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Gearbox in your Legacy/Impreza/Forester popping out of 5th gear? Read this.


ETF

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For those of us who have had the misfortune of an intermittent 5th gear popping out, this is for you. I decided to write this after finding not much info on the ClubSub forums about this when I searched, and after some searching elsewhere I found something on a US forum which was a huge help to me so I thought I’d re-write it slightly and add some of my own photo’s and post it up here in case someone else has the same problem in the future and they look on ClubSub first.

Note: This is written for a 98 BH5 Legacy GT Wagon as this is what my car is, so if yours is a WRX/Forrester or NA Legacy etc there may be slight differences like not having to take down pipes off both turbo’s etc, but on the whole I imagine it will be much the same.

Problem/Symptoms: Gearbox will pop out of 5th gear on abrupt deceleration and occasionally on cruise throttle @ 100 KPH (sometimes over a decent bump on the motorway etc). In my case when I would ease off the gas gently when I was in 5th it generally wouldn’t pop out of gear, but I had to be pretty smooth with my acceleration/deceleration. If I held my hand on the gear knob (not forcing it to stay in 5th or anything like that) it felt as though it was trying to be pushed out of gear, and if got on the gas and then off there was a fair bit of forward/aft movement on the gearstick (without popping out of gear).

Cause of Problem: Most commonly it’s due to the lock nut on the main shaft coming lose inside your gearbox. This particular 35mm nut has to be torqued down and staked, and in many cases the nut was not staked enough from the factory (faulty staking tool perhaps on a batch of gearboxes?). In my case the old nut was barely staked at all, literally next to nothing.

Some people choose to leave it and just live with the problem, however I have read horror stories of the nut getting really loose wrecking 5th gear syncro's and finally ending up not being able to select a gear at all. Don't let a $16 dollar nut wreck your gearbox! If your not afraid to get on the tools and have some spare time you can save yourself a huge sum of money by doing this simple fix. I'd allow a solid weekend in terms of time but this all depends on whether you have all the tools needed, all the parts ready and waiting and how much associated components you have to disassemble (in my case, TMIC, centre exhaust section, driveshaft and then finally the transfer case).

Remedy/Fix: To get to the root of the problem and confirm whether or not it is a loose main shaft nut causing your gearbox to pop out of 5th you are going to have to split the transfer case from the rest of the gearbox.

Once split and the nut is loose (mine was loose as and I could wind it off with my fingers), buy a new nut from Subaru (ALWAYS use a brand new nut, they are only $16 retail direct from Winger for the genuine nut) and a new Transfer Case gasket ($13 for a genuine gasket direct from Winger) and swap out the old nut for the new.

Click on hyperlinks below images to go to bigger sized pictures.

2u5s0ug.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2u5s0ug.jpg

Tools you will need:

1) Sockets: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 21mm and 35mm.

2) A variety of extensions (3in, 6in, 10in)

3) 14mm Ratchet Spanner if you have one.

4) Ring & Open End Spanners: 12mm

5) Some Long Punches and a hammer.

6) Light/Torch etc.

7) Fairly Large Size Flat Blade Screw Driver

8.) Axle Stands and/or ramps. (The whole car needs to be in the air)

Parts and consumables you will need:

1) CRC 5-56 (just your normal CRC can).

2) New Lock Nut. OEM Part from Subaru, the nut’s P/N for my gearbox (98 BH5A GT Legacy 5MT) is: 802622010.

3) New Transfer Case Gasket. OEM part from Subaru, the P/N is: 32145AA030.

4) 4L of fresh gearbox oil. I just used CASTROL MULTITRAX 80W-90. The oil must be a GL5 spec however. Refill capacity is 3.5L according to my service manual.

o70hp0.jpg

vi0gwo.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/vi0gwo.jpg

Start by getting the car in the air. You are going to want the car to be as high as safely possible to give you the most room to move underneath the car. And get it level; this helps later when filling the gearbox to ensure an accurate reading on the dipstick.

