As some of you might remember, East Coaster was nice enough to give me an '89 SWB last year. The transmission (V5MT1 5-speed) was bad (really bad grinding and the truck would only move in fourth gear). I finally got a chance to take it apart to see what failed. The front countershaft bearing isn't quite what it used to be:




I can't believe there's any cause and effect, but the failed bearing was the only one that didn't have rubber seals (here's a view of the main/output and countershaft from the back. These bearings (and the input shaft bearing) are okay):


I'm not even sure why those bearing would have rubber seals, as they're not 'open' to the outside of the trans.

Does anyone (Kary, Kevin?) know of a 'generic' puller for this type of bearing?:


Mitsubishi has a factory tool available, but I'm sure it's a ton of $$. I went to the local bearing supply house and they were clueless... <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" />

P.S.: Sorry for the huge pictures.

Interesting. when my manual tranny blew 2 months ago, im assuming it is the same bearing that came apart on mine like that? I have another tranny that I have in there which is a used tranny, but would like to take it out this winter and replace whatever parts cause it to fail.

Is all of what the cause of the damage is? and if I replace that part in my good (so far) transmission would it prevent this tranny from blowing up like the last one? I would like to take apart my blown up tranny, maybe rebuild that one in my room here too <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/ignore.gif" alt="" /> what do you think?

Brendan.

Nice pictures <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

EDIT: I just realised thats a V6 tranny, but im assuming that its the same type of problem on the 4 banger trannies as well?

The reason for the seals is an easy, but Misunderstood reason. The seals are there to prevent small chunks of normal gear/synco wear from entering the bearing and shortening it's life.

For a puller, try this one....Remove the outer and inner snap rings, and using a air hammer (with a very soft touch) position a blunt bit against the counter shaft while using a small bar in the snap ring groove on the outer bearing ....using a light tap, work the bar in the groove and extract the bearing.
The key is to make sure that the counter shaft does not move into the main/input/output shafts, or chip a tooth against another gear.
Its actually easier to do then explain. Done it hundreds of times.
Kary

Do you think that's why the one bearing failed and the others didn't? (It seems logical to me. I think I take back my earlier statement about there being no cause and effect). Any idea why the bearing that failed didn't have the seals?

I understand what you're saying about getting the bearing out <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/kewl.gif" alt="" />

Brendan,

I don't think the V6 and 4-cylinder trannies necessarily fail in the same area(s).

Normal wear/failure of that transmission WILL be the forward cluster bearing as the power flow goes through the input shaft, and then to the cluster gear in all gears except 4th.
Oddly enough, the 4-cylinder uses a tapered roller bearing in this position for a greater load carring ability, but the "larger, stronger" V-6 trans doesn't.
It doesn't appear that there is a method to control the preload of the bearing, so that a tapered roller could replace the ball bearing either.
The bearing removal method that I described as never let me down.
Kary

Wow...the symptoms sound the same as mine before it went out, and the other day while starting mine (just so it doesn't sit too long), I noticed it would try to move when in fourth. Is it possible that all mine needs is that front bearing replaced???? Seems like that's too good to be true...oh, 3rd gear synchro had been out on mine in addition to the grinding you described.

ok, I understand, but it is still the bearings that go on both of them am I correct? maybe I need to tear apart my tranny to see what is wrong with it.. that would probably be the best explaination, perhaps I can fix it. all I know is that when I looked in the tranny after seperating the transfer case, the small gear you see in there was in peices, and the tranny binds up in all the gears except 4th I beleive.

Wow - great pictures. I remember that puppy like it was yesterday.. Just outside Ft Riley, KS on I-70, headed west, with my dog in the car! As you recall I drove all the way to Boulder CO with only 4th gear operating, uphill and in the heat..

For what it's worth, Jim, that car made a screwy noise in 1st from the day I bought it (with ~110K, as I recall, but it might have been 90K.) It always sounded like a shaft bearing was whippy when there was a lot of torque in 1st, if you know what I mean. I guess I was lucky to get 30K out if it in what was probably pretty poor condition. I did a reasonable amount of work on the engine, and it has a new timing belt.

The other problem that car has is the worn-out hole on the driver's side windshield wiper, which I tried to correct by machining a properly-shaped aluminum block so the wiper transmission 'parallelogram' would stay in position and not bind. That was never really totally satisfactory. That problem is pretty common on the Gen 1's and I wonder if there is a more general solution (maybe put in two separate wiper motors?)

Are you saying it is just now going back on the road?

/East Coaster

Thanks Big Blue , forward cluster bearing. Been wondering where the week spot was on the VMT5-1.
Mines got 200k,,, "tacking" noise when cold , can't isolate it. Sounds like the trans sometimes.