Hi all,

I just replaced all three sets of bearings on the secondary output shaft of my '01. I've had a whirring noise coming from beneath the car for some time now, with no loss of power or performance. I mistakenly swapped the rear diff which did not solve anyting (Anyone need an AP1 diff with 60K miles in perfect working condition with flanges? PM me...). Anyway, more research led to the bearings on the secondary output shaft in the transmission. I changed all 3 today without having to remove the transimission. To have it done (drive-in, drive-out) would have been $700. Doing it myself cost less than $100. Granted, my neighbor owns a shop, so I had use of both him and his facilities this morning. Heres how it goes:

Drain the tranny and remove the driveshaft (removing the loop will give you the clearance you need). Remove the cover to the tunnel housing and the shift knob. Remove the second boot with the white plastic ring by forcing it slightly outward at the four arrows. Remove the three bolts holding in the shifter followed by the shifter and the spring. Finally, remove the four bolts holding the shift galley onto the top of the tail shaft. You'll need a universal and mechanical finger to do it from inside. You may be able to do it from underneath if you lower the tranny all the way, but you'll be doing it blind.

Raise the car back up and lower the tranny as far as you can. Remove the four bolts holding the shifter galley onto the bottom of the tunnel. reach inside the shifter galley and you'll feel 1 12mm bolt holding the shifter fork onto the linkage rod. Remove this bolt all the way. Remove the companion flange from the back of the tranny with an impact gun and a 36mm socket. You may need a puller to remove the flange once the bolt is removed. Don't lose the nylon washer or the o-ring.

Remove the bolts holding the tail shaft onto the tranny. the top two bolts are longer than the rest, make note for reassembly. Once all the bolts are out, you can start to wiggle the tail shaft off. you may need to pry it a bit, but it should come. Once off, the tranny oil pump gear will be lose. the tail shaft holds it in, so set it aside until reassembly. To remove the secondary shaft, I had to pry out the rear seal then using a brass punch, tap the shaft forward until the aft-most bearing slid off. Once the shaft was free, an assortment of pullers and slide hammers were used to remove the other two forward bearings. All three bearings were pressed onto the shaft, so each one required some sort of force to remove.

Reassembly is everything in reverse. If you got this far, you should be able to figure it out. the trickiest part is putting the shifter fork back onto the linkage rod. It helps of the tranny is left in Neutral the whole time.

Anyway, it only took about 4 hours and the whirring noise is gone. The only way I can describe the noise is it 'whirred', it was directly proportional to the speed of the vehicle, it never changed during acceleration, deceleration or CORNERing and seemed to be coming from under the car. Upon dissambly, the forward two bearing assy's had pitted bearings. Not too bad, but enought to cause the problem. This is what I get for not changing my tranny oil often enough.

If I ever have to do it again, I'll gladly do it myself as long as I have access to a lift. NO WAY would I try it under ramps or a jack.

If you are thinking of trying this and you have any questions, PM me. I'd be happy to help if I can.

I'm no auto mechanic by trade, but I'm good with my hands. I simply haven't had to do much on my car other that checking valve clearances and some bolt-on mods. That being said, I didn't run in to that many issues today, none of which couldn't be over come.

Good luck!

I hope this helps someone!

 

Good write up. I would have never even considered doing it in-car. Thanks for the tip. I've been meaning to change mine. I think mine are like yours. Nothing horrible, but it sounds almost like road noise.

 

At first, I tried to replace just the aft bearing while on ramps, and there was no way to get it our without removing the shaft. Again, I wouldn't do it unless it was on a lift, but in retrospect it wasn't that bad at all. I can't see going through 6 hours (according to the manual) of removing the transmission when it only took 4 hours to do it on-car. I could probably do it a helluvalot faster now.
If you do it, let me know how it goes...

Clayton eh? I'm in Elizabeth City. I may be able to work something out with my neighbor if you don't already have access to a lift.

 

Old thread here, but I was wondering if you could provide the part numbers to the replacement bearings?
Thanks