1) You’re going to need to remove the center exhaust section, which runs from the turbo’s back to the rear exhaust pipe. In order to get at all the bolts on each turbo’s heat shield without going into a blind rage you will need to remove the top mount intercooler first for access.

2) Once the intercooler is out of the way and the heat shields are off drop the center exhaust section. Unbolt the downpipe’s/exhaust from the backside of each turbo and then remove it from the hanger brackets and then unbolt from rear exhaust pipe. (It’s a good idea to soak all of these bolts with CRC before attempting to undo them, as they can be very stubborn).

3) Get your bucket or container ready and drain the gearbox fluid. The drain plug is a 21mm bolt on the bottom of the gearbox. Let the fluid drain for a while as the more that comes out here, the less that will end up on you later when you remove the drive shaft and transfer case. Clean the magnetic portion of the drain plug and check to see if there is any metallic particles/chunks on it. Make sure that when you go to reinstall the drain plug that seal is still on there (if it looks a bit rooted get a new one, some people swear by replacing it every time like on a engine oil sump drain plug but if it looks fine and not deformed I re use it).

4) Remove the 4x 12mm nuts and bolts at the rear end of your driveshaft where it bolts to the rear diff using your 12mm spanner. There is not enough room to get a 12mm socket or ratchet spanner on there, hence why you need to use a normal open-end 12mm spanner. Make sure the rear wheels spin freely and that the handbrake is not engaged. This will allow you to spin the drive shaft by hand to get to all 4 bolts.

wh0km9.jpg

Use your screwdriver or a long socket extension and wedge it between the joint in the driveshaft to keep it from spinning while you continue to unbolt everything here. Leave one of the bolts in where the driveshaft bolts to the rear diff, and then unbolt the two bolts which hold the center bearing to the vehicle body. Once those two are unbolted (careful here as the weight of the driveshaft will come down once the bolts are removed) take your final bolt out of where it attaches to the rear diff.

5) Now the drive shaft should just slide out. Be ready with a rag incase any remaining gear oil should pour out.

6) Remove the transmission mounting assembly. This can come off in one large piece. First remove the 4x 14mm bolts from the transmission mount. Then remove the 2x 17mm bolts from of the front and then the 4x 14mm bolts from the rear (you will need a 14mm Long Reach Socket for these as the studs are too long for a normal socket). Once these are all out this thing will come down. Its not real heavy but it will come down.

359jpk4.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/359jpk4.jpg

7) Now you have unobstructed sight of your gearbox and shift linkage. Unbolt the 12mm nut from the shifter stay arm. Remove it and slide it to the side for now.

8.) Once this is all apart get a long punch that’s roughly the same diameter as the pin (not bigger and not to much smaller otherwise you will just punch in the inner pin within the roll pin out) and a hammer ready. You will have to punch out the spring pin holding the shift knuckle to the shifter arm that goes into the transfer case.

spring_pin.jpg

9) OK everything is off and out of the way. On the passenger side of the transmission case, disconnect the two switches at the connectors. The switches are the Back-up light switch and the neutral position switch (1 black and 1 white one).

aa92x0.jpg

There are 8 bolts holding the transfer case to the transmission. (Two of them are really long on the passenger’s side near the bottom, one of these has limited access for a socket, this is where I used a 14mm ratchet spanner). The three bolts on the top are tough to get to so either use a really long extension or put a few of them together.

10) Once all 8 bolts are out the transfer case is ready to slide off. You might need to pry it off at first to break the seal. I used a soft face hammer on the rear cushion rubber, which stays bolted to the transfer case, and I hit it in the aft direction to split the case. Be careful here! The case slides on only two locating pins. One on top and one on the bottom. You can see how far it will slide before you have to support the weight. And be ready for some more gear oil to fall out.

