Big Blue's Transformation

[Gary Lewis]

Got the t-case something like 95% apart.  Just need to get the seals and bearings out.  Then I'll run the case halves through the parts washer and start reassembly.  Tomorrow.

And I only had one minor problem.  One case bolt twisted off immediately as I was pulling them out.  Turns out it had fractured some time ago and had only a very tiny amount of metal holding it together.  But once the cases were apart it came out with vice grips.

Note how clean this thing is!  I'm surprised and pleased.  Just the bearings and seals and it'll be good to go.  

[Sac79]

That's what it looks like before the parts washer?!?! I can't believe how clean the inside is... Mine definitely isn't. Brown goo came out when I opened the drain plug. I think water got in when I washed the outside(through the empty speedo gear slot which I guess I plugged insufficiently), then mixed with old dirty fluid. I haven't opened it, just going to fill it with new fluid and hope for the best. Might change it after running a few weeks(when I eventually get it running) to flush it. Anyway, seems like you've got a case with good bones there.

And a real nice workstation...

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks.  Yes, it is a nice workstation and the t-case seems to be in good shape.  In fact, when I showed my wife that pic of the t-case she made a similar comment about how clean it is.

Having said that, the outside is pretty messy.  So the effort tomorrow will be to clean the outside, not the inside.

[Danny G]

The idea of tearing something like that apart sounds both fun and scary at the same time to me lol. Mostly because I have not done it before and the perfectionist side of me would be worried about screwing it up. 14 credit hours to do this semester plus 50 hour work weeks so I can sit here and just dream of wrenching on stuff.

[fords4life]

TheScatch wrote

The idea of tearing something like that apart sounds both fun and scary at the same time to me lol. Mostly because I have not done it before and the perfectionist side of me would be worried about screwing it up.

I completely agree with you, but I rebuilt the T18 for my '86 rebuild I'm going through.  I did not remove the reverse idler or counter shafts and I did not rebuild the upper housing, but it was pretty simple, just took time as I went slow and made sure I read the directions plenty of times.  Trans was in really good shape except for leaking seals and I didn't want to put a trans back in with known leaks.  There were some specialty tools that were very nice to have though and my Dad and Father-in-law were both around that day to help.  If you have done it before, a second set of hands is definitely a good thing.

[Angelo Voltura]

I'm fortunate that through work I have access to Ford rebuild guides that go through everything piece by piece, nut by nut and tell you every tool you need,s o you literally can't mess it up.

However, I'd be nervous myself. I can rebuild you an engine or axle all day but transmissions and transfer cases scare me.

[Gary Lewis]

I will admit that I'm a bit nervous.  And mostly in getting things like the old bearings and seals out w/o hurting the case halves.  The two big ball bearings came out pretty easily by tapping with a plastic-tipped mallet.  But the little needle bearing is yet to yield.

As for the seals, one down and two to go.  Made the seal pusher shown on the left and found the piece of tubing on the right that will receive the seal in the press.  Back in a bit....

[Gary Lewis]

I forgot to say that I think I have plenty of documentation on how do the jobs I'm doing.  In most cases I have the FSM, but in this case I also have Borg Warner's manual - both on our page on t-cases in Driveline.

[Gary Lewis]

Ok, got the bearings and seals out.  The biggest problem was the needle bearing, and I had to make a spacer to pull the bearing into.  Here's the bearing coming out, with the heat gun expanding the aluminum, which was necessary to get it out:




And here's the bearing out:




That took a lot more time than expected, but then I turned to cleaning the case halves.  The hot Simple Green got a lot of the yuk off, but I'm not pleased with the results.  Tomorrow I'll do some more cleaning, including with brake cleaner, but I'm tempted to put the halves together, plug the holes, and put them in the blast cabinet.  That will clean them up much more quickly.

No, I'm not going to powder coat them.  I'm just wanting to get them clean, and the yuk is well stuck.  

[ArdWrknTrk]

Why would you want to contaminate your media?
And, do you boil the case halves afterward, scrubbing with a stiff brush trying to remove any trace?


I guess I just don't get your fascination with shiny, when you're chancing even a tiny bit of abrasive in a gearbox.

[Gary Lewis]

It won't contaminate the media any more than rust does.  The stuff that's on the case is hard.  It isn't goo, but almost brittle.  Simple Green won't soften it, and so far brake cleaner hasn't.

And I wouldn't boil the case halves after blasting, but blow them out with air and wash them with brake cleaner.  However, I'm not saying I will blast them.  My first move will be to try brake cleaner and a brush to see what I can get off.

