hi , anyone out there can help me?...i have my Bellhousing on (lakewood) and i am trying to fit my T5 in,,it won't go in all the way...the T5 shaft is in but it has about 1/4 of an inch to go so the bellhousing and T5 are snug and won't go in more,,is the pilot bushing maybe not in enough?...i had it flush in the crank opening...also is the shifter box (where shifter goes bolted into) seems to be slightly slanted towards the driver's side when bolt holes are aligned..is this right?,,,what am i doing wrong...i am ready to give up!....any help is appreciated...

Is there any adjustment on the clutch fork pivot? It might actually be hanging up on the clutch fork, if it's adjusted too far forward. I doubt it's the pilot bearing, even if it wasn't quite in all the way, you'd be able to push it the rest of the way in by pushing forward on the trans. Also, the tilted trans is normal, our cars mount the trans at a slight tilt to increase ground clearance.

It's supposed to be tilted to the drivers side, that's normal.
Have someone press the clutch pedal while you push the transmission into place. You've got the clutch disc just a bit off center. With the clutch free to move it'll probably drop right into the pilot bearing.

On the disc alignment:

if an alignment tool (or an old input shaft) doesn't pretty easily slide all the way into the splines of the disc / the pilot bushing(bearing,) then you should probably remove the bell, loosen the pressure plate bolts, rock the alignment tool up and down, stop about in the middle of travel, and re-tighten the PP bolts.

This will line-up the disc fairly well with the pilot bushing and at least that part of the trans. install will go smoothly.

hi , thankyou for the responses,,i used the alignment tool to align pressure plate and disc..it goes in and out very easy,,,the transmission slid right it the splines and fit right ,,but it sticks out 1/4 of an inch and won't get closer to the bell housing...since i called jegs because i bought the lakewood bellhousing there,,,the guy said that i should remove the bell housing and use fine sandpaper to clean up the center hole for the bellhousing..he says the paint sometimes doesn't let the tranny fit right in as easy with that red paint...then he says to bolt the bellhousing on the trans and install the whole thing this way...can i do that?..i always thought that i had to put the bellhousing on first and then the T5...BTW the pivot ball is an adjustable one,,,but it doesn't seem to be too far out....any truth to all this?

Try Drew's suggestion before you get too carried away. Simple first.

JamesC

ok..i'll try the alignment tool again...but can i mount the whole tranny with bellhousing already bolted on like jegs says?...thankyou.

Forget the alignment tool... They're cheap plastic garbage in most cases and don't fit precisely enough to line everything up. They get it close enough, but it's not unusual that the clutch needs to be pressed to stab the input shaft into the pilot bearing. Get the transmission as far in as it'll go, and while you're holding the transmission under the car, have someone push and hold the clutch pedal down. While it's down, wiggle, reposition, tilt, man-handle, etc, the transmission while you push it towards the engine. It'll go in.

Before you disassemble everything, measure the ID of the hole in the bellhousing, and the OD of the front bearing retainer on the transmission. The hole in the bellhousing should be a bit larger then the retainer, if the retainer is larger then it might be paint, but my money is still on a slight misalignment.

hi, i just sanded down the lakewood bellhousing center hole a little and removed the paint they have there,,it now fits ...i had to remove everything to do this,,,i will try to re-align it all and try again...thanks.

its easier to bolt the bellhousing up and then the trans

If you're putting it in on the floor of your garage, it sounds like the same thing I went through. I used the alignment pin and ran into the same problem.. It took about 15 minutes of wiggling and lifting before it finally slid in. I thought there was a problem with it as well so I had a buddy put it in first and spin the driveshaft while I pushed, that's when the thing finally slid in.

Btw it's far easier to bolt up the bellhousing first, followed by the transmission. The second and third time I had to pull it out and swap it back in took about 2 minutes.

hi, in fact i am doing this on the floor of my garage...and my back is killing me!!
i think putting the bell housing first is easier like you say especially that these lake woods are bigger and heavier...but the guy at jegs was right ,,,he told me to sand and grind the center large hole of the bellhousing(steel) and make sure there is no paint left,,,because of this the bell housing and transmission had a 1/4 inch gap between eachother...basically the lip of the input shaft from the T5...that was my problem i think ,,the alignement tool was right on ... i will try this all again today if my back can take it!!! ...i'll post some results later....thanks for the help so far.....

hi , i sanded down the center hole on the bellhousing removing the paint ,,then i took the bell housing and it fit on the T5 center ...i mounted the bell housing and torqued it,,then slid the T5 in...still won't fit snug against eachother,,,i think i will sand the center on the lakewood a little more ...if still it doesn't fit ,,,i will have to remove everything and align it all again and then see if it fits...OMG.