11) Now the finesse comes into play. Once that case comes off the pins it wont slide straight off. The shifter arm is still connected to the shift fork rods located on the passenger’s side at bottom of the case. Pull the case back and rotate a little if you have to. You can use your fingers to try and get the shift rod out of the fork rods. If it starts to get heavy, you can slide it back on a bit and it will alleviate some of the weight.

Once the case is off set it to the side. Its not a bad idea to let it sit on an angle on top of some cardboard to let the remaining gear oil drain out. Quite a bit will come out…

Check in your transfer case that your Oil Guide isn't broken, I'm told that when the main shaft nut comes loose it is likely that these guides get broken as they are made out of a thin plastic. It is very important you get a new oil guide if your's is broken, from what I understand it guides incoming oil onto the main shaft.

You can see my broken one in the photo's below and the new one.

143oqx1.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/143oqx1.jpg

28he8i8.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/28he8i8.jpg

Clean your transfer case of any old crappy oil or debri, hopefully there will be no metal filings or chunks in there like there was with mine.

12) Behold! The main shaft and the secondary shaft (also called the drive pinion assembly). The one on top is the main shaft. You will see a large 35mm nut in front of you and more then likely it is loose enough to take off with your fingers. Remove the old nut and replace with the new one. I used a little bit of Loctite on the threads of the new nut. Make sure the washer under the lock nut stays on the shaft; it is a spring washer, which flattens as you torque the nut down.

gear_shafts.jpg

Now here is the trick with getting the nut to torque up in-situ without the main shaft spinning and not being able to get the nut actually tight, that is if use don’t have a rattle gun like I didn’t…

acx0dh.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/acx0dh.jpg

13) Punch out this pin on the 5th gear shifter fork. Push the 5th gear shifter fork forward to select 5th gear without moving the shifter rods. Then select any other forward gear using the shifter rods, now you have the car jammed in gear and you can torque the nut up without the main shaft spinning.

Once the nut is torqued up pull whichever shifter rod you pushed/pulled to get it back into neutral, and pull the 5th gear shifter fork backwards to engage neutral. Reinstall the pin into the 5th gear shifter fork.

244e2dx.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/244e2dx.jpg

2rrrqk2.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2rrrqk2.jpg

14) Now you will have to stake the nut. Take your big flathead screwdriver and a hammer and stake it good. Stake it better then they did from the factory.

15) While you’re looking over here notice behind the main shaft a shiny silver plate that moves around, this is the main shaft rear plate. Look at the inside of the transfer case to see the indentation to see where the plate sits, this will be a little tricky later when you almost have the case back on.

transfer_case_detail01.jpg

16) Ok the easy part is done. Now lets reinstall the transfer case.

17) Now for the gasket. Clean off any of the old gasket that’s still stuck to the flange with a razor blade or similar and then give it a wipe down with a rag and some IPA (isopropyl alcohol) if you have any.

I find the best way of keeping the gasket on while your re-installing the transfer case is to wet the surface where the gasket will sit with fresh gearbox oil, then place the gasket on the surface and press it all around with your fingers, then with a small paint brush or similar (or fingers), brush some more fresh oil onto the gasket. This wets the gasket right through and it sits quite well and doesn’t slip off.

18) Time to install the transfer case, I found this the trickiest part out of the whole job. If you can get an extra set of hands to help you it will make a huge difference! Make sure all the shift fork rods are in the neutral position and lined up. Inside the transfer case you will see that the shift arm moves quite freely. Pull it out a bit so that you can hang the arm in the 3-4 fork rod.

forkrod_positioning.jpg

Once you get the shift arm in the cutouts between all the shifter rods and in the 3rd/4th gear rod, pull the 3-4 rod (the one in the middle) backwards until it clicks. You have just put the car in 4th gear.

This is extremely important as this make it a lot easier to get the shift arm to stay put when you slide the transfer case back together. If you don’t do this the shift arm will slide into the gap under the 5th-Reverse shifter rod and when you bolt the case up and try to select a gear the shifter will not move! Then you have to remove the transfer case and do it all again. I did this…it sucked.

