I'm a bit concerned at the appearance of the oil I drained out of my T-5 tranny the other day.

Tranny is shifting well, no grinding etc...

Well, I have a vibration at 50-55 MPH, so I ended up taking it to a trans shop in the area (in fact three different ones) and 2 out of three didn't have an idea what was causing it and the third did.

They think the vibs are coming from the pilot bushing, so they asked me if I replaced it when I installed this tranny, and NO I DIDN'T!!

So - I drained the oil to pull this tranny and install a pilot bearing instead of a bushing, cause I don't want to do this again for awhile. Just figured the bearing may be better.

ANYWAYS - the oil was dark coming out, and after it sat in a claer pan for a few days, there is a 1/4 inch of gray stuff on the bottom of the pan....dip my finger down in it, and it appears to be metallic but so fine that it almost feels like grease....the consistancy is like the power inside an etch-a-scetch, is the best way I can describe it.

BTW - tranny is totally rebuilt, new gears, bearings - everything.

Could this be normal wear due to break in?? Should I be worried?

I know no matter how precisley the gears and everything are set up, there's gonna be some kind break-in, so do you think it's normal??

 

That's typical of somewhat normal wear. It may be left over from the previous life of the trans, and if you used moly grease in your buildup, some of it may be the leftover moly.

I prefer the bearing myself.

Your vibe may also be coming from the extension housing bushing, if it wasn't replaced in teh rebuild.

 

Thanx for the hundreth time RB!!!

I thought about the ext. shaft bushing too - but there's no radial play on the output shaft. In fact, both input and outputs are nice and tight (meaning no slop). Unlike the old T-5 I took out, which had a TON of both radial AND axial play on the input end. I was amazed at the diff. in this one.

I am SOOOO glad to hear this is probably normal wear!! RB - in your opinion, could this be caused by a bad pilot bearing as the tranny shop was saying??

I checked the old one with an alignment tool as soon as I got the trans out, and it did'nt seem too sloppy to me. But the tool is plastic...not metal. I can't measure the old bushing now because I ended up destroying it when I pulled it out of the crank.

Also - my Haynes manual says to "Tap the new bearing/bushing in with a soft-face mallet and socket"....I'd like to see anyone try that on mine!!!

It took quite a bit of beating with a regular hammer to drive the thing in. No way in h*ll you're going to "tap" it in....