Downgear

After completing my research, I identified my gear whine problem to be the output shaft bearings and then proceeded to order the required parts including all 3 bearings, shims, gaskets etc. I have never cracked a transmission before but I am fairly confident I can handle the job. My fear came in reading posts stating this job would be a disaster without a hoist - which I don't have. I also read something about the oil pump removal and how it can easily be put together wrong which worries me.

For those that have done this job, is it something that could be tackled relatively easily on the ground with no hoist or overall is it just better to pay a local shop that knows the car the $500 to do the job for me. My biggest fear is breaking something else and creating more headaches with jobs like this.

Singh_snisen

I did mine at home with 2 jacks.

Also difficulty is 4 outa 5. U really have to know what your doing. One step wrong and ur looking at a blown trans.

Also its the input shaft bearing that's commonly bad not so much the output.

you have to be extremely organized when ripping the trans apart also.

Downgear

Thanks for the reply. To further clarify, I am not taking apart the entire transmission, rather taking off the back half while leaving the transmission in the car. In my particular situation it is indeed the output/secondary shaft bearings (#12, #13 and #14 on the tail end of the transmission that require replacement. I was curious of the difficulty of doing this job in my garage while on the ground with only jack stands.

Singh_snisen

If ur certain that it is the output shaft bearing then yes u can do this while still in the car. But id rather drop the trans and check the entire trans if ur already breaking it down. Check ur other bearings, caps, forks, synchros etc. when I tore mine apart I replaced almost every bearing as they were bad. Cheap fluid is the cause for this. In my cause it was oem Honda trans fluid.

Billman250

The tailshaft of the transmission can be removed with the transmission in the car. You don't even need to pull the drive flange off.

Remove shifter, remove driveshaft, lower tail a bit and remove tail assembly.

Downgear

Thanks for the input Billman...is there any real trick or difficulty putting the oil pump back in place on re-assembly?
I am now leaning towards just putting the car on jack stands and getting this done.

AP1Chief

Talking about the trans oil gear? that's in the main case you wont see it just tearing the tail off.

s2000Junky

Is there a method for discerning if its the input or output side of the bearings that's causing the racket/issue? I have a very faint trans noise out of gear at idle. But gets much more audible when I rev the car up to say 2k rpm and push the clutch pedal in and out. When driving it makes some pretty good groaning sounds, especially when letting off the throttle in gear. Sound similar to clutch buzz, but pretty sure that's not it. You can hear it kind of tugging back and forth wile under decal load like its getting sloppy in there. There is some vibration, mostly noticeable when at freeway speeds and under light throttle transitioning from gas to no gas. Feels like there is slack in there somewhere.

Be great if I could just unbolt the tail section of the trans in car and swap a set of bearings in and bolt it all back up. Not sure if its that easy though. You can leave the main output flange in place and it just comes out with the shaft and everything when unbolting tail section? So no special bearing press or tools needed?

Downgear

Sounds like your issue could be on the input side but I am not overly familiar with that portion. Output shaft bearings only spin when the car is in motion and the faster your go, the more the pitch or sound changes. Clutch position, gear selection and rpm play absolutely no role in a bad output bearing. These are the exact symptoms of my car and why I will be replacing the 3 output bearings. I am still deciding if this is a simple enough repair to complete myself. Its tough when you cant follow an exact guide or service manual for the quick "tailshaft only" removal process. I may have to start the job to see the process for myself and will post back. I am not sure if we understood Billman correctly when he said the companion flange does not have to be removed from the secondary shaft...i dont see how you could pull the secondary shaft out to access the bearings without removing the flange. Again..I may have to see it for myself.

I watched this video with the guy going into extreme detail on pre-load adjustment and housing bolts stretching. If i could just unbolt and put it all back together, i would do this job in a second. Now i am all paranoid and considering paying a pro that may or may not even worry about pre-load and bolts stretching!

s2000Junky

Well you and I share the same fear about digging into this because of those issues. I thought there might be a chance for me if it was the output side and strait forward bolt out bolt in affair, but I'm not removing entire transmissions in my garage to get to the input side if that's what it is, nor do I have the experience digging into transmissions. Might as well just buy another used tranny and cross my fingers I got a good one if my situation requires digging full on into the input side. Can buy another trans for $500-$700 and another $500 to swap it in. Or pay $1500-$2000 in parts and labor to deal with mine.