pulling apart gearbox - quick question

[adam_rxturbo]

hey, me again

Just pulling apart a MY wagon awd gearbox, and i got stuck pulling the casing apart. Not sure if there is a circlip somewhere i have to get off, or if there is something else im missing? Ie having to pull apart shift linkages?

I found one circlip in the extension housing.. but it looks REALLY hard to get to - without fancy angled tipped circlip pliers!

Cheers
-Adam

[steptoe]

MY didn't come with awd gearbox, did they ? Did you mean 4WD or you got a awd box from something else in MY (lucky bugger )

If you mean MY standard 4WD box and/or dual range, they are tricky....circlips and ball bearings and springs bloody everywhere.

If you intend to put it back together and it to work, take lots of notes and photos and drawings.

Then there is that big back shaft nut inside middle housing that you cannot get a socket into - need special homemade spanner or sumptin'. I used a jigsaw to enlarge hole - but this gearbox was not going back together !!

[Outback bloke]

There is a few criclips inside the extension housing if it is dual range. 3 of them I think that you ahve to remove. A screw driver will lift them out easily. Just put your hand over the top so they don't go bouncing around the room once they let go.

Then there is a small bolt down on the passengers side inside the housing that you have to remove.

Once the extension housing is off you will also see 4 bolts around the output (??) shaft that have to be undone. The rest is straight forwards.

[adam_rxturbo]

update,

Talked to dave - jack sparrow - last night about the circlips, and the flatblade screwdriver trick. Tried it out this morning and it worked! it was a bit of a mix between using a right angle pick and a thin flat blade screwdriver then a bit of levering :P

After that there was another circlip i had to pull out around the rear of the mainshaft, but by then the end plate was off and out of the way!

Then after more jiggling around i discovered that i had to pull of 2 of the selector rods - the main gear rod, and another one connecting to the centre diff (more about that in a moment)

After i got all the bolts, the circlips and those 2 selector rods out, the box basically fell apart

The main reason i was pulling apart is because the person i got it off claimed that the input shaft bearing was starting to get noisy... Looked at the input shaft bearing and it seems like its fine! no pitting/scoring in the bearing track, or on the needle rollers! It seems to make a little bit of noise - after checking it out with a stethoscope compared to the other input shaft bearing! So it seems like there is nothing wrong with it. But then again i dont have much experience with bearing wear... So can a bearing 'look' alright, and 'feel' alright, but once its under the load and speed of the engine, that it becomes noisy?

And the other thing i was going to mention is that the gearbox seems to have a locking centre diff! It is a mechanical open diff (as opposed to a viscous coupling), and it has a shifter to lock the diff housing to the mainshaft making it locked centre! However i dont have any linkages to set this up - however if i were to go offroad, i'd just have to crawl under, shift hte linkage from the external lever, and off i go in locked centre 4wd Very happy with my finding hehe.

Anyway, if anyone can let me know how to properly diagnose an input shaft bearing (from in my hand, not from in the car) that would be great!

Cheers
-Adam

[Xtreme_RX]

Looked at the input shaft bearing and it seems like its fine! no pitting/scoring in the bearing track, or on the needle rollers! It seems to make a little bit of noise - after checking it out with a stethoscope compared to the other input shaft bearing! So it seems like there is nothing wrong with it. But then again i dont have much experience with bearing wear... So can a bearing 'look' alright, and 'feel' alright, but once its under the load and speed of the engine, that it becomes noisy?

Yes, Just replace them they are not very expensive.
If its a AWD Single range box the bearing should be 22x42x20mm
Part No. 8064 22040.
The front oil seal is 22x40x10mm Part No. 8067 22050.

[adam_rxturbo]

bump

Can anyone confirm bearing wear? Just cause this thing 'looks' new!! And if it isnt actually worn, i would save $60, and would then know to look for the noise elsewhere.

Thankyou Xtreme RX for the bearing number too! tried calling up subaru and they faxed 5 different pages of possibilities! and since it was an order item from sydney that wouldnt accept a return So ive got the number written down for if i do choose to replace it.

Cheers!

[redskin]

Can't confirm it without hearing it, but it could be, bearings can look allright and be totally stuffed when under load, all it takes is 1 little flat spot on a ball or discoloration of one ball in the race, rule of thumb is, if it's suspect, replace it, might save you alot more work later.
Pete.

[adam_rxturbo]

quick update, The bearing number that both xtreme rx and subaru gave me were incorrect. It turns out it was the same input shaft bearing as all of the liberty gearboxes up to present. After chatting with a few people today i think the gearbox might be from either a vortex, or an imported L wagon... Had to reference the bearing number to the genuine part number with the help of CBC bearings.

New bearing actually sounds noisier than the original! Unless its just not worn in yet Though it has made me wonder if the centre differential is making excessive noise.

Does anyone know if a mechanical open centre differential should be noisier than the front open diff? Because the front diff is far quieter than the centre in operation. Sounds almost like the centre diff has a ballbearing floating around inside of it.....

And yeah, i agree entirely with what you're saying redskin. Rather just replace it and play it safe rather than have to pull apart the gearbox AGAIN!

Cheers
-Adam