19) Once the rod is in place begin to slide the case on. If it does not go in all the try turning a wheel a little bit to spin the shafts so the splines can mesh.

20) Now you should have the case on almost all the way. Maybe an inch apart but it wont go any further at this point. Remember that little plate we mentioned? The main shaft rear plate? Well its not where it should be yet.

Slide the case forward enough so that you can get a flathead screwdriver or center punches (I used a red plastic scraper to prevent any metal on metal contact) to slide it up in there on each side of the case. You are going to have to move it into place and slide the case together at the same time to get it to stay. Either with your knee or with someone else’s hand slide it on as you wiggle the plate into place.

21) Once the transfer case is all the way on, I would install a few of the easier bolts to work with back on the transfer case. Reattach the shifter linkage. But before you go and punch that spring pin in, I would temporarily secure it with a bolt or a small punch from the top.

22) Once all that is bolted back up, climb back in the car and make sure it shifts normally and you can select all gears. At this point don’t get alarmed; there will be heaps of play in the shifter. We are just checking to make sure that it shifts through all the gears.

Once the transmission is braced properly and sitting at the proper angle and when you get the shifter stay bolted back up things will tighten up. Shifting may be stiff due to the lack of oil in the gearbox.

23) Check to make sure that when you spin the wheels that everything is hooked up ok and the output shaft out the back of the extension case (where the driveshaft was connected) spins.

24) Reinstall everything in the reverse order. And don’t forget that spring pin on the shifter.

25) I suggest refilling the gearbox while the intercooler is out of the way as there is heaps more room to get at the tucked away fill pipe.

P.S Cheers Ichi Ban for answering my questions while I was doing this!

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  • 5 months later...

Awesome write up man. wicked. I used this to help me change my diff over in my leggy, although now I don't have reversing lights. Anyone know why that would be? please don't tell me I have to start again lol, took me 4 go's and alot of swearing just to get it running again

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What problem does yours have trent? I think i've found the problem with the lights. But now I've discovered a leak somewhere. ARG! anyone know of any handy tricks to find them and kill them quick? Or is it a pull apart reseal job?

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  • 1 month later...

Hey Trent I'm by no means an expert on the subject so take what I say with a bit of hesitation, but this could possibly be a cause for you problem of popping out of 4th? 3rd/4th/5th drive gears come off the main shaft so if that nut is not torqued to where it should and has backed off it could well be giving you problems. BUT! I can't be sure, hopefully some more knowledgable guys will chip in?

Sweet as blackshade glad the write up could be of help man! What did you do to get the light issue sorted? Only thing I could think of would be the reverse light harness not being reconnected or the harness itself being chaffed or cut? Or a bit of crap inside in the transfer case stopping the switch inside from 'clicking' when reverse is selected and giving a signal to the harness.

aa92x0.jpg

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  • 1 year later...
 ETF said:

This is extremely important[/b] as this make it a lot easier to get the shift arm to stay put when you slide the transfer case back together. If you don’t do this the shift arm will slide into the gap under the 5th-Reverse shifter rod and when you bolt the case up and try to select a gear the shifter will not move! Then you have to remove the transfer case and do it all again. I did this…it sucked.

19) Once the rod is in place begin to slide the case on. If it does not go in all the try turning a wheel a little bit to spin the shafts so the splines can mesh.

Fark me sideways... I used this as a guide and everything worked well when I tested the shifter at first. All gears were taking and i could feel it in the shifter.

Pop the sring pin into the shifter linkage and carry on installing all the way to the drive shaft, stop and give the shifter another go. Nothing... FFS! All coming back out. I feel ya mate you\'re not the only one.

I can only asusme that i knocked it out whilst installing the spring pin.

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  • 3 years later...

