Oddly, the search function came up with nothing...has anybody rebuilt their Gen1 5-speed tranny?

The 2nd and 3rd gear synchros on mine are starting to get a little "notchy", and 5th gear whines more than I think it should (4th is dead silent, to give a comparison.) I'd like to get both of those fixed this next year.

How hard is a transmission rebuild for someone who's mechanically inclined and has a fairly well-equipped home shop? Would it be better to buy an already rebuilt one?

transmissions are all kinds of voodoo, hoodoo, and weird stuff. i say give it a shot if you're feeling capable and adventurous - but be prepared to buy a rebuilt if you shift into first gear and move backwards.

good luck!

I have rebuilt a couple of transmissions, but not this one. I asked the local manual transmission guy when I was in Australia about them. He said they were straightforward.

I've come from the Samurai world, where several vendors sell rebuild kits for their 5-speed transmission. The fact that I haven't yet found anything similar for the Monty tranny tells me that I might end up having a pro do it.

I would suggest that you get a second one for reference on reassembly.

FastEddy may have a tip or two for you. Although we don't hardly ever see him on here any more, KevinC had some pointers as well if you search way back for his posts.

Don't lose the little ball bearing that goes in the reverse switch assembly or your reverse lights will stay on all the time and the Highway Patrol will want to talk to you about that. Because I know.

John B.

It is not too tough, much easier than the a/t. The main places to look for excessive wear are the input shaft bearing. You can diagnose this in the truck. Accel to a steady state speed in 2nd or 3rd, and get on and off the gas while watching the shifter. If you see a fairly large fore and aft movement of the shifter, you have input bearing wear as the mainshaft moves fore and aft, moving the shifter forks. When it gets large enough, it pops out of gear.

Get the fsm and follow the manual, and it will be pretty easy. You won't have the special pullers for some of the stuff, but I've been able to drive it apart with blunt punches and a hammmer. Parts are available.

Jason (87monty) is building a Jeep/Toyota trans conversion for his use. Check this out for an alternative:

Mixtubishi Thread

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Hi Russ!!
I sure am! its on the verge of install too <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Thanks fasteddy. Couple of questions:

1) Does 5th in these transmissions normally whine? It's pretty noisy, especially compared to 4th which is silent. (Mine is a Dec. '86 build, which I think is slightly different than the post-May '87 units)

2) Where's the best place to get parts? Anyone sell a complete kit?