I'll try this a third time, then you're on your own... The problem you're having, happens OFTEN with 100% stock parts. Even when using a T5 and a bellhousing that have been bolted together before. If you really think the bell housing is machined wrong, or the paint is too thick, measure the parts. Or try fitting the transmission to the bellhousing out from under the car to see if it fits. Find out if there's really an interference problem. If it fits out from under the car, it'll fit under the car too.

Have a helper push the clutch, while you push the input shaft into the pilot bearing. You've got three points, the pilot bearing, the clutch disc, and the transmission that need to be aligned to get the transmission to drop into place. With the clutch pedal pressed, you can maneuver two of them. Unless the expensive bell housing that's been in production for a long time, was manufactured poorly, something just isn't lining up right.

Absolutely do NOT just get the transmission close and start the bolts and try to turn them tighter to pull the transmission up to the bell housing. If you try that, it'll just rip the ears off the transmission's case.

thankyou for your help and patience,,but my car being an automatic ...i don't have the clutch pedals or slave installed,,,not yet anyways,,i followed the steps by the people here on 3rd gen ,,,the pedals are always pretty much last to be installed...and when i took off the bellhousing ,,i sanded off the paint and then fit it on the T5 front..it fit then not like the 1st time when the center hole was too tight and woudn't go in...i think i will sand a little more and re-align the clutch discs etc and try again...,,unless you think i should do something else first,,,thanks again.

I'd install the pedals. Of the 4 times I've had T5's out of cars, 3 times I've had to press the clutch pedal to seat the transmission in the bellhousing.

...ok i will have to install them with the slave assembly,,,but besides this,,do you think anything else i'm doing wrong...thanks for your help and experience.

It's probably just not lining up right. Try moving the tailshaft up-down/left-right while pushing it forward. Assuming the clutch is lined up perfect it should go in.

In my experience, if the problem is that the trans. shaft is not seating in the pilot bearing, it will stop more than 1/4" from the bell housing. Could the tranny shaft be too long? I know some t-5s have longer input shafts than others.

hi that's exactly it,,the trans is 1/4 out and won't go flush with the bell housing...if it is too long ...what can i do?

Did you try spinning that driveshaft while pushin the transmission inward? It might take two people, but like I said earlier for me it worked everytime.

hi , i have tried it all...pushing..turning....twisting...it goes in easy but stops about 1/4 maybe less to being flush...i adjusted the the pressure plate again,,,then shortened the pivot ball a bit...drew says to install the pedals,,i will but ,,i 'm afraid of doing that and it still won't work ,,then all i have is a a car that's completely taken appart....anybody rich enough to fly over here?

Run the number off the transmission ID tag and verify that it's a V8 transmission for a thirdgen. I'm sure somewhere you can find the input shaft length for a thirdgen T5.

hi drew, there are 2 numbers on the trans..the id tag is there but rusted out ...,can't see the numbers...but it has 2 numbers....1352-065-914 and 1352-066...i checked these numbers ,,,i found out that these are general numbers they use for the castings...it's not that accurate...the id tag tells you the real tranny gears and model...but it has 26 splines and it came out of an 87 iroc v8....the front bearing cap is the world class type with the writting on it saying Timken bearings or something like that...i am sure it should fit....i will start from scratch and start with the pilot bushing pushed in more and loosen the pressure plate and re-align it...then put on the lakewood bellhousing and see....i will install the pedals ...but right now i am fed up and just want to sell it all and call it a day ...thank god for you guys here and your support, because i would of done that if it wasn't for your help...thanks again...what do you think of the tranny # drew?

hi , i spoke to jegs again,,i must say they are top notch in customer service...they said everything is right on...he thinks that the output shaft on the T5 is a little too long because of my engine(350 chevy 1978),,,he thinks that i can get it machined and have 1/4 or maybe less removed so it will fit right in ,,but it must have a part of the shaft in the pilot bushing for strenght....he says this is very common on TKO transmissions...i think this is my issue...what do you experts think?