Hi, my my99 wrx start to have the same symptoms as described above, but it only happens when the car have been driven for at least one hour(before that, the  5th is nice and tight), after some hours of highway driving, the stick start to move front and back. (Goes forward when let off the gas, goes back when reapply gas. it pops out the most when I go downhill without gas and when I reapply gas at the bottom of the hill, it pops out) Could it be the main shaft nut coming loose?  Thanks 

Edited by syy0628
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  • 2 months later...

Hey awesome write up.. Im about to do this to my 96 wrx as the symptoms seem to be exactly the same as described.. Just wondering wether the part numbers for the nut and gasket  pictured would b the same for my trans as im having trouble finding any info on it and also struggling to find the parts locally since we dont have a subaru dealer in wanganui.

Cheers. 

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  • 1 year later...

Just went through this process. The 35mm nut had spun it's way off. 

 

This spot has us stumped: 

Quote

20) Now you should have the case on almost all the way. Maybe an inch apart but it wont go any further at this point. Remember that little plate we mentioned? The main shaft rear plate? Well its not where it should be yet.

Slide the case forward enough so that you can get a flathead screwdriver or center punches (I used a red plastic scraper to prevent any metal on metal contact) to slide it up in there on each side of the case. You are going to have to move it into place and slide the case together at the same time to get it to stay. Either with your knee or with someone else’s hand slide it on as you wiggle the plate into place.

 

I am at a loss but we cannot get the case to mate up with the transmission. Is there any further advice on how to make this part work? 

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Updating: 

Biggest thing was having 3 people. My brother and I used large screwdrivers on both sides to hold the plate in place, while my dad pushed / tightened the bolts holding the transfer case to the transmission. I fully acknowledge others may have had an easier time, but this helped us make things happen correctly. 

 

It also should be noted that putting the gearbox in 4th while installing the transfer case is crucial. We had the shift fork get stuck a couple times and had to re-do things. 

Edited by haljordan
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  • 8 months later...
On 10/12/2011 at 6:45 PM, ETF said:

For those of us who have had the misfortune of an intermittent 5th gear popping out, this is for you. I decided to write this after finding not much info on the ClubSub forums about this when I searched, and after some searching elsewhere I found something on a US forum which was a huge help to me so I thought I’d re-write it slightly and add some of my own photo’s and post it up here in case someone else has the same problem in the future and they look on ClubSub first.

Note: This is written for a 98 BH5 Legacy GT Wagon as this is what my car is, so if yours is a WRX/Forrester or NA Legacy etc there may be slight differences like not having to take down pipes off both turbo’s etc, but on the whole I imagine it will be much the same.

Problem/Symptoms: Gearbox will pop out of 5th gear on abrupt deceleration and occasionally on cruise throttle @ 100 KPH (sometimes over a decent bump on the motorway etc). In my case when I would ease off the gas gently when I was in 5th it generally wouldn’t pop out of gear, but I had to be pretty smooth with my acceleration/deceleration. If I held my hand on the gear knob (not forcing it to stay in 5th or anything like that) it felt as though it was trying to be pushed out of gear, and if got on the gas and then off there was a fair bit of forward/aft movement on the gearstick (without popping out of gear).

Cause of Problem: Most commonly it’s due to the lock nut on the main shaft coming lose inside your gearbox. This particular 35mm nut has to be torqued down and staked, and in many cases the nut was not staked enough from the factory (faulty staking tool perhaps on a batch of gearboxes?). In my case the old nut was barely staked at all, literally next to nothing.

Some people choose to leave it and just live with the problem, however I have read horror stories of the nut getting really loose wrecking 5th gear syncro's and finally ending up not being able to select a gear at all. Don't let a $16 dollar nut wreck your gearbox! If your not afraid to get on the tools and have some spare time you can save yourself a huge sum of money by doing this simple fix. I'd allow a solid weekend in terms of time but this all depends on whether you have all the tools needed, all the parts ready and waiting and how much associated components you have to disassemble (in my case, TMIC, centre exhaust section, driveshaft and then finally the transfer case).

