Transmission Takedown, Part 2

After soliciting a little advice from folks on the MG Experience BBS (Oh my God, who remembers what a BBS was?), I sallied forth with the first and third motion shaft teardown.  There were four key items I needed to proceed:

1. A bearing separator;
2. A driveshaft yoke;
3. A big hammer;
4. A big wrench.

I started with the first motion shaft.  The shaft needed the driveshaft yoke to hold it in place so I could remove the bearing retaining nut.  The big wrench (1 5/16") did its job well.  (A side note on that wrench--I got it on Amazon for $12, and Prime shipping meant I had it in two days.  I mean, jeez, what CAN'T you buy on Amazon?)

 

Once the nut was out of the way, the bearing separator came into play to, you guessed it, separate the bearing from the shaft.

 

That was surprisingly easy.  No gear teeth were harmed in the removal of the bearing.

Next up, the third motion shaft.  This guy has the bearing in a plate that fits into the transmission housing.  I decided the easiest thing was to remove the plate, then the bearing.

Time for the big hammer (whom I call "Big Hammer") and the vise.  I sort-of-gently drove the bearing and shaft through the plate, and it came off without a problem.  The plates are not reproduced, so thank goodness.

 

Nurse, I need a bearing separator--stat!

The thing is, the puller part of the set only had about a 9" depth.  So I got a little creative, and with some threaded rod and grade 8 nuts, I made a really long bearing separator.

And boy, it did the job.

The thing is, the tool was not well constructed.  The separator was cheap and wobbly and already showed significant wear after a single use.  If you buy a bearing separator set, don't go cheap.  Buy a set that has no slack in the retaining bolts (in other words, well machined).  I got away with no damage but I was not pleased, so it went back.  I fully expect to need to buy one again, because tools.

Anyhow, with the bearing gone, I was able to remove the first gear cluster--it just slid off.  I didn't disassemble it to prevent little flying bits from leaving my vicinity.  Removing second gear is a bit of a chore, though.  There is a retaining collar that is held in place with two spring loaded doohickeys.  You have to push one in, then turn the collar, then push the other in, then turn it the rest of the way.  Then, it's not happy to just slide out, so gently tapping on the second gear cluster gets it moving.

 

Removing the doohickeys and the little bitty baby thrust washers allows the second gear cluster to slide off.  The second gear synchro was stuck in place (which I didn't recall being a problem), but it was only just a bit stuck and came off with a gentle tap or two.

 

 

And there you have it.

Here's the inventory of what came out of the inside.  The biggest piece of advice I can offer is to be uber-organized and bag everything.  Throw nothing away until you have fitted its replacement.  And keep everything clean, clean, clean.

Now I just need parts...