New Year, Let's Strip!

It's 2023! 

So let's get to it and start pulling this b*tch apart.

Splitting the components isn't actually all that easy. It *looks* complicated-but-easy, per the manual, but in my case I ended up wrestling with damage to components (see the sump cover in the previous post, among many other... fun surprises), wear (ditto), oil and sand mixed together (gack), and an incorrectly-manufactured 5/16W socket (Argh! It's too small. [Ed: that's what she said!]) 

The first task to getting inside your gearbox is splitting into the major assemblies: the gearbox, the transfer case, and the front output housing. In order to get to the bolts that hold the transfer case to the gearbox, you need to remove the intermediate gears from the transfer box. So that's where I started. 

You begin by removing the sump cover, then taking off the mainshaft rear bearing housing / cover plate / thing. This was quite stubborn for me. The sump came off well enough after some cleaning of the fasteners, but the rear main bearing housing did *not* want to be separated from the transfer housing. I ended up making one of the Brittanica Restorations disassembly tools -- one of those Richards metal nail puller / scrapers you can get at Home Depot with the bent end cut off. I didn't want to use a regular chisel or screwdriver, because the aluminum transfer case housing could be easily damaged. Or indeed, the aluminum bearing housing itself. 

Eventually, it relented and I was able to wiggle the mainshaft enough to contemplate removing the intermediate shaft.

The sump cover is dented, but indeed well-preserved thanks to a thicc coating of oil and sand. The bearing housing seemed to be glued on there, but I think the gasket just... I dunno, didn't want to relent. 

In the shop manual, it asks you to remove the intermediate shaft from the housing by withdrawing it rearward. This was pretty easy -- mine came out nicely, the parts fitting together well as you can see above. I noted, briefly, that it might have been easier than it otherwise ought have been because there was no o-ring on the intermediate shaft. Hmm. 

Here's a general look at things with the sump removed. Immediately apparent was the fact that the cork sump gasket wouldn't have held even a single drop of oil in. Wouldn't have stood a chance:

Continuing on with the steps in the manual -- I'm using the Haynes blue book -- it says you can basically just rotate / pull out the intermediate gear along with its thrust washers and shims.

My intermediate gear would not come out. 

It was well and truly stuck in there. I couldn't remove it at all, despite reefing on the thing. I debated trying to get some kind of bar in there to lever it out; I considered trying to move it around with a mallet; I even left the space heater blowing on the thing to try and warm the case to get the gear out.

 Eventually, I was able to get it to move via heating up the case -- a theme which shall be oft repeated with this particular project. It probably took me at least an hour of fiddling to remove just the intermediate gear, wondering the whole time if I'd missed some important instruction somewhere. You know the kind, "remove grub screw" or similar. 

Out it came, eventually, with its two thrust washers. 

Victory!

First parts removed from the gearbox strip. You can see an intermediate shaft; which is quite worn. You can see an intermediate gear; worn. You can see two worn thrust washers as well. 

What you cannot see is any shims that should (?) probably be there. Was that related to the struggle to remove the intermediate gear? Don't know. 

At any rate, with it removed, I was able to access the nuts on the back of the gearbox and effect the removal of the same:

Hey, presto! We have separation, Houston.

Also, ugh:

Despite spending several hours trying to clean up the gearbox from the outside, I knew there would still be a lot to clean up once I split the units. I wasn't expecting quite this much... goo, however. A lot of sand, a lot of oil, and everywhere I looked completely perished seals and gaskets. 

Not only was there still a ton of gunge on the outside of the cases where I'd not been able to clean, I was also surprised to find a lot inside the housings behind the gaskets. Hmm. 

This was not, unfortunately, a great sign of things to come, despite things not looking so bad from the outside: 

Some of my cleaning efforts were not totally in vain. The accessible parts of the housings didn't look too bad. The oven cleaner did its job, for sure. What remains I can can clean up with a wire brush and some degreaser. 

Interestingly, there's a story inside the components as well. As you can see above there's some silicone. Someone has had the gearbox -- or, more likely, the transfer box apart for some repair or maintenance. Could be the silicone is there because of a previous leak that was fixed. I don't think anyone has replaced any components in the gearbox, but who knows. It's not really possible for me to know what's original and what isn't. 

It's obvious, though, that someone's been in here before. What surprises might we find? 

Getting the forward output housing off is pretty easy. I simply followed the manual and started taking parts out. I did struggle a bit with the transfer box levers (more on that later), but at the end of the 'day' I had three distinct components on my work cart: 

... and a pile of parts to start cataloguing and putting in bins:

I save ziploc bags when I find them and buy cheap sandwich bags from Wal Mart for my small parts. I save them according to the each step in the shop manual: If assembly is, indeed, the same process but in reverse, it'll be simple (right?) to just find the plastic baggie with all the correct fasteners in it. Or so goes my theory. 

As you can see from some of the fasteners and parts, however, there will be a lot of cleanup work required. Not all the spring washers are the same. Some of the studs came out with the nuts on them. Some of the nuts are fairly rounded over, I'm *guessing* because they're all Whitworth and at some point a fella tried to do some work with a crescent wrench. I feel that, we've all been there.

Much cleaning will be needed for this 'box to go back together again. 

Best to carry on then, I suppose.