Hi Bob,
Thanks for the info. As promised, I've got some questions.
Regarding torque converters. I can get a rebuilt one pretty reasonable, but I've always been leery of rebuilt TC's. Anybody have good advice on the general reliability and quality of rebuilds? I was also told that a tranny shop can power flush my converter. I don't think my converter has any problems. This trans wasn't burnt up or failing, as far as I know. The friction surfaces in the tranny itself are all in good shape. Anybody familiar with powerflushing converters?
Questions about end play. And first a comment: I'm not at all impressed with the quality of the ATSG manual I got for this thing. It seems like major steps of the reassembly are left out. Anybody else find these things kind of low-end? I guess it's better than nothing, but I'm just wondering if the actual Ford version - assuming I could even buy one - would be a lot better (but probably ten times as expensive). Are manuals available from Ford on these things? Anyway, you mentioned the end play measurement. How did you do it? Did you buy the guage bar and spacer tool? It looks to me like this could be emulated with similar parts, if you have access to bar stock and straight edges and the like. I might be able to jerry rig something. But here's the bigger question - how important is it really to do the end play checks? Are the tollerances that critical such that if you put the shims back in that came out, you would be really messing up? Also, one of the things you supposedly have to do to get the clearance right is choose the right thickness drive sprocket thrust washer (the plastic thrust washer between the chain sprocket and the converter housing). Do the overhaul kits come with various thickness replacement washers? Or do you order a collection of them separately, or just wait until final assembly to buy the shims you need, or what?
Oh, one more question. I noticed the oil pump drive shaft has some wear on it on the pump end. Nothing terrible, but it seems to be a real sloppy fit. It also seems to be a pretty weak part, subject to lots of twisting. Are there heavier duty ones available? I think the little insert that goes into the drive gear is also part of the problem. I noticed even before I pulled the trans apart,that when you turned the drive shaft, it had a fairly substantial engagement slop. Then if you turned it the other way, same thing - the shaft would go about 1/16 of a turn and then engage. I think between the shaft and the insert I have way too much slop here. Any thoughts?
thanks
