Yeah, I think that's just a LITTLE more complicated that I wanted to tackle!

Funny you should say that; I'm thinking about picking up another complete vehicle and rebuild the parts in it, then swap them into this body as I go.

5th will be a little noisier, since it's an indirect gear, but not much. Are your inner/outer shifter boots torn?

1,2,3,&5 wukk aways be noisier than 4th. 4th eliminates all gear engagement, locking the clutch to the output shaft as one solid shaft all the way back. The mainshaft gears all turn freely on the mainshaft unless locked to the shaft with a syncro. The lower countershaft has the gears made onto the shaft in one solid piece. When you move the shifter, it moves the shift fork and locks a gear to the mainshaft. The locked mainshaft gear spins the countershaft gear it's engaged with all the time, which spins the countershaft, which is engaged to another locked gear (the back one) and thus spins the output shaft with the gear reduction implicit in the tooth ratios of the engaged gears. Thus any indirect gear has a lot more moving parts than 4th, and is inherently noisier. 5th is a different setup, out in the back end of the gearcase, with another countershaft and different bearings, so a really noisy 5th leads to a concern of bad bearings back there. If the boots are torn, you hear a lot more gear noise, and what you hear may or may not be normal.

No, they seem to be fine. It sounds like bearing backlash; having had 5th gear bearings go out in a Samurai transmission, I'm familiar with the sound.

Coupled with the synchros going bad, it definitely appears that I need to rebuild.

Did you have a good source for parts?

Probably less complex than rebuilding a KM145 <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/lol.gif" alt="" />

It will be worth it trust me the Km145 is trouble...
take it from all that have been there and done that.

Take your time and give it a try, I just rebuilt my auto for my gen1 for the first time, never rebuilt an auto before! I replaced a gear and some other parts in a 5 speed 3000 vr4 and if I could do that you should be able to work your way through this.

When these trannys start to whine, particularly in all gears but 4th... it means your input bearing is dying.

If you plan on rebuilding... When you drop the tranny, assess how much play you have in everything, particularly the input shaft. I drove the crap out of mine to the point that it didn't want to shift gears. It got damaged to the point of being considered unrebuildable. Also, if your still driving on this tranny, check and change your tranny fluid, as input shaft play can cause gear oil to seep past the front seal. Running low on fluid will only further damage things.

Regarding rebuilding... I've read that most consider this a fairly standard rebuild. However, a lot of bolts/phillips tend to be stuck and will strip. Be prepared. Also, static electricity causes 5th gear to sometimes gets pitted. Never would have guessed. Make sure its still usable and when done put a few ground strapps all over the tranny to the body and motor. Use a gl4 spec fluid only for proper syncro function on a fresh build, not a gl5 back speced gear oil. Napa Stalube gl4 for conventional, or Redline MT-85 for synth, Lastly, someone here was selling strengthening pans for these trannys. Well worth the money to protect your investment.

Parts? I'd say call Kormex Transmissions of California. They sell kits and complete rebuilds. I got a full rebuild from them shipped cross country, and I didn't return my core. Cost $750. Heads up, there is a KM145-1, KM145-8, and KM145-9 (I think I got that right) so make sure to be careful you address this with your chosen supplier and get the right parts.

Best info on rebuilding and assessing would be in the starquest world. Look into Professor Quest's SOS manuals. It's all for starions, but the KM132 and KM145, minus torque tube/transfer case, are essentially the same animal.

May I ask you to elaborate on that? I ordered a rebuilt tranny and installed it just before the winter. Then just that happened when I connected the battery. I figured I connected something wrong, so I took out the reverse bulbs for now.

Thanks so much.