long to short tailshaft swap question

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mopar56

mopar56

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Well now that my son and I finally got his 70 Duster project on the road, we are very unhappy with the a833od we put together, basically we built one out of two we had using original parts and re-sealed it but it is noisy, so we have a couple really clean mid eighties truck trans but the tail shafts are too long what is involved in swapping the tail shafts?, I considered doing this back when we put it together but it seemed like too much work has anyone here done this? I am a little more familiar with the internals after having a couple apart now, I really wouldn't want to use any of the gears from the original we have as I am not exactly sure where the noise is stemming from, thanks.
 
All you have to do is take all the gears off the output shafts and swap them. You just need a good pair of snap ring pliers. If you have one extra just take that one apart first.
 
Where are you in BC? I am in kelowna and have done a few if you need a hand. I usually buy parts from Brent at Gears 2 go, in Langley I think.

I have a short and a long OD as well. It is quite common to find the countershaft pin spalled out.....starting to break down.

As mentioned above, it is fairly straightforward but the trans has to come right apart. Be aware that there are different ratios in the OD boxes. Pick the nicest gearset and use the entire set.
 
Ok, thanks guys, guess I just gotta hope the condition of the main shaft on the shorty is in good order, I will take the gears off that first I guess, Brian I do have lots of good snap ring pliers, Dave I sent you a PM to, thanks.
 
mopar56, you are confronting the issues of the OD gears. As always too many issues to deal with in a post, but did you install new bearings? The comment on different gears is correct, the 'early' gears were call HighHelix and have differing teeth counts. I have several nos HH gears. I rebuild 833's and am south of you in King county. I did rebuild a OD gear set in an earlier B castiron case for a guy in Richmond.
 
chignikred, I am probably my own worst enemy here, I started with a trans that upon visual inspection looked good except for a broken tooth on one gear, I had another trans with a good gear but bad syncros, they were both F body OD trans, the bearings looked fine, my son was on a budget so we swapped the gear and re-sealed it, I wasn't aware the gears could be different, they looked the same?, maybe this is our issue?, any way time to do it right, I have a choice, either rebuild a complete a833od I have from a F body with bad syncros but good gears or swap the tail from another parts trans I have onto a good a833od truck trans, we just need to decide what we will do.:BangHead:
 
Most likely the gears were a match, hard to believe a HH gear would mesh with the later. BUT all bearings "look" fine, they are not, especially the 308 bearing in the OD. Synchros always need attention. takes eyeballs on the unit to make any more comments.
 
The 18t O/D gear will not mesh with a cluster from a 20T ratio; so you are OK on that front.

There are several sources of noise. Some internal and some external. Also EP oil muffles internal noises while a synthetic will not. It behooves you to figure out where the noise is coming from, on account of it could be a cheap fix or not.
On that note;
Is the noise in all gears, or all the time or just in a specific gear or in neutral. Is it noisy in direct gear (third)? Does it change when the pedal is depressed? Does it change with power application to compression braking. Is the noise accompanied with vibration.
If you don't figure it out, you may just end up back to square one, with a swapped over tranny.
The cluster-pins as mentioned, like to wear. I have flipped them over upside down and cut a new groove in them for the woodruff. Then they can go for many more miles. I have also bushed the front cluster hole to be a light press-fit.
Take it easy when shifting into O/D; I have zipped the teeth off a couple of those 18Toothers, and it didn't take much.
 
The noise is in all gears some vibration to but 4th is the worst 1 and 2 arnt bad third not to good the front input seal which was new is starting to leak now too so I'm thinking front bearing the noise is pretty consistent all the time I put 80w 90w in it I know it should be atf but I thought the thicker the better with an old Trans.
 
Just thought I should give an update and some conclusion here, I hate leaving threads unfinished, I decided to take the long tail shaft truck trans I had and swap all parts (with new bearings) on to the short tail shaft body and main shaft I had from a donor trans, this worked out fine and the trans is back in the car and quite plus it shifts well all but for a small adjustment required when shifting into first, as it turns out a couple days after I took it apart I found another short shaft trans at a swap meet I went to so looks like I have a couple spares now, any way thanks to all who posted and especially "d55dave" who lives in my Province and gave me his cell so we could text back and forth when I had a question, I purchased a special pair of circlip pliers that made taking the stiff circlips off the shaft a LOT easier and a wooden broom stick from the dollar store that I cut to a specific length to use as a dummy shaft to hold the needle bearings in place during assembly, ( gotta love cheap home made tools, lol ), in fact I was so satisfied with the repair I have a couple more I am going to re-bearing just for fun this winter.
 
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