dllubin
Don
I started out yesterday planning on just changing my shift rod seal which arrived just a few days after I ordered it from Eurosport (UK). The job went quicker than I had planned. The most significant difficulty was making sure the boot was not damaged during removal. I put that boot on in 1980 and it still looked brand new. I used the open end wrench method as described on this forum to remove the old seal. In order to protect the new seal from damage during installation, I followed the recommendation from this forum and wrapped the end of the shift rod with electrical tape to prevent any snags on the new seal. Once I got the seal into position, I had to decide on how to drive it in. I started looking in my toolbox for a deep reach socket with the right diameter to drive in the seal with a hammer. Not finding one with a suitable OD, ID, and length, I went into another toolbox (originally owned by my brother) and found this:
I'm not sure what it was originally intended for but if I was designing a tool to drive in shift rod seals it would look like this. The OD is .875", ID is .75", and the length is 2.375". The ID is large enough to slide over the shift rod and small enough to keep it precisely on axis. The OD is just right to drive the seal, and the length is enough to avoid hitting the shift rod.
Having successfully completed the above in less time than I anticipated, I became a great target for scope creap on this project. I had remembered a discussion about the shift rod lollipop suffering from delamination between the rubber and steel resulting in a loss of shifting ability. The prescribed solution was to run a bolt (or two) through the lollipop. That seemed like a good idea so I decided to give it a try. I drilled a hole thru the center of the lollipop, tapped one side for an M8x1.25, and made a hole in the other side for the M8 to go through. I put in a bolt and tightened it enough to compress the rubber a bit and then "double nutted" the whole thing to keep it tight.
The last task I added to the project was to switch to Redline MTL. I ordered a gallon from Amazon around midnight and it is supposed to arrive Wednesday. I had been using Castrol GTX 20W50 since I replaced the synchros in 1983 with no issues but I thought the arguements to make the switch were worthwhile. Since my shift rod seal and Tripode boots and seals are pretty new, I am hoping for no leaks. I think I replaced the input shaft seal in 1983 along with the synchros so it only has a bit over 30K on it. With the price of MTL, I guess you can watch dollar bills dripping off your car with a good leak.
That brings me to the last task which is refilling the transaxle. My standard way of doing it with GTX was a funnel with an extension hose. That usually worked fine but a few times the hose would move out of the fill hole or separate from the funnel. With something as cheap and viscous as GTX, it wasn't a big deal (except for cleaning up the mess). I was thinking that a more reliable approach needs to be taken with the MTL. Any suggestions?
I'm not sure what it was originally intended for but if I was designing a tool to drive in shift rod seals it would look like this. The OD is .875", ID is .75", and the length is 2.375". The ID is large enough to slide over the shift rod and small enough to keep it precisely on axis. The OD is just right to drive the seal, and the length is enough to avoid hitting the shift rod.
Having successfully completed the above in less time than I anticipated, I became a great target for scope creap on this project. I had remembered a discussion about the shift rod lollipop suffering from delamination between the rubber and steel resulting in a loss of shifting ability. The prescribed solution was to run a bolt (or two) through the lollipop. That seemed like a good idea so I decided to give it a try. I drilled a hole thru the center of the lollipop, tapped one side for an M8x1.25, and made a hole in the other side for the M8 to go through. I put in a bolt and tightened it enough to compress the rubber a bit and then "double nutted" the whole thing to keep it tight.
The last task I added to the project was to switch to Redline MTL. I ordered a gallon from Amazon around midnight and it is supposed to arrive Wednesday. I had been using Castrol GTX 20W50 since I replaced the synchros in 1983 with no issues but I thought the arguements to make the switch were worthwhile. Since my shift rod seal and Tripode boots and seals are pretty new, I am hoping for no leaks. I think I replaced the input shaft seal in 1983 along with the synchros so it only has a bit over 30K on it. With the price of MTL, I guess you can watch dollar bills dripping off your car with a good leak.
That brings me to the last task which is refilling the transaxle. My standard way of doing it with GTX was a funnel with an extension hose. That usually worked fine but a few times the hose would move out of the fill hole or separate from the funnel. With something as cheap and viscous as GTX, it wasn't a big deal (except for cleaning up the mess). I was thinking that a more reliable approach needs to be taken with the MTL. Any suggestions?