I'm not expecting the t-case to be shiny, but I do want it to be clean.  I want it to be obvious that it was rebuilt.  It is just the way I am.  

[Gary Lewis]

Well, I decided to take a two-pronged approach. The first was to put the rear half, which was the dirtiest, back in the parts washer and add a gallon of Krud Kutter House & Siding liquid to the Simple Green. That stuff is specifically made for things like aluminum, so we shall see.

The other prong was to put the front half in the "dish washer" that is in the shop and put it on Pots & Pans. What do you think?

[kramttocs]

Gary Lewis wrote

No, I'm not going to powder coat them.

Oh, why not? I think you should

I detailed my tcase and then painted it with the Eastwood cast aluminum paint and then clearcoated it. Can't say if it will last too long under there but if/when it comes out again, it's getting coated.

[Gary Lewis]

Scott - You may be correct that it needs to be coated.....

As said, I put one half of the t-case in the dishwasher and the other half in the parts washer and prepared to let them get CLEAN.  However, about that time Janey invited me to go to Owasso and, while there, get lunch at the new burger place.  How can you refuse an offer to go on a date with your best girl?  So I checked that everything was fine and we headed out.

When we got home about 2 1/2 hours later I pulled both halves out of the washers and discovered that neither approach had accomplished much.  Both still had caked on crusty stuff in the corners, and there are LOTS of those, and were tarnished more than I wanted to accept.  And that's after many hours of fussing with them in the parts washer with brushes, shifting the way the Simple Green was flowing, etc.  Plus, I'd used brake cleaner - to no avail.  

So, I protected the bearing, seal, and gasket surfaces and put them in the blast cabinet.  And after 1/2 hour on each they came out looking like new castings.

But, it is obvious that they are very porous and will stain in a heart beat, and then they'll look just like they did before.  So, I believe they need to be PC'd or painted to seal them.  (I know that the t-case won't work any better one way or the other, but it is what I want to do, and this is a hobby.  )

Paint would be easier.  I could use Eastwood's Detail Gray and it would match the tranny.  But powder would be more durable.  So I'm thinking through which approach I want to take.

[salans7]

In before the microanalysis begins.

Case halves look good. We all know you're gonna powder coat them, so just accept it and start prepping them for powder.

[Danny G]

I think straight super clean would have gotten it. That stuff is amazing ... and very cheap. I just used it on a antique cast iron pan to strip off 80 years of gunk. Sprayed it down and sat it in the sun in trash bag it came out bare metal.

Used it to strip the grease and paint off my valve cover, clean grease off of cloths, in the sonic cleaner to clean all the small truck parts I have off, degrease my grill and smoker you name it.

[Gary Lewis]

Super Clean might have gotten it clean, but it wouldn't have removed the stain.  I was down to bare metal on the vast majority of the surface of the two halves, but there was that stain.  But blasting got the stain off.

So, as Shaun suggested, I'll probably move on to preparing for powder.  Not a lot to do but to blow them off very carefully with compressed air, rinse them with brake cleaner, bake them at 400 for an hour to drive off any embedded yuk, rinse them again, and then apply the powder and bake again.  Oh, and I forgot the masking step.  

[Gary Lewis]

Not going to get much, if anything, done on Big Blue today as we have church, then a luncheon, then make 3 dozen sandwiches, then a church service at the retirement home, and then the Super Bowl.  But, I thought I'd take some time to set the record straight on the oil pump issue.

Turns out that the oil pump for the BW1345 is entirely different than that of the BW1356.  The latter has an arm that rides on the case and can cause problems w/o having something added to it that spreads the load so it doesn't damage the case.  But the 1345's oil pump doesn't ride on the case.

I'll try to remember to take some pics as this one goes back together, but the pic below from the FSM shows it fairly well.  The oil pump slides over the rear output shaft and has four screws that secure its cover instead of having an arm that hits the side of the case.  So there's no need for modification.

[Gary Lewis]

Got the t-case PC'd today.  Here are a few shots.

However, it'll probably be Friday before I get to start assembling the thing.  We have a funeral at church tomorrow that'll take essentially all day, and Wed & Thursday we have appointments in Tulsa.  So doubt much will get done 'til Friday.

Scott - Is this what you had in mind?  

Here's the bolts and yokes:



Here's the t-case front:



And the back:

[Nothing Special]

As I was crawling around under my truck and Bronco yesterday the thought struck me how different my trucks look compared to yours from that angle!  I don't worry about things like stains on the transfer case.  I've got such a mess from the various oil leaks and so forth that stains on the transfer case are pretty much covered anyway!

But that is pretty, and there's something (positive!) to be said for that!