Bellhousing alignment

[Hyper Henry]

Looking for detailed 'how to' on aligning a bellhousing.
Had mine all together and put about 160 miles on it and it does not shift right into 3rd and grinds going into reverse ](*,) So was told I better check bellhousing alignment. Got it the 4-speed out now so what's next :dontknow:
Running a completely rebuilt 383 with Lakewood bellhousing in a 68 Barracuda.

 

[67Dart273]

Instead of reposting the invention of the wheel, there are lots of good illustrations on Al Gore's www.

https://www.google.com/search?num=2...9196l0l9495l27l27l3l9l10l0l150l1503l10.5l15l0

Don't let your ego get in the way ... Chivvy or Ferd bells work exactly the same way Mopar ones do

http://www.circletrack.com/drivetraintech/ctrp_0607_bellhousing_alignment/index.html

http://www.circletrack.com/drivetraintech/ctrp_0404_bellhousing_alignment/viewall.html

Even factory bells can be "off." After a period of time, a couple of us discovered that my ORIGINAL 70 sixpack RR was wrong from the factory. It wore out pilot bearings excessively, was harder to shift than my 69 383 RR, and wore out the trans ball bearings early, and MAY have been part of the cause of poor clutch disengagement --those cars used that stupid 10 7/8" design which allowed the disk to come very close to the PP mounting ears.

Even TFs are not exempt

Scattershields are ESPECIALLY suspect.

 

[jameybro]

Looking for detailed 'how to' on aligning a bellhousing.
Had mine all together and put about 160 miles on it and it does not shift right into 3rd and grinds going into reverse ](*,) So was told I better check bellhousing alignment. Got it the 4-speed out now so what's next :dontknow:
Running a completely rebuilt 383 with Lakewood bellhousing in a 68 Barracuda.

Not sure if this applies to your 383 but when I put my new magnum in, missed one bolt that runs from the block to the bell housing. It's right at the oil filter area. We got all the ones that ran from bell housing to block and thought we were good. Come to find out, that one missing bolt allowed a 1/8" gap so the BH wasn't square to the block. EXACT same problems you are having. Couldn't get the clutch adjusted and was grinding going into reverse. And it seemed like the PP was 'nicking' when you pushed the clutch in, not to mention vibrating pretty bad.

After we put that bolt in and retighted the rest the problem went away - totally!

 

[kman521]

Looking for detailed 'how to' on aligning a bellhousing.
Had mine all together and put about 160 miles on it and it does not shift right into 3rd and grinds going into reverse ](*,) So was told I better check bellhousing alignment. Got it the 4-speed out now so what's next :dontknow:
Running a completely rebuilt 383 with Lakewood bellhousing in a 68 Barracuda.

I'm not sure your problem is the bell alignment, does the clutch shudder?
My guess is the clutch is not releasing properly, maybe due to adjustment.
The 3rd gear syncro's are probably worn somewhat and there are no syncro's for reverse. If it is the clutch not releasing properly it won't be too long before the syncro's for every gear are damaged.

 

[Hyper Henry]

Thanks guys. While the 4-speed is out I am getting that looked at as well. I want get this right and working better this time :thumbup:

 

[cudamark]

I'm not sure your problem is the bell alignment, does the clutch shudder?
My guess is the clutch is not releasing properly, maybe due to adjustment.
The 3rd gear syncro's are probably worn somewhat and there are no syncro's for reverse. If it is the clutch not releasing properly it won't be too long before the syncro's for every gear are damaged.

I agree, a bell housing alignment problem is not going to pick on 1 or 2 gears. It will cause a hard shift and clutch shudder in all gears and like 67dart273 said, it will eat pilot bushings and transmission main bearing.

 

[wayfarer]

The factory service manuals say that the alignment should be checked every time the bell comes off...and virtually all of the service manuals have detailed info on checking/fixing.

 

[ronk4]

I had bad vibrations with my 4 speed and after pulling it out found the bearing retainer to be the wrong one. They have different sizes for different bellhousings. It is just something you could check.

 

[pntastar69]

Thanks guys. While the 4-speed is out I am getting that looked at as well. I want get this right and working better this time :thumbup:

Common mistake, assuming that the trans was rebuilt and in working order. Should have been torn down and inspected before install. Could be something internal causing your problems.