It appears as though the hole which the top bolt of my torque arm bushing bolts into the tailhousing of my t5 transmission is stripped as the bolt wont tighten and just spins. Any thoughts on how to fix the issue? Alreasy tried using loctite to no avail.

 

Without a picture, you need to repair with a heli-coil.

 

Am i gonna have to drop the transmission out AGAIN to do that? Its right at the top of thw transmission tunnel.

 

Better off taking it out and doing the helicoil on the bench. Much easier and more room.

 

P&Ming about it on the Internet isn't going to move the hole to where it's easier to get a drill into it.

Best to just bite the bullet and spend the 15 minutes or whatever to pop it out and the other 20 putting it back in, than to spend twice as much time and effort trying to get out of doing the work than you'd spend doing the work you're trying to get out of. Although actually, you're probably faster than me (just about everybody is), you can probably do it ALOT quicker than that.

Transmissions, in general, punish people who aren't thorough, meticulous, and careful, who don't pay close attention to everything about what they're doing, and who take shortcuts.

 

Psssshhh... Clamp it together with some Family Dollar "locking pliers", not Vise Grips, "locking pliers" I says, and call it good. Just leave em on there, it'll hold.

Or just getchyaself a bolt one size larger, and force it in there like a self tapper.

 

Doesn't the tailshaft come off with 4 bolts?

Oh wait its a t5. Just pull the trans out, simple and done.

Or spend a couple bux on an aftermarket trans crossmember to mount the factory torque arm to.

 

Trying to avoid draining and dropping the transmission. Dontt have a hoist and ive taken out and reinstalled the tranny 4 times this week troubleshooting a clutch issue. What about using jb weld or quiksteel putty, packing the hole and then screwing the bolt in and letting it set?

 

If your ok being a hack, sure.

Do you think if you lowered the back of the Trans you could get enough room to helical or drill out and re tap the hole? Don't forget to take off the distributer cap so it doesn't hit the firewall and break.

 

I can barely fit a wrench and socket up there, doubtful id get a a tap in there let alone a drill.

 

So let me get this straight... You've had the trans out 4 times in 7 days, and somehow one more time, when you should already know exactly what you're doing, is going to break the camel's back?

Either Helicoil it, or drill/tap it for the next size larger bolt and be done with it.

 

When the temperature drops 20 degress celcius to -10 and theres now a foot of snow out, yes id rather not drop the transmission out as i dont have a garage to work in.

 

That was going to by my suggestion.
These T5 transmissions are notorious for issues involving the stock torque arm mount and mounting it to the tailshaft.

 

Like a bmr or umi performance cross member mount?

 

Yeah. Spohn also makes them. It's a good selling point if you don't plan on keeping it too long.

 

Right, something along those lines.

Complaining about the weather isn't going to put the metal back, or make up for a lack of attention to detail and an overall thorough eyeball inspection before re-assembly. Best to just suck it up, consider it as your current installment of your dumba$$ tax arrears (you have NO IDEA how much I've paid into THAT fund over the years... ) ), chalk it up to experience, man up to it, and do better next time.

I agree, mounting that thing to the transmission, was a HACK JOB in the GM engineering dept. Very bad idea all around. But, until we replace it with something that makes better sense, we're stuck with their stupidity. Just remember, these cars were the VERY FIRST attempt by GM to crawl out of the "malaise years"... there was still ALOT of cheeeeeeepism and such all going on around them. Speaking strictly as someone who traded in a POS 79 Z28 on my 83 L69 car, these cars were WORLDS ahead of 70s crap; but still left plenty to be desired. Fortunately much of their shortcomings can be remedied in the aftermarket.

 

I had my T5 in and out 5-6 times before I fixed all the gremlins. I got pretty good at bench pressing that thing!

 

Do these aftermarket crossmembers still require the clamshell bracket? In the process of moving the vehicle to my friends garage I guess the outer bracket fell off the car........

 

Not usually. Most come with their own torque arm, which attaches to the crossmember some completely other way.

 

Some use the stock bushing and torque arm, others include a heavy duty torque arm to replace the stock parts

 

Is that the M8 bolt or M10?

I hate the idea of retaining the stock mounting location and I still would have used a heli-coil or thread insert before changing the front tq. arm mount.

Drilling and tapping to the next size up on an alum. casting that sees driveline vibration isn't your best move in this case. There's no benefit to a larger bolt, and thinning the casting there is ill-advised.