excessive countershaft end play

[justdave]

Hello all, started looking at rebuilding the tranny that came with my 58 project and have found that the countershaft end play is, seems, way to much its .148 with everything assembled properly now heres my questions, why is it so much, can I use two countershaft retaining washers on the sprocket side to shim it over and lastly what thrust washer size should I use? Thanks DaveZ

[jellero]

if you can even feel it, that's too much in my experience. j

[old1955]

G'day: Justdave

Find part no. 35875-36, this is a "set" of washers, used to setup the end play on the counter,
(you may be able to buy them separately, I don't know, you may have to check that)
shaft in all different sizes. Normally you use one washer/spacer after allowing for the correct clearance,
testing this, with a feeler gauge between the large cluster gear (the speedo gear runs on) and the steel case
bushing on the inside of the kicker side of the box. These washers can wear badly and may need replacing,
specially if the box has been neglected. The counter shaft has to push straight through the middle of the washer,
sometimes they're tricky to put in, and others times they slide right in, perfect.

That's a lot clearance you have there! Are your internal lockrings in place, the ones inside the big speedo drive
gear cluster, and did you put the roller retainer washers in, they go against the lockrings, then lay your rollers in.
if either are loose or missing this could account for excess play.

Counter shaft spacing or clearance is set up from the right or inside the main box on the kicker side of the box.

Cheers
Pete

[Bosheff]

To have that much end play in the c.s. ya gotta have sumthin else goin on that ain't right. The fact that the thickest spacer offered by the factory is .100 and you got half again as much in end play kinda makes me wonder. Has the case been grenaded and put back together? Have you replaced the c.s. bushings? Are the c.s. and c.s. bushings aftermartket pieces. When ya took the tranny apart, how scared up were the c.s. bushing and the spacer. Normally these will show some wear even when set up correctly. I have never heard of doublin up on thrust washers to establish the proper end play. Is the case a repop unit or genuine? Before I went any further, I'd investigate all the possibilities....bosheff

[Cotten]

You guys are really talking about the clustergear endplay, and not the countershaft, right?

The shaft locks down tight.

...Cotten

[Bosheff]

I stand corrected....bosheff

[justdave]

I just checked the assembly in relation to the two inner and one outer retainer rings and everythings correct. The case looks to be in good shape, no welds the bushings look to be in good shape, I cant tell if the case is a aftermarket or an original the only numbers are on the bottom kicker side front, letters E 7 and 12 1 35 dont know what the mean of if they are relevent. Cotten, its the endplay between the countershaft gear and the case.

[mbskeam]

counter shaft end play is set between:
.007-.012
the shims come in the sizes of,
.074, .078, .082, .085, .090, .095, .100

I set mine at .010, and it has been good for many years......

[old1955]

G'day All,

You are 100% correct Cotten!

I mean gear cluster end play, of course.

Thanks
Pete

[fourthgear]

The counter shaft bushings could be out of spec's & need replacing. That would give you out of spec end play in the gear cluster.
Was there a shim in there ? How does the gear end look like where the shim spacer goes ?

[justdave]

I took the tranny to my local panhead expert who said the bushings were wore to the point they were flush with the inside of the case, I thought they were suposed to be that way but he showed me a case that had new bushings. Thanks for the help. DaveZ

[Larry]

Why did the bushings wear so badly?