The numbers on the transmissions case are pretty useless. The one that really matters is the one on the tag.

I seriously doubt the input shaft is too long. If it came out of a V8 thirdgen it should go in. I'd be measuring things very closely before modifying something that shouldn't need to be modified to go together.

At this point, are you going to switch back to an auto under any circumstance? If not there's no reason not to put the pedals in and cut the holes for the hydraulics.

hi, i know the numbers on the exterior of the T5 are just vague numbers, the tag is there but inpossible to read,,if the trans is aluminium , you would figure GM would put an ID tag in aluminium too!...anyways, jegs says to measure the shaft and if it's 6.45' ,,,then that's the problem...it's too long...the transmission i got is from a 3rd gen 87 iroc, you are right...but my engine isn't ,,it's a 350 from a 78 chevy,,,then the bellhousing is not an original T5 bellhousing ,,it's a lakewood made for a T5 and GM 8 CYL with hydraulic clutch... bryan at jegs says ,that this shaft issue is very common on TKO aftermarket transmissions...he thinks maybe this is my issue as well...but again ,,he's on the phone trying to help and not seeing the actual parts...i will put in the pedals,,i have evrything new ,,slave and clutch reservoir ,,all new kit ,,but i wanted to make sure this tranny fits in first before making more of a mess...not going back to an automatic,,,selling the 700r4 and everything else...this swap will work one way or another!

Generally, GM prints out a label that gets stuck on the top of the main case. Then there's the ID tag, and in some cases there is a partial vin and so on stamped in the main case. There's a pad on the passengers side, but they also stamped them on the passengers side just infront of the tail housing.

It shouldn't matter that the engine is older/newer. The bell housing should be an exact replacement for the factory aluminum bell. If modifying the input shaft was a normal thing, they probably wouldn't sell many bell housings, and you'd think they'd mention the modification in the instructions. Have you tried contacting Lakewood directly?

i will try to see if i can see any other numbers,,but the id tag is toast,,,i tried calling lakewood directly,,i really coudn't get through to anyone..i will try again monday......so i have been calling jegs since i bought the bellhousing and flywheel there,, i guess you would know not to modify the shaft better than anyone...

i called lakewood..well, they said maybe the bellhousing/transmssion is out of alignement....they said to use a dial indicator gauge to see if the center of the bellhousing where the shaft goes through is properly aligned.....because they say the bellhousing -trans-clutch etc are the right parts for my car and all should work....but lakewood did say that the front shaft of the t5 can be bottoming out on the pilot bushing because of my older 350's crank center where the pilot bushing is installed is not as deep has 82+ v8's.....and i might have have 1/4 ' or less machined off....

You could just measure the length of the shaft that would fit by using something with a nice straight edge, put that accross the bellhousing and measure from the pilot bushing to the straight edge. Then measure your input shaft length to see if it really is out that 1/4".

But my guess is just hook up your pedals or get someone to push in your clutch fork where the slave is by hand with a rod or something. Most of my tranny installs the thing would stick out that 1/4" so I would push in the clutch like said before or just let the bolts pull it in.

i am in the process of installing the pedals now...you say i can have someone push the clutch fork by hand while i'm pushing / sliding the T5 in at the same time?...thanks again for the help...

That or a C-clamp might work.

ok.thanks tony..i'll try that this weekend.

I'd say the clutch is not aligned properly. If you want to know for sure, remote the clutch and see if the tranny and bellhousing will mate with the block. My guess is that it will.

When I installed my clutch the plastic alignment was almost usless, it had so much play there was no way it would keep things aligned. You can buy an alignment tool made out of metal that generally work much better. I aligned my by hand and it worked fine. I used the plastic alignment tool to hold the disc in place and started the bolts on the presure plate but didn't tighten them up. I then centered the disc on the flywheel using my hands and tightened the bolts down. Worked for me first try without having to press the clutch but that method would work too.

hi, i bought a real alignment tool...i did it that way...it seems the T5 went in all the way in...i will bolt it all up this week and post results...this is why i asked everyone here ....you guys are awsome...when you don't have the most experience with cars like me it is appreciated to have knowledgable people to help...thanks...