Where would this be coming from? What makes direct contact with the case? Is a bit of this normal?

I'm used to seeing some in auto transes but wasn't expecting to see any with this trans.

Thanks.

CE

 

[TrailBeast]

Hey All,

I drove my 833 o/d for a few miles and then drained the fluid (mix of atf and gear oil) and it looks to have sparklie bits of aluminum in it. The only thing aluminum in the trans that I am aware of is the case. Where would this be coming from? What makes direct contact with the case? Is a bit of this normal?

I'm used to seeing some in auto transes but wasn't expecting to see any with this trans.

Thanks.

CE

About the only thing that could do that is either the reverse gear is traveling too far and coming in contact with case metal, or a bearing froze and is spinning in the case (which will trash the case)
Pretty sure it's aluminum?

 

[ValiantOne]

About the only thing that could do that is either the reverse gear is traveling too far and coming in contact with case metal, or a bearing froze and is spinning in the case (which will trash the case)
Pretty sure it's aluminum?

Yeah, that was the only thing I could think of. The shaft for the reverse gear and all looked okay when I had it apart

Maybe it isn't aluminum after all. I need to stick a magnet in there and confirm it is non ferrous. I guess it could be synchro metal too? I replaced the synchros, ran the trans for 2-3K in another car before I put it in this car.

Ill do some more detective work......

Thanks,

CE

 

[TrailBeast]

Are the syncro's brass or aluminum? (they do make both)

 

[Max1196]

Is this a new 833 install to the vehicle? If so, Did something goofy happen to the speedo part of things?

 

[ValiantOne]

Are the syncro's brass or aluminum? (they do make both)

Brass. And I was not aware they made aluminum ones. But b/c of the color of the oil (running a gear lube, atf mix) i could see how sparklie brass could be mistaken for aluminum. And having some synchro sparklies in there makes a bit more sense.

 

[ValiantOne]

Is this a new 833 install to the vehicle? If so, Did something goofy happen to the speedo part of things?

Definitely something else to check. I left the speedo assy in from the old car and just ran the existing cable into it. It is worth checking though! I hadn't even considered it.

 

[TrailBeast]

Brass. And I was not aware they made aluminum ones. But b/c of the color of the oil (running a gear lube, atf mix) i could see how sparklie brass could be mistaken for aluminum. And having some synchro sparklies in there makes a bit more sense.

Sounds like we are both on the same track on all of it.
One small thing you could do is put a magnet in some of it like you said and see.
Case metal nor syncro would stick to it, so if it stuck you'd know you need to do something right away.

Also, are we pretty sure it's not left overs from a prev job, or the same oil it had from when the new syncro's went in?

They do wear in when replaced and can put sparkles in the oil.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Brass sparklies are quite different looking from aluminum. The brass actually reflects yellow back to you, while the aluminum is a much finer, less bright shampoo-like slurry, with no yellow in it.
My guess would be a cluster washer spinning and slicing up the thrust surface. Don't know how or why it would do that, but I've seen it even in the iron boxes.
If the synchro rings were shedding that much brass, you would be complaining about shifting issues. They usually last oh IDK; mine must have close to 200,000 miles. They were used when I put them in there, and I put over 110,000 on them....Wait, my 2nd is winding down. Not grinding yet, but it's getting slow on the shift. Losing second is typical. I'll just swap it for 4th one day.
Definitely time to dig into it.Give the cluster a push;forward and back.I forget the endplay spec but the tangs on the washer are only maybe .080 high so Ima thinking at half that they would be looking to climb outta their homes. Ima thinking .015 to .025 would be lots.