Remedy/Fix: To get to the root of the problem and confirm whether or not it is a loose main shaft nut causing your gearbox to pop out of 5th you are going to have to split the transfer case from the rest of the gearbox.

Once split and the nut is loose (mine was loose as and I could wind it off with my fingers), buy a new nut from Subaru (ALWAYS use a brand new nut, they are only $16 retail direct from Winger for the genuine nut) and a new Transfer Case gasket ($13 for a genuine gasket direct from Winger) and swap out the old nut for the new.

Click on hyperlinks below images to go to bigger sized pictures.

2u5s0ug.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/2u5s0ug.jpg

Tools you will need:

1) Sockets: 10mm, 12mm, 14mm, 17mm, 21mm and 35mm.

2) A variety of extensions (3in, 6in, 10in)

3) 14mm Ratchet Spanner if you have one.

4) Ring & Open End Spanners: 12mm

5) Some Long Punches and a hammer.

6) Light/Torch etc.

7) Fairly Large Size Flat Blade Screw Driver

8.) Axle Stands and/or ramps. (The whole car needs to be in the air)

Parts and consumables you will need:

1) CRC 5-56 (just your normal CRC can).

2) New Lock Nut. OEM Part from Subaru, the nut’s P/N for my gearbox (98 BH5A GT Legacy 5MT) is: 802622010.

3) New Transfer Case Gasket. OEM part from Subaru, the P/N is: 32145AA030.

4) 4L of fresh gearbox oil. I just used CASTROL MULTITRAX 80W-90. The oil must be a GL5 spec however. Refill capacity is 3.5L according to my service manual.

o70hp0.jpg

vi0gwo.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/vi0gwo.jpg

Start by getting the car in the air. You are going to want the car to be as high as safely possible to give you the most room to move underneath the car. And get it level; this helps later when filling the gearbox to ensure an accurate reading on the dipstick.

1) You’re going to need to remove the center exhaust section, which runs from the turbo’s back to the rear exhaust pipe. In order to get at all the bolts on each turbo’s heat shield without going into a blind rage you will need to remove the top mount intercooler first for access.

2) Once the intercooler is out of the way and the heat shields are off drop the center exhaust section. Unbolt the downpipe’s/exhaust from the backside of each turbo and then remove it from the hanger brackets and then unbolt from rear exhaust pipe. (It’s a good idea to soak all of these bolts with CRC before attempting to undo them, as they can be very stubborn).

3) Get your bucket or container ready and drain the gearbox fluid. The drain plug is a 21mm bolt on the bottom of the gearbox. Let the fluid drain for a while as the more that comes out here, the less that will end up on you later when you remove the drive shaft and transfer case. Clean the magnetic portion of the drain plug and check to see if there is any metallic particles/chunks on it. Make sure that when you go to reinstall the drain plug that seal is still on there (if it looks a bit rooted get a new one, some people swear by replacing it every time like on a engine oil sump drain plug but if it looks fine and not deformed I re use it).

4) Remove the 4x 12mm nuts and bolts at the rear end of your driveshaft where it bolts to the rear diff using your 12mm spanner. There is not enough room to get a 12mm socket or ratchet spanner on there, hence why you need to use a normal open-end 12mm spanner. Make sure the rear wheels spin freely and that the handbrake is not engaged. This will allow you to spin the drive shaft by hand to get to all 4 bolts.

wh0km9.jpg

Use your screwdriver or a long socket extension and wedge it between the joint in the driveshaft to keep it from spinning while you continue to unbolt everything here. Leave one of the bolts in where the driveshaft bolts to the rear diff, and then unbolt the two bolts which hold the center bearing to the vehicle body. Once those two are unbolted (careful here as the weight of the driveshaft will come down once the bolts are removed) take your final bolt out of where it attaches to the rear diff.

5) Now the drive shaft should just slide out. Be ready with a rag incase any remaining gear oil should pour out.

