Uncooperative 3rd gear

[bretto]

Loc-tite for sure.
I wouldn't do this but I suppose one could go to extremes and JB weld that star lock ring in its place.  JB weld is tough but its not permanent.  Not a a lot of room in that place to try to break it out if needed though.  Poor route to have to take when you should just be able to slap it in there as designed.

[Ryan_M]

Well I made it most of the season on what was clearly a damaged 2nd gear assembly due to the OD backing itself out and me limping it home that day. Second gear finally locked up and I had to pull the trans.

Here's what a NOS synchro looks like when you drive 25 miles with a loose OD. I installed this new when I rebuilt the trans less than 1 year ago. Trans had to come again out for yet another a new NOS synchro assembly. Swapped the clutch disc while I was in there (prematurely worn due to an ill-fated effort to try and drag a CJ5A up a rocky incline on some god-forsaken trail in PA� ) and realized after I got it back together that the clutch disc was wrong. Not sure if it was vendor error or just a crappy part. Definitely my bad for not inspecting it closer prior to install. Had to go back in after it. Good to know I can swap a 3A clutch in 3-1/2 hours now. Dropping the same trans 4 or 5 times in the same year will make one pretty good at it...

Roasted:

[athawk11]

Boy...that took a real beating. 

[1955CJ-5]

Toast for sure....and now I'm paranoid of my OD failing or coming loose..

Are you going to put the OD back in?

Mine transmission still shifts nice and crisp so if it starts to act up I'll know where to look....

Randy

[Ryan_M]

Are you going to put the OD back in?

It is not back in at this time. I'm prepping the 3A for winter plow duty and the OD is not needed for that. Last thing I want is for another crippling OD problem when I actually need this Jeep for snow removal duty.

I will put it back in at some point before spring, with Locktite this time. As maddening (and expensive) as the failures have been I still say the luxury of an OD is worth it.

[BMIC]

You must be the house expert on OD's by now...

[Ryan_M]

You must be the house expert on OD's by now...

Nope, that would be Oilleaker by a very wide margin.

[Ryan_M]

During this Herm/Saturn/OD/SnapRing fiasco last year I bought and brandy new Saturn and it's been sitting on the shelf since then. I opened it up last weekend to install it on my red 3A (The red 3A in this thread that suffered snap ring failure followed by another OD coming dislodged and destroying 2nd gear on a freshly rebuilt T90. The T90 has since been rebuilt yet again).

This time the new OD installed without a problem but would not shift into direct drive. The shifter slid hard in any direction and felt like it was hitting a wall trying to go into direct - it just wouldn't go. Close inspection showed no contact with the shift linkage anywhere so that was ruled out. I've never felt resistance like that shifting an OD and never had it stop dead when trying to engage direct. Odd.

I called Advanced (they are always awesome and helpful, btw) and the tech immediately knew what the problem was. He described a "perfect storm" last year of the cases coming in at max thickness tolerance along with the shifter slider ring also being at max tolerance. Combined, there isn't enough clearance between the two and the ring rubs on the inner part of the case. Not good. He gave me the option of disassembling it myself in order to access the inner part of the case to grind down the high spot or send it back so they could do it. I opted for the latter.

If the OD's didn't make such a huge positive difference in the drivability of these old rigs I'd run screaming from them and never come back. The fact that I keep tinkering with them shows how spectacular OD's really are....when they work.

[aboyandhisdog]

Ryan, is Advanced being proactive about this on any new OD's that it sends out now?  Are they correcting the "perfect storm" defects before sending them out to consumers?  I would like to buy an OD but not if all these issues haven't been taken care of.

[Ryan_M]

Ryan, is Advanced being proactive about this on any new OD's that it sends out now?� Are they correcting the "perfect storm" defects before sending them out to consumers?� I would like to buy an OD but not if all these issues haven't been taken care of.

From what I was told this appears to be an isolated problem from a batch last year. I don't know this for certain though. If you are going to buy one I would suggest asking AA about it before purchasing to make sure you don't end up getting one of these problematic units.

I am also hoping they have adjusted the manufacturing tolerances since then to ensure no more are made this way. Again, only hoping. I have no idea what really takes place there.