out for the season

[scout man]

Looks like I will not see any wheeling time this fall. I opened up my tranny today. At first I thought I had gotten off easy and it was going to be a simple fix. However, I realized quickly what I was trying to fix was just a side effect, not the real issue. The arm that holds my rear band, which operates reverse and manual first gears somehow broke the end off. still and easy fix, seeing as I have a spare sitting in my garage.. the problem is there is absolutely no way to do it without dropping the tranny again. This time I am going to do it right and save my penny's (hence the time issue) to get a real transmission jack and turn this pain in the ass 2 -3 person job into a much easier one person job. Also slightly concerned as to how this steel arm broke off. If it was just a weak spot, great, but I am concerned that it somehow is taking way too much pressure? who knows. Then again I never did find the other piece of it, so maybe it was already bad to begin with and I didnt notice it when I installed it? Hard to beleive since it did work for a littl while, although probably possible.

Anyways... the red line with the arrow would be where this piece broke. Also included another angle of the bracket. Not sure if the other half broke or not, I cant see it in the tranny. Also included the complete band assembly to show its actual function.

[Brody]

That is a royal bummer and I am really sorry to hear it. Easy to miss, too.

A suggestion, about the only one I have aside from the 'real' tranny jack, would be to drain all of you fluid into a bucket. Stick a magnet into the bucket to see if the piece that broke off (if it did) got ground up and sailed metal all through your tranny. If it did, you have more problems that what you want, for sure, but it is still better than replacing the part and doing all of the work only to have your tranny bite the bullet 1000k later. You may be able to also see very small metal particles in the fluid, but the magnet is for sure. Also pull the pan and check the screen for the same reason.

Good luck, I know this sucks...

[scout man]

Josh and I were just talking and he actually pointed something out to me I totally forgot. When I opened this tranny last time to do the rebuild what I thought was half of a very thick washer fell out. Never did figure out what it came from. He suggested it was the broken piece, and I think he is right. I never replaced that bracket, I stopped just before it seeing no reason to tear any more apart when everything else looked fine. it must have been holding on just enough to be functional, and when I had the resistance of a mud puddle under my tires it was enough to brake it loose. At least now I feel confident rebuilding it again myself, as it wasnt a new failure due to something I did wrong, just an old failure I didnt notice during the rebuild. Still down for a while, but it might live again.

[Haku]

Much to Steve's chagrin, we figured out that we already found the piece that broke off when he tore it apart before. It looks like a busted up washer, so it didn't seem like a major problem since he replaced all that stuff. Thinking back, it looks like its definitely that exact piece. Luckily it seemed to be all in one piece, so it didn't get torn up too bad or anything, or spew chunks everywhere.

So it looks like its an additional remove, tear down, rebuild, and re-install for the Scout. Should be pretty damn good at it here pretty soon. Hopefully that seals the deal on this tranny for a while.

JH