78 K5 350 SM 465 MT.

And here I sit looking like an idiot after 40 years of wrenching....

Used the plastic pilot tool to align the clutch disc and torqued the cover on. Then like a fool I pressed the clutch pedal once. Dont do that....

So to check it, I slid the alignment tool in and * thought* it was aligned. It wasn't.

Two problems:

1. I did so with the bellhouse installed. That makes the tool too short.

2. The plastic tool was damaged!

The plastic tool had been in the bottom drawer of the tool cabinet 8 years ago along with all the heavier metal tools and in the mean time, the plastic splines were damaged so they didnt fit properly into the clutch disc splines.

It gave a false feel of being aligned as it hung up in the clutch hub splines.

Those dumb mistakes cost me yesterday afternoon of accomplishing nothing.

Fixed the pilot tool, removed the bellhouse and loosened the clutch cover and the alignment tool seemed to go in all the way. That was verified by ' feeling' the pilot bushing depth with a long bolt. The bolt was slightly lin her than the pilot tool. Could feel where the pilot bushing started and thats where the taper on the input shaft will stop against the crank. The other way to prove the tool went in the pilot is to move the clutch disc off center and insert the pilot tool and move the disc till the tool drops in the pilot bushing hole. Since its a blind assembly its good to measure the depth and compare that to how far the pilot tool goes in.

Also, to my surprise, the engine and transfer case assembly on the crossmember will sit there without being supported with a jack. They're essentially balanced.

I wouldnt trust them long term as they are supported by rubber in the engine mounts and crossmember mounts but a jack losing pressure and lowering isnt a crisis. Im paranoid about jacks after one day rolling out from under a 78 Plymouth car and hearing the jack collapse just after I walked to the bench. No, I wasn't using an axle stand. Stupid me.

 

I've done that job so many times that I use an old input shaft from an SM465 instead of the cheap plastic tool. Same with 14" double disc Spicer Clutches. But I have a whole drawer full of the plastic ones for the little stuff.

 

Exactly, I thought all us old mechanics had one of those at the bottom of their box. Lol always figured the plastic tools were for kids

 

Well...I HAD. all those trans parts but they got thrown in a move.

Ok..took the bellhouse off and loosened the clutch disc and centered it and verified it. It is centered.

Last times I did this job, the trans basically " fell" in.

Now it refuses to go in the same 1- 1/2 inch as before now because the expletive not posted
throwout bearing has a recess for grease and the recess hangs up on the front of the input bearing retainer. Wiping the grease from the TOB shows marks where the bearing retainer is hitting it.

Ive tried repeatedly to wiggle the fork arm. No good.

Now what?

 

I've never seen one hang up on that groove. Are you certain you have the input shaft started in the splines? Is the transmission in gear? Can you turn the output shaft by hand?

 

Yep. Can see the impact marks in the TOB. The front edge of the bearing retainer is machined square ( its been totally rebuilt with Novak parts). Its even hanging up when trying to slide the TOB over the input shaft with the trans removed.

I've jogged the flywheel ...no good. That would change the spline orientation.

it goes in and stops dead and the TOB fork arm jumps and goes tight.

It never did this with a smooth bore TOB

Do most TOBs have a groove? The one removed didn't ( from Mc Leod).

Just tried to file the bearing retainer. Its too hard.

 

Most "stock" ones have a groove. Maybe you can put a small chamfer in the front of the bearing retainer?

 

Not without removing it. It's too hard to file. Removing it runs a risk of dropping the input rollers into the case. (BT,DT)

I guess its " order a TOB" time.

I dont feel like working on it anyway.

 

O.K. problem solved! &#$×@%=*€% crossmember was hanging up...wasnt anything wrong with the trans.

Id made two 4 inch angle steel pieces one bolted two places on each side of the frame to drop the xmember down on to avoid having to drop that 300 lb. trans and transfer case out. That works really well..but one angle was in closer in the front and the xmember hung up, oddly enough, right at the point where the input shaft starts to go in the pilot. So I thought the shaft was hanging up.

Mc Leod sent a new clutch with a bad spline, it wasnt deburred so had to fix it.

Tried to slide the trans in without the bellhouse and it cleared the clutch hub but still wouldnt go. So I measured all the parts and did a stack up and the end of the input shaft was stopping 0.2 inches before the pilot.

Slid the xmember over and found the place it had been rubbing and interfering with the angle, so the die grinder fixed that and now its back in. Had looked at it before but with everything dark and greasy, couldnt see it.

so after grinding a bit off the xmember the trans went in without the pilot dowels.

Odd..the pilot bushing had closed up slightly on the ID since it was installed new 5 years ago. Made the trans more difficult to push in but it did go. The new one fit more loosely on the input shaft.

The new TOB had a smooth bore and worked fine..didnt snag.

Interesting that both the engine and transmission and transfer cases ( fastened together) didnt have to be jacked up..they just sat there happy and level. I guess a level floor helps.

 

Glad you got it figured out. That's one of those things that makes you bang your head against the wall.