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Repairing manual transmission at home

Brettly-2008

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Hi all, my partner and I have begun a camper van project with a 1996 Ford Econovan. It's a 5-speed manual with a grinding/bearing-type noise whenever the clutch is released, and in all gears except 4th. The trans works perfectly, other than the noise.

I've ripped it out but cant seem to source a second hand box anywhere so it's either a rebuild or a fix job. I'm contemplating stripping it and fixing it myself or at least finding the problem and going from there.

My question is: how hard are manual boxes to strip and repair? I've stripped/rebuilt plenty of engines to various stages, diffs, and even a trimatic but never a manual. Where are new parts available for 25 year-old transmissions?

Cheers fellas -I'll get some pics up soon!.
 

rambunctious

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Forget new parts you can't afford them.
Grindy noise may simply be bearing on the input shaft. Front shaft.
Pull the cover off (fords do have covers don't they ? ) or use the grinder to gain access :)
and see what you can see.
 

Immortality

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Sounds like a lay shaft bearing is bad. 4th gear been 1:1 is when the input shaft is coupled directly to the output shaft.
 

Brettly-2008

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Sounds like a lay shaft bearing is bad. 4th gear been 1:1 is when the input shaft is coupled directly to the output shaft.

Yep that's exactly where my research has led me to also. Hopefully that makes it an easier job! haha.
 

Skylarking

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Manual transmissions aren’t complex to work on but you need good information, quality spares and in some cases specialist tools..

Getting info for say a VF gearbox rebuild seems difficult.. and unfortunately the PDF of the Holden workshop manual floating about doesn’t even go into such details. Todays manuals seems more focused on ancillary stuff and remove replace of large components, not repairing sub assemblies…

I‘d guess 1996 Ford workshop manuals would be much more detailed since things were rebuilt back then but getting spares may now be an issue though I guess that can depend on what actually needs replacement…

Good luck with it…
 

Deuce

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If it's a bearing noise, it's hopefully a common fault in the box and either ford or an aftermarket will stock the bearing as it is a guaranteed sale.
Good luck.
 

_R_J_K_

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I've ripped it out but cant seem to source a second hand box anywhere so it's either a rebuild or a fix job. I'm contemplating stripping it and fixing it myself or at least finding the problem and going from there.
You'll probably have better luck looking for either an equivalent year Mazda E2000, Mazda B series, or a Ford Courier box (or parts/info). The original name for the E2000 (which the Econovan is based off) in some countries is the Mazda Bongo if you get to the point of looking overseas. There are apparently two, although I'm not sure if it's a different gearbox completely or just a different casing.

Sounds like it's likely to be an R5M-D or a M5M-D.
 

Brettly-2008

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Thanks RJK. Yeah, I've been looking at equivalent Mazda options and you're right the Bongo stuff is plentiful overseas, but I'm not keen to look that far afield for a van that cost us $700. Either way it looks like it'll end up costing me more than expected.

I'll keep tackling the tear-down of our box and hopefully get it to a point where I can pay someone to replace just the noisey part(s) and I button it back up and refit it to save some cashola.
 
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Immortality

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If you can pull it apart bearings normally have numbers on them so it might be available off the shelf.
 

J_D 2.0

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Manual transmissions aren’t complex to work on but you need good information, quality spares and in some cases specialist tools..

Getting info for say a VF gearbox rebuild seems difficult.. and unfortunately the PDF of the Holden workshop manual floating about doesn’t even go into such details. Todays manuals seems more focused on ancillary stuff and remove replace of large components, not repairing sub assemblies…

I‘d guess 1996 Ford workshop manuals would be much more detailed since things were rebuilt back then but getting spares may now be an issue though I guess that can depend on what actually needs replacement…

Good luck with it…
You can get the rebuild manuals for a lot of the Tremec boxes direct from the Tremec website.

They only list the T56 but I’m sure you could read between the lines as they are effectively the same transmission just with bigger gears and synchros.

https://www.tremec.com/lit_oem.php
 
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