Shifter Seal Replacement
- Thanks to DamianHindley
A few weeks ago I wrote about fixing the thud/clunk sound on our cars. While I was down there I saw that my shifter seal was leaking. sometimes this looks liek the rear main tranny seal leaking but most of the time its the shifter seal.
So hey another write up, why not. After checking this forum for some
help a few people said it can be done in car but is a pita and others
said you have to remove the tranny. Well the truth is that its a simple
job and took me less than 2 hours to complete and this was on the long
side cause Joe Dirt was on and I have a tv in the garage. Man thats
guys the shit. Ok, Tools you will need are normal hand tools and a set
of ratchet wrenches (best tool money can buy) also comes in really
handy but not needed.
1.Raise car up on 4 jack stands so you have plenty of room to work under there.
2. remove the 2 heat shields under the drive shaft.
3.mark with a marker or paint all joints on the drive shaft from front to back so you keep them aligned. Loosen the huge nut on the end of the front
shaft. if you can grab the shaft and shake it and you if you hear it
rattle then its already loose as mine was(this also causes noise/rattle
during driving so make sure you tighten it real good when your done.
now remove the front drive shaft bolts
on tranny and the 3-bolts that hold it to the diff. then remove the
bolts holding up the carrier bearing/center support. Then pry between
the diff and the rubber it should separate without much of a problem.
Then just tap the front coupler with a
hammer, this will bust the rust off and it should separate. You can pry
with a screw drive if needed to separate it. Now separate the rear
completely from the diff and slide the whole thing out the back and set
it to the side.
4. Now remove the long tranny brace, you can use a jack or your arm to
support the tranny, as its not really going to go any where. Now that
the bracket is of pull the tranny down a tad to give you room to work.
It will only go down a tiny bit.
5. jump in the car and remove the center section above the shifter
(remove shifter knob) and then take out the 4 10-mm bolts on the plate
just pull and the rubber stuff up so you can see in there and its all
free to move.
6. get back under car and remove the bolts on the lower shifter support
brackets and just bust the top one loose. take the side bolts out (you
may have to tug the tranny down a bit to do this). then slide the
rubber boot on the linkage to the front,
and remove the rear 12-mm bolt. this will separate the shifter from the
rod. Now take and push the shifter up, it will rotate on the upper bolt
and move out of your way.
7. take a pair of pliers and slide back the clamp on the shifter lever
going into the tranny. Then shake the end of the shaft and the
retaining pin should fall out, up not just push it up with a pic or
something. Now you can remove the rear part of the shaft.
8. take some carb cleaner and spray around that shaft in the tranny then wipe it off all nice and clean.
9. use a very small screw driver and tap the seal
on the outer edges to push it in more, keep working around it until its
in there about as much as the 1.5 times the thickness of the new seal. Then clean the area up one last time.
10. use and oil you want (motor or tranny) to lube the center of the new seal. then find a deep well socket that is just a tiny bit bigger that the out side of the seal and throw a small extension on the end of the socket.
11. now take a hammer and lightly tap the end of the extension this will drive the seal in until its lever with the outside of the casing. Don't worry about messing up the seal as it goes in there real easy.
12. puts shifter rod back on and put it all back together don't forget to
line up all the marks you made on the shaft and be sure to put the
carrier bearing spacers on top of the bearing.
13. no more leak, have fun