6) Remove the transmission mounting assembly. This can come off in one large piece. First remove the 4x 14mm bolts from the transmission mount. Then remove the 2x 17mm bolts from of the front and then the 4x 14mm bolts from the rear (you will need a 14mm Long Reach Socket for these as the studs are too long for a normal socket). Once these are all out this thing will come down. Its not real heavy but it will come down.

359jpk4.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/359jpk4.jpg

7) Now you have unobstructed sight of your gearbox and shift linkage. Unbolt the 12mm nut from the shifter stay arm. Remove it and slide it to the side for now.

8.) Once this is all apart get a long punch that’s roughly the same diameter as the pin (not bigger and not to much smaller otherwise you will just punch in the inner pin within the roll pin out) and a hammer ready. You will have to punch out the spring pin holding the shift knuckle to the shifter arm that goes into the transfer case.

spring_pin.jpg

9) OK everything is off and out of the way. On the passenger side of the transmission case, disconnect the two switches at the connectors. The switches are the Back-up light switch and the neutral position switch (1 black and 1 white one).

aa92x0.jpg

There are 8 bolts holding the transfer case to the transmission. (Two of them are really long on the passenger’s side near the bottom, one of these has limited access for a socket, this is where I used a 14mm ratchet spanner). The three bolts on the top are tough to get to so either use a really long extension or put a few of them together.

10) Once all 8 bolts are out the transfer case is ready to slide off. You might need to pry it off at first to break the seal. I used a soft face hammer on the rear cushion rubber, which stays bolted to the transfer case, and I hit it in the aft direction to split the case. Be careful here! The case slides on only two locating pins. One on top and one on the bottom. You can see how far it will slide before you have to support the weight. And be ready for some more gear oil to fall out.

11) Now the finesse comes into play. Once that case comes off the pins it wont slide straight off. The shifter arm is still connected to the shift fork rods located on the passenger’s side at bottom of the case. Pull the case back and rotate a little if you have to. You can use your fingers to try and get the shift rod out of the fork rods. If it starts to get heavy, you can slide it back on a bit and it will alleviate some of the weight.

Once the case is off set it to the side. Its not a bad idea to let it sit on an angle on top of some cardboard to let the remaining gear oil drain out. Quite a bit will come out…

Check in your transfer case that your Oil Guide isn't broken, I'm told that when the main shaft nut comes loose it is likely that these guides get broken as they are made out of a thin plastic. It is very important you get a new oil guide if your's is broken, from what I understand it guides incoming oil onto the main shaft.

You can see my broken one in the photo's below and the new one.

143oqx1.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/143oqx1.jpg

28he8i8.jpg

http://i40.tinypic.com/28he8i8.jpg

Clean your transfer case of any old crappy oil or debri, hopefully there will be no metal filings or chunks in there like there was with mine.

12) Behold! The main shaft and the secondary shaft (also called the drive pinion assembly). The one on top is the main shaft. You will see a large 35mm nut in front of you and more then likely it is loose enough to take off with your fingers. Remove the old nut and replace with the new one. I used a little bit of Loctite on the threads of the new nut. Make sure the washer under the lock nut stays on the shaft; it is a spring washer, which flattens as you torque the nut down.

gear_shafts.jpg

Now here is the trick with getting the nut to torque up in-situ without the main shaft spinning and not being able to get the nut actually tight, that is if use don’t have a rattle gun like I didn’t…

acx0dh.jpg

http://i43.tinypic.com/acx0dh.jpg

13) Punch out this pin on the 5th gear shifter fork. Push the 5th gear shifter fork forward to select 5th gear without moving the shifter rods. Then select any other forward gear using the shifter rods, now you have the car jammed in gear and you can torque the nut up without the main shaft spinning.

Once the nut is torqued up pull whichever shifter rod you pushed/pulled to get it back into neutral, and pull the 5th gear shifter fork backwards to engage neutral. Reinstall the pin into the 5th gear shifter fork.

244e2dx.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/244e2dx.jpg

2rrrqk2.jpg

http://i41.tinypic.com/2rrrqk2.jpg

14) Now you will have to stake the nut. Take your big flathead screwdriver and a hammer and stake it good. Stake it better then they did from the factory.

15) While you’re looking over here notice behind the main shaft a shiny silver plate that moves around, this is the main shaft rear plate. Look at the inside of the transfer case to see the indentation to see where the plate sits, this will be a little tricky later when you almost have the case back on.

transfer_case_detail01.jpg

16) Ok the easy part is done. Now lets reinstall the transfer case.

17) Now for the gasket. Clean off any of the old gasket that’s still stuck to the flange with a razor blade or similar and then give it a wipe down with a rag and some IPA (isopropyl alcohol) if you have any.

I find the best way of keeping the gasket on while your re-installing the transfer case is to wet the surface where the gasket will sit with fresh gearbox oil, then place the gasket on the surface and press it all around with your fingers, then with a small paint brush or similar (or fingers), brush some more fresh oil onto the gasket. This wets the gasket right through and it sits quite well and doesn’t slip off.

18) Time to install the transfer case, I found this the trickiest part out of the whole job. If you can get an extra set of hands to help you it will make a huge difference! Make sure all the shift fork rods are in the neutral position and lined up. Inside the transfer case you will see that the shift arm moves quite freely. Pull it out a bit so that you can hang the arm in the 3-4 fork rod.

forkrod_positioning.jpg

Once you get the shift arm in the cutouts between all the shifter rods and in the 3rd/4th gear rod, pull the 3-4 rod (the one in the middle) backwards until it clicks. You have just put the car in 4th gear.

This is extremely important as this make it a lot easier to get the shift arm to stay put when you slide the transfer case back together. If you don’t do this the shift arm will slide into the gap under the 5th-Reverse shifter rod and when you bolt the case up and try to select a gear the shifter will not move! Then you have to remove the transfer case and do it all again. I did this…it sucked.

19) Once the rod is in place begin to slide the case on. If it does not go in all the try turning a wheel a little bit to spin the shafts so the splines can mesh.

20) Now you should have the case on almost all the way. Maybe an inch apart but it wont go any further at this point. Remember that little plate we mentioned? The main shaft rear plate? Well its not where it should be yet.

Slide the case forward enough so that you can get a flathead screwdriver or center punches (I used a red plastic scraper to prevent any metal on metal contact) to slide it up in there on each side of the case. You are going to have to move it into place and slide the case together at the same time to get it to stay. Either with your knee or with someone else’s hand slide it on as you wiggle the plate into place.

21) Once the transfer case is all the way on, I would install a few of the easier bolts to work with back on the transfer case. Reattach the shifter linkage. But before you go and punch that spring pin in, I would temporarily secure it with a bolt or a small punch from the top.

22) Once all that is bolted back up, climb back in the car and make sure it shifts normally and you can select all gears. At this point don’t get alarmed; there will be heaps of play in the shifter. We are just checking to make sure that it shifts through all the gears.

Once the transmission is braced properly and sitting at the proper angle and when you get the shifter stay bolted back up things will tighten up. Shifting may be stiff due to the lack of oil in the gearbox.

23) Check to make sure that when you spin the wheels that everything is hooked up ok and the output shaft out the back of the extension case (where the driveshaft was connected) spins.

24) Reinstall everything in the reverse order. And don’t forget that spring pin on the shifter.

25) I suggest refilling the gearbox while the intercooler is out of the way as there is heaps more room to get at the tucked away fill pipe.

P.S Cheers Ichi Ban for answering my questions while I was doing this!

Where have the photos gone? They were so useful. Where can we buy the oil guides in Australia or elsewhere please

Where have the photos gone?

They were so useful.

 

Where can we buy the oil guides in Australia or elsewhere please?

need it to get mine back on the road.

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